CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The historic South Carolina city of Charleston was removing a symbol of its legacy on Wednesday, sending crews to take away a statue honoring John C. Calhoun, an early U.S. vice president whose zealous defense of slavery led the nation toward civil war.
“I believe that we are setting a new chapter, a more equitable chapter, in our city’s history,” said the mayor, John Tecklenburg, sent the resolution calling for its removal to the council.
Clark suggested a notion that city leaders had considered in the past: adding contextual information about Calhoun’s history with slavery, rather than taking down the monument.
It also comes as cities around the U.S. debate the removal of monuments to Confederate leaders and others, and as thousands of Americans demonstrate against racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death under a Minneapolis police officer’s knee.
In its resolution, the city says the statue “is seen by many people as something other than a memorial to the accomplishments of a South Carolina native, but rather a symbol glorifying slavery and as such, a painful reminder of the history of slavery in Charleston.”
