Jerusalem Post:
Calling itself a Statuary Sanctuary City, Newton Falls has promised to be a home for any statues of historical figures with legacies marred by racism or slavery.
A small city in Ohio has decided to open itself for all statues and monuments of historical figures throughout the country that many seek to remove due to the problematic aspects of their legacies, local NBC affiliate WFMJ reported.David Lynch, city manager of Newton Falls, signed an official proclamation Saturday transforming the city into a Statuary Sanctuary City.
This proclamation, uploaded in its entirety by WFMJ, officially declared “a general amnesty for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Patrick Henry, Francis Scott Key, Theodore Roosevelt and Christopher Columbus.”This decision comes amid widespread efforts across the US to remove statues of historical figures with problematic legacies, usually marred by slavery and racism. These statues have included several veterans of the Confederacy from the US Civil War, several US politicians such as president Theodore Roosevelt and of other historical figures such as Christopher Columbus.These efforts began following protests that sparked after the death of African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis by police officers, leading to greater calls to crack down against white supremacy and racism, as well as to stop glorifying the legacy of such controversial figures.
