Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Statue Honoring Tainted California Gold Rush Figure John Sutter Removed from Pedestal
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
June 16, 2020

Share

A statue honoring a colonizer who laid claim to the land where the discovery of shiny flakes of gold sparked the California Gold Rush was removed Monday outside a Sacramento hospital bearing his name.
Several dozen people cheered as a work crew lifted the statue of John Sutter — a 19th century European colonizer of California who enslaved Native Americans — off its pedestal outside Sutter Medical Center in the latest reckoning of historical figures being removed from public display.

Statues of Confederate and Colonial Figures Coming Down

Across the U.S. and Europe, statues of Confederate officers and colonial figures are being toppled, sometimes forcibly by protesters, as the uproar over racism spreads after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“OK, he’s Sutter, but he’s a real son of a b——,” said Frank Condon, a playwright who was walking to a doctor’s appointment. He had marveled hours earlier that it was still standing and wondered why it hadn’t been taken down.
Sutter, a European immigrant who had built a fort in Sacramento in the mid-1800s, had laid claim to land on the American River in Coloma about 35 miles away in the Sierra foothills. James Marshall, a carpenter, was building a mill there for Sutter when he discovered gold in 1848.
The two tried to keep it a secret, but word got out and men flocked to the foothills in search of their fortune.

School Near Fresno Among Several Named for Sutter

In addition to the replica fort in downtown Sacramento that still bears his name across from the hospital, there is a county and several schools named for Sutter across California. That list includes John Sutter Middle School in the city of Fowler, about 20 miles south of Fresno.
“Out of respect for some community members’ viewpoints, and in the interest of public safety for our patients and staff, we are removing the John Sutter statue that was originally donated to Sutter General Hospital,” a Sutter Health spokesman said in a statement.
Sutter Health did not say whether it was considering removing Sutter’s name from the nonprofit hospital system.
Ashwut Rodriguez, a California Indian from Sacramento, spit on the statue of Sutter after it was loaded onto a flatbed and tied down. It’s unclear where the statue will be taken.

‘Stop Celebrating These Evil People’

“This is only a Band Aid on a broken arm, but we can’t celebrate or consider anything until you stop celebrating these evil people,” said Rodriguez, 42, who came out with his family and young children to watch.
Sutter himself did not benefit from the gold rush and his empire crumbled after the discovery was made.

DON'T MISS

$165 Billion Revenue Error Continues to Haunt California’s Budget

DON'T MISS

California’s Water Crisis Deepens as San Joaquin Valley Sinks

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

DON'T MISS

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

DON'T MISS

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

DON'T MISS

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

UP NEXT

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Beating CA Community Colleges in Court

UP NEXT

Thousands of University of California Workers Go on 2-Day Strike Over Wages, Staff Shortages

UP NEXT

Gavin Newsom Pledged to Release His Tax Returns Every Year. The Last One Was for 2020.

UP NEXT

California Governor Will Not Make Clemency Decision for Menendez Brothers Until New DA Reviews Case

UP NEXT

Fewer Kids Are Going to California Public Schools. Is There a Right Way to Close Campuses?

UP NEXT

California Voters Reject Measure That Would Have Raised Minimum Wage to Nation-High $18 Per Hour

UP NEXT

With Democracy Supposedly at Stake, California Voters Stayed Away in Droves

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

12 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

13 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

13 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

14 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

14 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

14 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

14 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

15 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

15 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

15 hours ago

$165 Billion Revenue Error Continues to Haunt California’s Budget

History will — or at least should — see a $165 billion error in revenue estimates as one of California’s most boneheaded political act...

1 hour ago

1 hour ago

$165 Billion Revenue Error Continues to Haunt California’s Budget

Photo of Friant-Kern Canal
2 hours ago

California’s Water Crisis Deepens as San Joaquin Valley Sinks

12 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

12 hours ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

13 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

13 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
14 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

14 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend