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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JAN. 20, 2019
BY COLIN MIXSON
Green-Wood Cemetery
leaders may be backing out
of their promise to consult
the community before installing
a statue of a polarizing
doctor in the burial
ground, according to critics
of the sculpture, who said a
graveyard bigwig recently
shot down their request for
a sitdown about the fate of
the monument to gynecologist
J. Marion Sims.
“My impression is that
they’re not interested in
community input for this,”
said Kate Axelrod, the
founder of opposition group
Stop Sims Statue.
Green-Wood honchos
last April pledged to keep
locals informed as they
decided on a fi nal resting
place for the statue, months
after some residents organized
in opposition to cemetery
brass’ January offer
to make the burial ground
a new home for the likeness
of the 19th-century doctor.
The monument to Sims
— whom many claim
should not be memorialized
because he performed
experiments on unwilling
black female slaves — previously
stood in Central
Park, until city offi cials
booted it following their
2017 review of controversial
public monuments .
But Axelrod said Green-
Wood refused her group’s
recent request to set up a
meeting about the statue’s
future, citing a Jan. 10 email
in which an employee
told her group to sit tight
until leaders of the private
graveyard have more news
about their plan to put the
sculpture back on public
display.
“When Green-Wood is
ready for further movement
on the issue, we will
reach out to you, to Community
Board 7, and to our
elected offi cial to make
plans to meet,” the e-mail
from John Connolly read.
Another graveyard
spokeswoman, however, assured
this newspaper that
locals will be among the
fi rst to receive any updates
about the statue of the socalled
“father of modern
gynecology” — whose physical
remains are among
those of the cemetery’s
more than 570,000 permanent
residents. And until a
plan is hatched, the monument
will remain locked
away, the spokeswoman
said.
“The statue of J. Marion
Sims remains in storage,”
said Colleen Roche.
“Green-Wood continues to
research and consider options
for its placement and
is committed to working
closely with the community
and the city.”
Green-Wood’s head previously
promised that if
he placed the Sims statue
on the property, it would
be alongside a plaque explaining
the doctor’s complicated
history.
But that reassurance did
little to soothe many critics,
one of whom recently
doubled down on his stance
that no amount of context
justifi es continued display
of the monument.
“The man committed
violence against black
women for a living,” Ethan
Cohen told this newspaper
on Jan. 10. “He does not deserve
a shred of commemoration.”
STUCK IN STORAGE: Green-Wood Cemetery leaders remain undecided
about the fi nal resting place for a statue of controversial
gynecologist J. Marion Sims, almost a year after they acquired the
sculpture from the city. Associated Press / Bebeto Matthews
A monumental concern
Locals worry that Green-Wood Cemetery heads may go rogue
after refusing a meeting about the fate of controversial statue