Washington, D.C. and United States Park police on Thursday protected the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park from protesters who earlier in the week vowed to tear down the statue.
Located one mile away from the U.S. Capitol, the memorial was surrounded by barriers and police after protesters on Tuesday said they would return to the park Thursday evening.
The nearly 150-year old memorial designed by Thomas Ball depicts President Abraham Lincoln standing over a freed slave. The memorial was paid for by freed slaves to pay homage to Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Freedom Neighborhood, a group who partook in the protests and who have called for the statue's removal, shared on Instagram why it should be torn down.
"This statue represents a message that the freedoms and liberation of black people can only happen if it is on the white mans [sic] terms," the group said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB0_ccEHhxn/
Since security was added around the memorial, Freedom Neighborhood activist and Harvard University student Glenn Foster said the new plan is to tear down the statue Friday at approximately 6 P.M., according to the Washington Examiner.
D.C., congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.) on Tuesday said she will introduce a bill to have it removed.
"The designers of the Emancipation Statue in Lincoln Park in DC didn’t take into account the views of African Americans. It shows," Norton wrote on Twitter. "Blacks too fought to end enslavement. That’s why I’m introducing a bill to move this statue to a museum."
The designers of the Emancipation Statue in Lincoln Park in DC didn’t take into account the views of African Americans. It shows. Blacks too fought to end enslavement. That’s why I’m introducing a bill to move this statue to a museum. pic.twitter.com/A0MOnISH1N
— Eleanor #DCStatehood Holmes Norton (@EleanorNorton) June 23, 2020
Norton is also demanding the removal of President Andrew Jackson’s statue in Lafayette Square across from the White House. Protesters on Monday attempted but failed to tear it down when police intervened.