Last week, three statues of Christopher Columbus were removed in Chicago: one from Grant Park, one from Arrigo Park in Little Italy, and the third in Chicago’s South End.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the statues to be removed “temporarily” after protesters and police clashed at the Grant Park site, where protesters demanded that the statue be removed and even attempted to bring it down themselves.
The citizens of Chicago remain divided on what happens now that statues have fallen, and Chicago is rarely the only city to participate in a debate about historical monuments. In the country’s cities, many others have called for the removal of Confederate monuments, while others say that the removal of these statues amounts to erasing history.
But how do you get a monument in the first place? What is going on in this process?
These are questions we reviewed in this week’s podcast episode, which originally aired in 2018. Journalist Jake Smith discovered what it takes to effectively create and install a public monument, and the long, expensive and bureaucratic procedure.
Jake Smith writes and reports to Chicago. You can @JakeJeromeSmith him. Lynnea Domienik is the curious City intern. You can play it in [email protected].