New York City: An 80 year old famous statue of Roosevelt gets removed owing to controversies

A statue of American President Theodore Roosevelt is being removed from New York City. The controversial statue has been standing here, outside the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History since 1940.
The process of removing the statue has now begun with specialists, after being approved by multiple agencies in New York City. The entire process is costing a total of $2 million. The statue sees President Roosevelt riding on a horse, with a Native American man, and an African American man walking behind him.

The statue will be moved to North Dakota, where it will be kept in the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
The removal of the statue comes after protests by critics since the 1970s. It has been argued that the statue is a symbol of colonialism and racism. But that is not the extent of the issue. Roosevelt is remembered as someone who held racist beliefs. In fact, the former President played a major role in evacuating Native Americans from their land to create the national park system.

The statue was designed by James Earle Fraser, an American sculptor, back in 1939. While the upper body of the statue of Roosevelt has already been removed, the rest of the parts will be moved in pieces over the span of one week. The statue is now surrounded by scaffolding.

Some people, however, are of the view that removal of such a statue is the wiping off of history.