SPOKANE — The Spokane City Council approved a contract to remove a controversial statue from downtown after nearly a decade of debate.
The Robert Monaghan statue has stood at Monroe and Riverside for 120 years. Thousands of drivers pass the intersection daily, but many don’t know about the heated discussion surrounding the monument.
The statue depicts Robert Monaghan, the first Washingtonian to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. He was killed protecting a fellow sailor in Samoa. However, the plaques refer to Samoans as “savages” and depict them in a racially insensitive way…