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1 year ago
23
A statue for USC founder Robert Widney mysteriously vanished after it was removed for 'cleaning', amid controversy surrounding his legacy of supporting lynchings.
University of Southern California officials told the Daily Trojan that the statue had been taken away temporarily on November 28 for 'maintenance and cleaning', but did not say when it could be returned.
After the ceremonial plinth was also removed from the site, it now appears it may have been covertly taken down in hopes of not drawing attention to their decision.
USC told DailyMail.com 'The statue was removed on Nov. 28 for maintenance and cleaning.'
Widney was a celebrated attorney and judge, however his involvement with the Home Guard Vigilance Committee in the late 1800s allegedly saw him target Native Americans and people of color in extralegal lynchings.
A plinth once holding a statue to Robert Widney (pictured) lies empty outside the Widney Alumni House on the USC campus, weeks after it was removed for 'cleaning'
Widney was a celebrated lawyer and judge, however his ties to a vigilante group that carried out extrajudicial lynchings in the late 19th century drew controversy
Widney's statue came under scrutiny during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, at a time when many institutions faced calls to remove ties to racist figures.
This led USC officials to remove tributes to the university's fifth president, Rufus B. von Kleinsmid, a leading proponent of eugenics, in June of that year.
Eugenics is the concept of selective and forced breeding to control racial populations, and grew in popularity in the late 19th century as Kleinsmid promoted it.
The university removed the Von Kleinsmid Center for International and Public Affairs in response to the BLM movement, and a bust of von Kleinsmid was also removed from the campus after a unanimous vote by the board of trustees.
The building was renamed after Joseph Medicine Crow, an author on Native American history and a USC alumnus.
While it has not admitted to quietly tearing down Widney's statue for good, USC also took similar action over the summer.
The Trojan's track stadium had been named after Dean Cromwell, a former coach of the university's track team who had been accused of racism and antisemitism.
The removal of Widney's statue (pictured) comes after USC previously removed tributes to its fifth president from campus over outrage to his prior support for eugenics
The stadium was renamed in honor of athlete Allyson Felix, another USC alum who went on to become the most decorated American track and field athlete in US history.
Following the renaming and removal of several controversial figures, many felt it was time Widney faced the same scrutiny.
Widney's statue had faced calls for removal for years, and remained as he was praised as one of the four founding fathers of USC credited with its growth in the mid-to-late 19th century.
When his statue was unveiled in 2014, the university even praised his record with immigration and character at a time of rife discrimination.
'One of the most enduring accounts of his life occurred in 1871, when Widney intervened as violent anti-Chinese rioting stormed through town, drawing his pistol and plunging into the mob to escort several immigrants to safety,' the university said.
But his ties to the Home Guard Vigilance Committee drew outrage, with historians finding the vigilante group roamed Los Angeles to carry out lynchings on Native Americans and people of color.
A professor and historian at UC Merced assessed Widney's legacy for the Los Angeles Times in 2020, and found that he was 'most certainly' a supporter of extrajudicial lynchings.
The legacy of Widney's brother, Joseph Widney, USC's second president, has also come under fire, particularly his racist writings where he wrote that black and white people 'cannot live together as equals.'
English (US)