Chadwick Boseman: Petition to replace Confederate monument with statue of actor gains thousands of signatures

Boseman died last week aged 43 after a four-year private struggle with colon cancer

An online petition to replace a Confederate statue in Chadwick Boseman’s hometown with one of the late actor has received thousands of signatures.

Boseman, who starred in Marvel’s Black Panther, died in Los Angeles on Friday 28 August. The 43-year-old was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. He decided to keep the news private.

One of the petitions, which was set up by a fellow resident of Anderson, South Carolina, has been signed by more than 23,000 people.

It calls for the removal of a statue depicting a Confederate soldier that stands outside the town’s courthouse. It has been a subject of ongoing controversy and campaign efforts for it to be taken down.

Currently, the monument is protected under the Heritage Act law, which states that two-thirds of legislators must approve the removal of war statues from public spaces.

(Reuters (Reuters)

DeAndre Weaver, the petition’s founder, advocated for the statue to be replaced with one of the Da 5 Bloods actor.

Weaver wrote: “Mr Boseman spent his life uplifting the stories of Black Americans both real and fictional,” before giving a special mention to the actor’s seminal role as T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, in Black Panther.

“This film, along with his entire body of work has uplifted and inspired many Black Americans especially during the turbulent times our nation is going through,” he said.

It is difficult to overstate what Chadwick Boseman brought to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as King T’Challa (Rex) (Rex Features)

Weaver said of the original monument, “At first it did not affect me. It was simply a statue. But as time went on and the hate in our country once again reared its ugly head the statue became a reminder of how little progress has been made.”

He called the monument, “no longer a reminder of the past but a warning of the future to come”.

Weaver stated: “We must move past the tragedies of our past in this nation and celebrate new heroes. Mr Boseman is a hero to this nation but more importantly a hero to the town of Anderson.”

A second online petition with the same aim has been signed by nearly 13,000 people. It adds that the Confederate monument should be relocated to The Anderson County Museum.

“There is no need for political controversy in this decision,” the petition argues. “The old statue need not be destroyed, however, with the engravings on the base, it is beyond time for its retirement.”