Legislators call for removal of Stephen Douglas statue overlooking Chicago tomb of the ‘widely known racist and sexist’

Not only should statues and a portrait of Stephen Douglas be removed from the state Capitol, three Chicago legislators said Tuesday, but a nine-foot tall bronze statue overlooking the Democratic senator’s 96-foot granite tomb on Chicago’s South Side should also come down to stop paying tribute to a “racist and sexist.”

“There is an edifice dedicated to allowing a bigot even in his grave to look down upon the Black community.” State Representatives Kam Buckner, Curtis Tarver and Lamont Robinson Jr., wrote in a letter to Gov. J.B Pritzker. “This is indefenisible.”

The three members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus made it clear they are not calling for Douglas’ body to be exhumed from his tomb in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, just the statue, dubbing it “a tribute to a widely known racist and sexist who even staked his presidential platform on the subjugation of any non-white male in America.”

“There is an edifice dedicated to allowing a bigot even in his grave to look down upon the Black community.” State Representatives Kam Buckner, Curtis Tarver and Lamont Robinson Jr., wrote in a letter to Gov. J.B Pritzker. “This is indefensible.”