How To Remove A Statue Rather Than Topple It

At 4 a.m. on a Thursday last July — in the midst of nationwide turmoil about the heroes we create when we put statues in public parks — a large bronze statue of Father Junipero Serra was removed from a highly visible location in front of Ventura’s classic Beaux-Arts City Hall. But it wasn’t toppled by protesters.

Yes, there had been a lot of protests — not only from the descendants of native Chumash whom Serra enslaved but also from Father Serra’s defenders, who created their own group called Defend Serra. But in the end, it wasn’t the protesters who roped the statue and took it down. It was removed by order of the Ventura City Council, which made the decision after a lengthy and intense process that involved two emotional public meetings and a decision by the Historic Preservation Committee that the Serra statue wasn’t a historic landmark after all. The statue was not defaced or destroyed but rather moved to nearby Mission San Buenaventura — the last mission founded by Father Serra and, ironically, an institution elevated by Pope Francis to the status of basilica in the middle of the controversy.

The iconic Father Serra statue before it was removed.

For some, the removal was the beginning of a healing process that would allow the community to confront its colonial, racist past. For others, it was a sad turn of events, eliminating an iconic statue that had been the very symbol of Ventura for…