UPDATED: February 28, 2018 1:15 PM Corsicana city council member Jeff Smith posted to Facebook that the city will return the gorilla statue inside his cage as soon as weather permits. CORSICANA (CBSDFW.COM) A statue of a gorilla, and prime attraction for kids at the Community Park playground in Corsicana was removed by the city.
A spokesperson for the city said some community members found the gorilla offensive racially insensitive in some form, and requested its removal from the park.
We can understand this, because we have an obligation to listen to all our citizens, to determine what is offensive and not, especially in public places, said Corsicana Mayor Don Denbow.
Denbow saw an uptick in complaints about the playground primate during the last few weeks. There were more and more phone calls, and personal discussions, and he, the city manager and a city council member, decided it needed to come down.
Part of a playful, circus-theme, the man-made gorilla held his ground for 19 years. It was in a cage, since it wasnt reinforced and could fall over if kids climbed on it.
Most would say he never bothered anyone, giving only joy to children whose imaginations are anything but politically correct.
But now, in his absence, memorials and growing crowds at sit-ins fill the void. A protestor sits in the cage, refusing to move until the gorilla is returned.
Mayor Denbow said hes open to the gorilla returning in some form due to the backlash from people who dont support their decision to oust it.
Those in opposition said they would have liked to at least weigh in on the discussion.
A Facebook page called In Memory Of Dobby was started in memoriam of the gorilla. Fans shared their memories and posted pics, too.
Poster Comment:
Mike Tyson took offense!
Remember this outrage?
Here's what Al Sharpton had to say about this:
The cartoon in todays New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this when in the cartoon they have police saying after shooting a chimpanzee that Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.
Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?
No more monkeys in the White Hut.