Headline RoundupNovember 24th, 2021

Perspectives: NYC's Thomas Jefferson Statue Removed

Summary from the AllSides News Team

A statue of Thomas Jefferson that had stood in the New York City Council Chamber since 1834 was removed this week, reviving the debate over cancel culture and the country's complicated history.

New York officials voted unanimously last month to remove the statue. The City Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus argued that the statue is "a constant reminder of the injustices that have plagued communities of color since the inception of our country." The move predictably prompted divided reactions across the spectrum over history, racism and cancel culture.

Coverage from left-rated outlets more often highlighted the hundreds of slaves Jefferson owned in his lifetime and the children he fathered with one of them. Some left-rated voices used the news as an example of how the U.S. and other countries are rethinking their histories. Voices on the right often decried the removal as a gross overreaction, an attack on the Founding Fathers, and an empty gesture that would have little impact on race relations in America. Some on the right resurfaced a 2017 article from NBC News (Lean Left bias) that quoted several historians who pushed back on then-President Donald Trump's warnings that statues of Jefferson and George Washington would be the next to come down. One Center-rated voice argued that black leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and W.E.B Du Bois wouldn't have wanted to remove Jefferson's statue despite his ownership of slaves.

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