Story at a glance
- Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser created a new team charged with analyzing buildings named after historical figures through civil and human rights lenses.
- The move has drawn criticism from the White House.
A Washington, D.C., task force, created after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in May, is advising that a number of government buildings, parks and public schools be renamed in an effort to sever city ties to historically racist contexts.
CNN reports that the committee, called the DCFACES Review, is a working group composed of experts who review the history and cultural connotations of landmarks, public spaces, and other Washington sites. Some of the values the panel will evaluate on a given location or landmark include its message of accessibility, diversity, equity, resilience, opportunity, safety, and prosperity.
The analyses will be made relative to the site’s stance on slavery, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights and the rights of people of color.
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“In all instances we believe strongly that all District of Columbia owned public spaces, facilities and commemorative works should only honor those individuals who exemplified those values such as equity, opportunity and diversity that DC residents hold dear,” the report reads.
Following a review of more than 1,300 D.C.owned properties, the panel identified dozens of buildings that have ties to “slavery, systemic racism and other biases.” The group is recommending that a number of past U.S. presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, should not have public buildings or parks named for them given their connections to slavery and oppression.
The group also advised a number of schools in the area should undergo a name change, including Jefferson Middle School, as well as Stoddert Elementary School and Key Elementary School — named after Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert and Francis Scott Key, respectively.
While the review committee was created by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), the move has caught heat from the Trump administration.
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White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement decrying the panel and its review.
“By publishing a plan that recommends potentially removing the Washington Monument, Christopher Columbus Statue, Andrew Jackson Statue, and Jefferson Memorial—among many other ludicrous recommendations—the radically liberal mayor of Washington, D.C., is repeating the same left-wing narrative used to incite dangerous riots: demolishing our history and destroying our great heritage,” she said.
President Trump has spoken out against the removal of monuments with a Confederate connotation and even enacted his own Task Force for Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes that will oversee the creation of statues of historical American figures, ranging from Susan B. Anthony to Ronald Reagan.
“These works of art call forth gratitude for the accomplishments and sacrifices of our exceptional fellow citizens who, despite their flaws, placed their virtues, their talents, and their lives in the service of our Nation,” the executive order creating the initiative read.
Bowser also recently renamed the two-block stretch that leads up to the White House on 16th street as Black Lives Matter Plaza.
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