Activist suggests replacing DC's Emancipation Memorial with Harriet Tubman monument: 'Fair and equitable'
Some activists pushing for its removal would like to see a monument to an African-American woman in its place
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}D.C. Council candidate Marcus Goodwin, who is helping lead the charge to remove the controversial Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C., told "America's News HQ" Sunday he hopes to replace it with a monument to an African-American woman, suggesting Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman could fit the bill.
"We laid out clearly on our petition that we would like to see the statue put into a museum where it can be properly contextualized, and we would like to see it replaced preferably with an African-American woman because they have been grossly underrepresented in the District of Columbia where we are the largest demographic group," Goodwin said.
"I’m a DC native, so I have special feelings towards ensuring that we have fair and equitable representation so that we are creating a future that lives up to the promise of our founding fathers that all people are created equal."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DC'S EMANCIPATION STATUE WAS FUNDED BY FORMER SLAVES: REPORT
The statue depicted Civil War-era President Abraham Lincoln standing over a kneeling black man newly freed from slavery. Critics claimed the image communicated the black man's subservience -- and have called for the statue to be removed.
The park service erected a barrier and deployed police around the statue last Thursday as protesters vowed to hold a demonstration at the monument.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DC PROTESTERS CONDEMN EMANCIPATION MEMORIAL IN LINCOLN PARK
On Wednesday, Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s non-voting House delegate, announced she will introduce legislation to remove the statue from Lincoln Park, Washington's WJLA-TV reported.
"I think we need context, knowing and understanding, because most people who see that -- especially in our generation, see someone being degraded, someone being demeaned and don't see fair or equitable representation in society for African-Americans," Goodwin said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Our most disenfranchised group has been subject to this kind of representation in our public spaces, so in the statue, which I got up close and personal to, I saw something that was antithetical from what Abraham Lincoln would've wanted to see."
DC'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE WANTS 'PROBLEMATIC' LINCOLN STATUE REMOVED FROM LINCOLN PARK
Goodwin suggested replacing the statue with a "contemporaneous African-American who is then a part of the charge," suggesting Tubman or abolitionist statesman Frederick Douglass.
Fox News' Jack Durschlag and Gillian Turner contributed to this report.