(CHARLOTTESVILLE – WINA) A local activist is circulating a petition that targets another statue sponsored by Paul Goodloe McIntire. David Swanson of Charlottesville characterizes the George Rogers Clark statue near the corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and West Main Street as “a monument to genocide.”
Unlike a statue of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Indian guide Sacgawea, and two statues that honor Confederate generals, the George Rogers Clark statue is on the grounds of the University of Virginia. The statue that labels Clark as the “Conqueror of the Northwest” is in Albemarle County, as opposed to Charlottesville.
Swanson’s views on the 1921 Clark statue have been forwarded to the Committee on the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, which UVA is currently building near Brooks Hall. The statue has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1997.
