Controversial Portland statue debate ends with reinstatement decision

Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt statues will be reinstated in Portland’s South Park Blocks after a public engagement process determined the landmarks should return.

The monuments, toppled five years ago this month during the “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” protests, will return following a series of public sessions where attendees expressed differing reasons for bringing them back.

The City of Roses reported that many residents were especially concerned about reinstalling Lincoln’s monument. One participant said they wanted the statues “back up because anarchists illegally took them down.”

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Aerial view of the Willamette River running through downtown Portland. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Another resident opposed the “erasure of monuments,” urging an “elevated conversation” about how the landmarks can be “contextualized for today’s audience and into the future.”

Recontextualization of the history written on the statues continued to be a common theme, while others shared the idea that the tributes “may be better in other communities.” 

The report also cited “unsanctioned vandalism” of the statues, with one Portland resident stating that a “mob of young, White anarchists should not dictate city policies,” while advocating for the city to vote on each removed statue publicly. 

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The Theodore Roosevelt statue was destroyed during the “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” protests in 2020 in Portland, Oregon. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Another respondent agreed, saying the crowd that tore down the monuments “does not represent Portland.”

Another participant said, “Portland is a young city, we should preserve the limited past we have… damaged monuments should be repaired and reinstalled ASAP… criminal destruction of public monuments [and] art should not be an impetus for their reunion.” 

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A person defaces the Theodore Roosevelt statue in Portland during “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” in 2020.

The voters on this matter reportedly fell into two different groups: one advocating for updated context for each statue, while the other was focused on reestablishing the historical monuments. 

Deb Elliott, a professor at Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute, told The Oregonian that one group of people wanted the monuments updated with a “complete narrative around the impact of the historical figure,” while others “just wanted the monuments put back.” 

Lincoln’s statue is expected to be reinstalled in early 2026, with Roosevelt’s following about a year later.

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