Remove Andrew Jackson statues from county courthouses? Here’s how to vote on Question 2
In the Nov. 3 election, voters will be asked to decide this question: “Shall Jackson County, Missouri, remove the statues of Andrew Jackson now located outside the Jackson County Courthouse and the Historic Truman Courthouse in Independence?”
The answer should be a resounding yes.
Jackson was a slave owner and, according to historical accounts, a racist. He used the free labor of Black slaves to accumulate wealth. And he’s responsible for the Indian Removal Act, which amounted to government-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.
While Jackson County’s name isn’t changing, the county’s namesake should not be celebrated with statues in prominent locations. And there should be little emotional attachment to history that doesn’t belong to Missourians. Jackson never even stepped foot in our state.
In June, Jackson County Executive Frank White called for the removal of the statues. The Jackson County Legislature balked, shifting responsibility to voters.
The statue in front of the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City was vandalized the same month.
Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, was not a man to revere. He enslaved as many as 161 Black people, bringing more than one dozen with him from his home in Tennessee to the White House when he was elected. At the time of his death in 1845, he owned close to 150 slaves.
Jackson’s brutal mistreatment of people he held in bondage has been well-documented. And honoring him with statues outside of our courthouses, which should stand for justice and equality, sends an unfortunate and tone-deaf message to every visitor.
“We deserve to get rid of the stain on our history in a public place,” Jackson County Legislator Jalen Anderson said.
Jackson was the architect of the controversial Indian Removal Act, a bloodthirsty measure that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Native Americans along the Trail of Tears.
“We should not glorify anyone who sent the U.S. military to clean out Native Americans,” Anderson said.
Jackson County, of course, is not alone in wrestling with questions about how to document and appropriately acknowledge our country’s complicated past. Voters will decide the fate of this proposal in the midst of a nationwide movement to remove memorials dedicated to Confederate soldiers and racist leaders.
Historical context is important. And the removal process is complicated. But the statues will not be destroyed. Nor will they end up buried in the cemetery of controversial monuments.
The metro area has world-class presidential, art and history museums. The statues will find an appropriate home. Removing them from the public square does not erase the past. But it does signify a shift in the historical figures we choose to honor and place on an actual pedestal.
“We don’t need symbols to remind us of the decades of oppression endured by people of color when that is the very thing we are desperately trying to dismantle and heal from today,” White said this summer. “Like all great counties, this is an opportunity for us to change and evolve together, for the better.”
This is indeed a chance for Jackson County voters to move us in the right direction, and Question 2 on the November ballot should be an easy call. Shall the county remove the statues of Andrew Jackson? Vote yes.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.