NEW YORK _ No one is speaking softly when it comes to the controversial Teddy Roosevelt statue outside the Museum of Natural History.
Scores of dueling protesters squared off Sunday to angrily spar over whether the famed statue of the Rough Rider should be removed from its perch outside the New York City museum.
Anti-racism protesters say the bronze image of the former president has to go because it depicts him flanked by two subservient figures, one Black and one Native American.
"(This) simply has to do with the history of the city being reconciled with the right side of history, and the abomination that is the statue itself," said Maria Krovatin, 30, of Manhattan.
Vicky Paladino, 65, countered that there is nothing racist about preserving American history.
"They want to totally dismantle (the city), statue by statue and rewrite or erase our history," said Paladino, of Queens, a Republican who once ran for state Senate. "It can't happen."
The statue of Roosevelt, the nation's 26th president and an ardent conservationist, has stood near the entrance to the museum on Central Park West for 80 years.
It became the target of protesters, along with monuments to Confederate leaders and others, amid the national reckoning over race that erupted since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week that the museum has agreed to take down the statue, which he called "problematic" because of its depiction of "subservient" men of color alongside Roosevelt. No date has been set for the statue's removal.
The New York Republican Club called on its members to show support for the statue. About 100 of them showed up, many wearing regalia supporting President Donald Trump. An equal number of counterprotesters turned up to denounce the statue as a symbol of a dark chapter in American history.
Geraldine Hawkins, 59, insisted that Roosevelt remains an American hero.
"You could read about Theodore Roosevelt your whole life and do yourself no end of good," said Hawkins, a historian from Philadelphia who wrote a book about the president's brother. "He was all about what's good and true and beautiful."
One of the very few Black protesters who defended the statue was Alice Griffin, a lawyer from Manhattan. She sees nothing wrong with the statue _ and praised Teddy Roosevelt as a man ahead of his times.
"He was an extraordinary man," said Griffin, 59. "His character has been impugned by these outrageous accusations."
