Statue of Frank Rizzo
statue formerly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A statue of Frank Rizzo, sometimes called the Frank L. Rizzo Monument, was installed in Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Erected in 1998, the bronze sculpture was removed in June 2020. Black Lives Matter activists and others protested the statue's presence, and the statue was taken down during the George Floyd protests.
Background
As mayor, Rizzo was a strong opponent of desegregation of Philadelphia's schools, and prevented the construction of public housing in majority-white neighborhoods. While running for a third term, Rizzo urged supporters to "Vote White". During his tenure as police commissioner and mayor, the Philadelphia police department engaged in patterns of police brutality, intimidation, coercion, and disregard for constitutional rights. The patterns of police brutality were documented in a Pulitzer-Prize winning Philadelphia Inquirer series by William K. Marimow and Jon Neuman.
History
The statue was placed on its pedestal on December 30, 1998 and unveiled on January 1, 1999. A crowd of 150 listened to speeches by Mayor Ed Rendell. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that sculptor Zenos Frudakis had "decided that his monument should be a statue walking toward the people, hand upheld in a greeting."
Controversy and removal
In 2013, following the not-guilty verdict in the killing of Trayvon Martin, a sign was hung around the statue's neck with the message, "This system is still racist." The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that Rizzo "had a poor relationship with Philadelphia's African-American community."
Calls for the statue's removal began in 2016, when a group called the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice started an online petition.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Statue of Frank Rizzo” is statue formerly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Statue, Frank and Rizzo, not as a finished interpretation.
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