Introduction of the Andrew Jackson Statue Removal Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to introduce the Andrew Jackson Statue Removal Act, which would remove the Andrew Jackson statue from Lafayette Park, a federal park in the District of Columbia, and require the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity. This bill is part of a series of statue and memorial removal bills I am introducing during Black History Month.

The land that comprises Lafayette Park has been used as a racetrack, a showplace for caged animals, a graveyard, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers and for political protests and celebrations. Jackson was a Tennessee slaveholder and signed a law that forced Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River. During this forced expulsion by the federal government, roughly 4,000 Cherokee died in what is now known as the Trail of Tears.

The statue, the first in Lafayette Park, was dedicated on January 8, 1853, on the 38th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, which the statue depicts. This prominent location in the nation's capital, right outside of the White House, should never have honored a man who was an unabashed racist, owned slaves and authorized the genocide of Native Americans. Jackson's entire tenure is a shameful part of our history and should not be honored with a statue in Lafayette Park.

This bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to ensure the removal of the statue from Lafayette Park and to donate the statue and marble base to a museum or similar entity so that it can be accompanied by the appropriate historical context, not be prominently displayed in the nation's capital. The next generation can learn from this painful chapter in our history without celebrating it.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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