Academics and Artists Weigh In on Controversial City Monuments

In an open letter published on Friday by Hyperallergic, more than 120 academics and artists have urged Mayor Bill de Blasio to remove five public monuments and markers they say celebrate racism.

The letter singles out the Christopher Columbus monument at Columbus circle, the statue of President Theodore Roosevelt outside of the American Museum of Natural History, the Dr. J. Marion Sims statue in Central Park, and two commemorative markers bearing the names of Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval.

It comes on the heels of the final public hearing of the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, which was held on Tuesday.

The commission held five hearings, one in each borough, during which city residents could discuss the pieces in question and propose strategies for how to address the controversy surrounding them.