Obama 'Monkey' Statue Draws Outrage

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ -- A local business removed a statue of a monkey wearing an anti-Obama T-shirt Tuesday afternoon after neighbors called the statue offensive.

The statue’s T-shirt said “OMG Obama Must Go” and was placed in front of Don-Ric Self Storage at 405 Little Falls Road in the town of Cedar Grove.

Duncan Francis, a former Cedar Grove resident who grew up in the area, said he was angry about the monkey statue.

“I was hoping it would be investigated and the person who was responsible for what the statue represent be held accountable for it,” Francis said.

Although he said he was unsure how long the statue was up, he said his brother-in-law told him before the t-shirt was put on the statue, the monkey was “strapped to a tree.”

“I’m outraged as a citizen and want to hold whoever in the business is responsible for this racist act,” Francis said.

He only found out about the statue and t-shirt from a friend on Facebook.
“There was some Facebook commentary,” Francis said, “by people opposed to Obama’s policies with the statue as an undertone.
Francis said he’s an Obama supporter, but “you don’t need to be an Obama supporter to outraged.” 

When asked about the statue, an employee, who would only identify himself as “Mr. Smith” said, “I didn’t realize that the statue was offensive and I have taken it down.”

The employee said the statue was intended to scare away geese congregating in the area.

Thomas Reynolds, the president of the Montclair chapter of the NAACP said the statue “smells like racism.”

“It’s incredible to think someone would’ve put up a statue of a monkey with a white man in the White House,” he said, “and I hope the person would take a second look at the messages he’s putting out.”

Reynolds said he first found out about the statue this morning and found “the fact it even went up appalling.”

He said what was most shocking was that an incident like this occurred in North Jersey.

The incident caught him “off guard,” he said adding he believed the statue was “blatantly racist.”

The location of the statue was against the edge of the roadway.

Little Falls Road in Cedar Grove is used as a cut through for people traveling to Route 3 and was probably seen by people for at least 2-3 days.