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Monument removal recommended by Citizens’ Advisory Council

Spokane Arts stands with the Pacific Islander community in asking the city to remove this statue. Removing it would be one step toward correcting inaccurate history and toward healing the communities harmed. This monument was donated to the city of Spokane in 1906, commissioned by a wealthy family. The pediment of the statue perpetuates racist stereotypes in both text and imagery, and is a source of ongoing harm not only to Samoans and the broader Pacific Islander community, but to all Indigenous peoples who have been denigrated with the same racist stereotypes found on the monument. The statue should be removed.