"KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo’s school board last week discussed support and opposition to plans to erect a statue downtown honoring Abraham Lincoln, hearing from some residents with concerns about the idea.
Lincoln visited Kalamazoo prior to his presidency and a group of supporters have been working for years to build a statue in his honor and create educational opportunities around his visit to the city.'''Brionne Fonville said it was inappropriate for the school to hold penny drives raising money for the statue, citing racial and social justice issues surrounding the former president.
“Our public school system’s curriculum tells a white-washed version of U.S. history and Lincoln’s place in it,” Fonville said.
...“Maybe it’s well past time that we as a society begin to look at our heroes of bygone eras through a new lens, new perspectives, improved perspectives,” Greschak said.
Fonville said the community worked hard to advocate for the removal of the controversial Bronson Park statue in April.
“Our community did this work so that native folks don’t have continue to feel disrespected, misrepresented and re-traumatized by depictions of white supremacy and historical violence against communities of color,” Fonville said.
District support of the Lincoln statue project undoes the work the community did then, she said.
Kirstin Simons-Valenzuela read a poem as public comment during Thursday’s meeting, expressing her concern with a statue honoring Lincoln.
“As we take down monuments dedicated to disgraced, white men, let us not erect more in deaf ignorance,” Simons-Valenzuela said..."
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