Pastor Demands Chicago Sites Dedicated to Presidents Washington, Jackson Be Renamed Because They Were Slave Owners

An Illinois pastor believes that the city of Chicago should not honor slave owners. Therefore, has asked the Emanuel administration to remove the names of Presidents George Washington and Andrew Jackson from parks in the city's South Side.

Bishop James Dukes, a pastor of the Liberation Christian Center in Chicago, said he wants Jackson Park and Washington Park to be renamed. Dukes also said he wants the statue of Washington on horseback standing at the corner of 51st and King Drive near the entrance of the latter gone as well.

According to Dukes, even though Washington led the American army in the Revolutionary War and was the country's first president, he is no hero to the black community.

"When I see that, I see a person who fought for the liberties, and I see people that fought for the justice and freedom of white America, because at that moment, we were still chattel slavery, and was three-fifths of humans," Dukes told CBS Chicago.

The same also goes for Jackson who also fought in the War of 1812 and like Washington, was also a slave owner. The reverend said that he doesn't want to rename the parks altogether, he just wants them to be dedicated to other noteworthy individuals such as Harold Washington, Rev. Jesse Jackson or Michael Jackson.

Dukes added that anything honoring Washington and Jackson might be more fitting elsewhere, just not in black-centric communities.

Letters suggesting the renaming of the sites have already been sent to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Park District. So far, the mayor's office has yet to respond to Dukes' proposal.

The proposal follows a recent trend where any site or monument commemorating slavery or slave owners are being petitioned to be renamed or removed. The recent rally in Charlottesville was an organized opposition to the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.