Around two dozen protesters gathered at Lincoln Park in Long Beach on Monday, Feb. 21 to call for the removal of a 13-foot penny statue that was recently erected at the park.
Protesters disapproved of using the park’s name and the new statue to commemorate Lincoln’s legacy due to his treatment of Native Americans during his presidency.
“Today I’m standing for my ancestors who aren’t here,” said Kristin Franklin, a descendant of the Choctaw Nation. “And I hope that the City of Long Beach hears us, loud and proud, that we are still here and we don’t stand for this.”
According to the City’s website, Lincoln Park is Long Beach’s oldest park, dating back to 1880.
After being closed for five years due to construction, Lincoln Park reopened on Feb. 11—but the newly formed Long Beach Change the Name Coalition wants the city to retire the park’s original name and work with the local Native American tribes to come up with a new one.
During Lincoln’s presidency, the largest one-day mass execution in U.S. history was carried out–the hanging of 38 Dakota warriors after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. 303 Native American men were originally sentenced to death in unfair trials that denied them representation or translation, with Lincoln eventually commuting the sentences for all but 38.
According to the Minnesota Historical Society, individuals among the 38 executed maintained that they had not harmed any white people, and two men were found innocent after their execution.
“When the white settlers rationalize what he did in hanging 38 Dakota warriors, they always come back and say, ‘Oh, well really it was going to be [303].'” Indigenous musician Yaotl Mazahua said during the protest. “Well, one is too many.”
During Lincoln’s administration, the U.S. military also forcibly displaced Native Americans from their homelands in infamous operations such as the Long Walk of the Navajo, during which Navajo civilians were forced to march hundreds of miles away from their ancestral lands at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers.
“These continued acts of trauma and violence against us in the form of statues, monuments, it represents antiquated narratives,” Stephanie Mushrush of the Washoe tribe said. “[…] It’s time to change the narrative.”
The Long Beach Change the Name Coalition has garnered 49 signatures on a Change.org petition calling for the removal of the penny statue and renaming of the park. The coalition also plans to bring their demands to the city council during the public comment section of its next meeting on March 1.