Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Quietly, slowly, Spokane has begun planning for removal of Monaghan statue

The process to remove the controversial statue of Ensign John Monaghan from downtown Spokane has quietly and slowly been progressing in the past year after local legislation was approved formalizing a process for reviewing potentially offensive landmarks and street names.

“The Monaghan family has been contacted and engaged with the discussion,” said Jerrall Haynes, the city’s Civil Rights Director. “Currently, we’re having conversations around the schedule for construction on that corner, and is there a better place for the statue to be relocated with the blessing of the family.”

While the city is not under a legal obligation to seek the family’s input for removal, “I think we all agree it feels like the right thing to do,” Haynes said.

There is no timeline for removal or final agreement on a destination, though Haynes said he doubts another year will come and go before the statue is gone.

Monaghan was a U.S. Navy ensign killed in 1899 near Apia, Samoa, during a war between colonizing and native factions over control of territory on the islands. The statue, which the city does not own but is located on city property, was commissioned by residents in 1906.

One plaque on the statue describes the Samoans who killed Monaghan as “savage foes,” while another depicts those Samoans as wielding primitive weapons, which activists have called historically inaccurate and racist. The Spokane Council of the Navy League of the United States has argued that aspects of the memorial should be updated, but the statue should remain because Monaghan acted heroically to protect a fellow sailor in battle.

For years, activists seeking the statue’s removal were stymied by a lack of formal procedure for the city to process requests for “deaccession,” or the formal removal of art from an agency’s holdings.

On Jan. 29, 2024, following a convoluted process involving a veto the prior year by former Mayor Nadine Woodward, the Spokane City Council created that formal process.

Under the new law, the Spokane Human Rights Commission can receive citizen requests for removal and reconsideration of art or the changing of street names, and will make any initial determination if a landmark or place name was “likely to cause mental pain, suffering or disrespect in a reasonable person …”

If so, the commission will forward the request to the Office of Civil Rights, Equity and Inclusion, which will perform additional review in consultation with city of Spokane attorneys, other city organizations and relevant stakeholders.

Following the law’s approval just over a year ago, no new requests have been submitted by residents under its authority, noted Alex Knox, who began his first term as chair of the Spokane Human Rights Commission in January.

“I would relate the lack of submissions or reviews to maybe a lack of public knowledge,” Knox said. “That’s one of the jobs of the Human Rights Commission, education and outreach, and one of the things I’m looking forward to promoting.”

With regards to the Monaghan statue, however, city officials believe the requirements of the law were fulfilled prior to the law’s passage last year, thus retroactively allowing for removal to begin, albeit slowly, said Councilman Paul Dillon, one of the ordinance’s sponsors.

“I wasn’t under the impression that we would pass the ordinance and (the statue) would be moved in 2024, just with the planning needed and the budget we were facing, but this is the year it would happen,” Dillon said.