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Chicago Pastor Demands Removal of George Washington Statue
Bishop James Dukes of the Liberation Christian Center called on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to remove a statue of President George Washington and to change the name of a park named after President Andrew Jackson.
Dukes explained in a letter to the mayor and to local media that he took issue with Chicago honoring two men who both owned slaves.
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"When I see that, I see a person who fought for the liberties, and I see people that fought for the justice and freedom of white America, because at that moment, we were still chattel slavery, and was three-fifths of humans," Dukes told CBS Chicago.
"Some people out here ask me, say, 'Well, you know, he taught his slaves to read.' That's almost sad; the equivalent of someone who kidnaps you, that you gave them something to eat."
Dukes went on to compare having a statue of Washington on public display to having a statue dedicated to controversial civil rights activist and black nationalist Malcolm X.
"There's no way plausible that we would even think that they would erect a Malcolm X statue in Mount Greenwood, Lincoln Park, or any of that. Not that ... Malcolm X was a bad guy; they just would not go for it," he continued.
