A statue debate in tiny Arcata is drawing fury from national conservatives
The national conservative media has been riveted by a political skirmish in the small North Coast city of Arcata. At issue is the fate of a William McKinley statue that has loomed over the city’s central plaza since 1906.
For decades, activists in the liberal college town of about 18,000 people have urged the removal of the 8½-foot bronze likeness of McKinley, arguing that the former president mistreated Native Americans.
The push gained momentum with the purging of Confederate statues in the South and rising student activism at Humboldt State University, which is located in Arcata. So in February, during an emotional public hearing, the City Council voted 4–1 to remove the statue once and for all.
Then came the backlash.
A pro-statue group was formed to fight the decision. The Los Angeles Times published a take on the controversy in early April, shining a national spotlight on the story that caught the attention of conservative commentators.
“Now no statue is safe,” warned Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show.
“American history is on the chopping block again,” said Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz on the same network.
Karl Rove, who authored a book about McKinley, wrote a defense of the 25th president in the Wall Street Journal, noting that he was a son of abolitionists and fought to end slavery during the Civil War. Arcata’s leaders had a view “so warped,” Rove concluded, “that only willful ignorance and runaway political correctness explains their destructive action.”
The removal of the McKinley statue is far from assured. An environmental review must be completed. And a petition drive is underway that could give voters the ultimate say.
Alex Stillman, the president of the Historical Sites Society of Arcata and a former City Council member, said the whole matter had just left her saddened.
“We have such heavy discord in our community,” she said.
“We’ll see what happens,” she added. “It’s just, oh my gosh, why do we have to have things so complicated? I mean it’s bad enough at the national level, and then we have to bring it all in to our local level.”
This article is from the California Sun, a newsletter that delivers California’s most compelling news to your inbox each morning — for free. Sign up here.
