Deputy Majority Leader Mary Flowers Announces New Special Task Force to Review Controversial Statues on State Grounds

CHICAGO – In an effort to ensure that statues and other ceremonial landmarks on state property reflect the values and morals of our constituencies, Deputy Majority Leader Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, will head a special task force to review these statues and will hold multiple public hearings in the coming weeks.

“It is important that we take the time to review and consider these landmarks so we can accurately depict who does share the same morals and leadership values as most of the great people of Illinois,” said Flowers. “We need to understand that children from all different backgrounds look up to these statues and we want to be inclusive, transparent and represent our children’s voice and not highlight figures that adamantly worked against their interest.”

This week, Speaker Emmanuel Chris Welch, D-Westchester, approved the bi-partisan special task force that will be chaired by Leader Flowers. The task force will have the responsibility to catalogue and review each statue on Illinois state property. The special task force will meet multiple times in different places throughout the state over next few weeks starting in Springfield.

“We want everyone to feel included and proud of the statue figures we have in Illinois without any notions of oppression,” said Flowers. “We want to continue to highlight the best of what Illinois has to offer and we want both the process and results of our findings to be transparent, inclusive and representative of everyone in Illinois.”  

For more information about the task force, when hearings will take place and where, please contact Flowers’s district office at (773) 471-5200 or email her at State.repflowers@comcast.net.