In the wake of the white supremacist march in Charlottesville that left one dead and 19 others injured, Confederate statues have been taken down from Maryland to Texas. Philadelphia doesn’t have any Confederate statues. Instead, we have a statue of former police commissioner Frank Rizzo, aka “The General.” In 1969, the tuxedo-clad racist arrived at the scene of a disturbance at a public housing project with a nightstick tucked in his cummerbund. He kept it handy in case there were some black heads he wanted to crack.
On August 31, 1970, Rizzo’s police raided the offices of the Black Panther Party. The cops forced unarmed Panthers to strip naked before news cameras.
From 1972 to 1980, the unrepentant racist served as mayor. Rizzo’s brutal legacy is memorialized in the 1979 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department against the Police Department. It was the first time a city was sued by the Justice Department. The court found the police engaged in a pattern and practice of brutal behavior that “shocks the conscience.”
Rizzo’s racism and brutality notwithstanding, on January 1, 1999 a 10-foot bronze statue of “The General” was unveiled on the steps of the Municipal Services Building across from City Hall. Almost from Day One, there have been public protests to have the statue removed.
In the aftermath of Charlottesville, there are renewed calls to take down the statue. There are also calls to keep the statue.
Mayor Jim Kenney passed the ball to the Art Commission which on paper makes the decision. However, there is no degree of separation between the Mayor and the Art Commission since they are, after all, mayoral appointees. Still, there is a process to remove or relocate an artwork. So the City of Philadelphia has issued a “Call for Ideas: Rizzo Statue.” The artist, Zenos Frudakis, has already weighed in. In a letter to the Art Commission, Frudakis wrote:
As the sculptor of the Frank Rizzo statue, I am writing to request to be part of the conversation regarding the future of the sculpture in a thorough and reasoned manner, not a rush to judgement, which could be a big mistake. I am alarmed about what appears to be a willingness to associate the two-term Mayor of a major city with traitorous leaders of the confederacy. I think it is outrageous to create this straw man argument to move a bronze sculpture.
In my opinion, I do not see the need for moving this sculpture. Consider that three African-American mayors of Philadelphia did not see the need for the sculpture to be removed during their tenure.
If the majority of Philadelphians and the powers that be want this sculpture removed and relocated, I am available to lend my expertise so that the sculpture is not damaged in the move.
I have a few ideas on where to stick the Rizzo statue. To submit yours, go here. The deadline for submitting ideas is 5:00 p.m., September 15, 2017.
