A Chicago pastor has asked the Rahm Emanuel administration to remove the names of two presidents who owned slaves from a South Side Chicago city park.
A bronze statue of George Washington on horseback stands at the corner of 51st and King Drive, at the northwest entrance to Washington Park. Bishop James Dukes, pastor of Liberation Christian Center, said he wants the statue gone, and he wants George Washington’s name removed from the park.
The pastor also said President Andrew Jackson’s name should be removed from nearby Jackson Park, because he also was a slave owner. He said he’s not necessarily asking the city rename the parks altogether.
The Good Pastor suggested Washington Park could be named after the corrupt tax evading, cocaine snorting former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, and that Jackson Park could be named after