Things are getting so ‘woke’ in Boston that there’s a petition to remove a statue of the man known as the ‘Great Emancipator' - President Abraham Lincoln.
A petition to remove the statue in Boston's Park Square has received over 7,000 signatures and was launched by area resident Troy Bullock who tells WCVB-TV he's been seeing the statue since he was a kid.
"It says that it's a statue that's supposed to represent freedom. But, to me, it represents submissiveness," Bullock says. "It represents: 'Know your place, because that's where you belong.'"
The statue is a replica of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, DC. The DC memorial was funded by a campaign that began with a donation from freed slave Charlotte Scott using the first $5 she earned in freedom.
"This is a great opportunity to get some local black artists involved in the creation of the statue, to come up with something new that represents equality," Bullock said.
"Right now, I have the momentum and leverage with everything going on in the world, that we can actually make a difference here."
According to WCVB, a spokesperson for City Hall said Mayor Marty Walsh was in favor of removing the statue and "willing to engage in a dialogue with the community about its future in Boston."