Discussion of the removal of the John Mason statue continues Monday
The Windsor town council Monday will continue its ongoing discussion about the fate of a colonist’s statue that has prompted hours of public comment and dueling petitions that advocate either for its removal from or its continued stay on the Palisado Green.
Major John Mason’s statue has called the Palisado Green home for more than a quarter of a century. Prior to that the 9-foot monument looked out over Mystic Seaport for more than 130 years at the site of an attack that killed between 400 and 700 men, women and children and nearly wiped out the Pequot Tribe.
His role in the attack was the primary reason for Pequot tribal leaders to call for statue’s first move from Groton and the driving force behind the move to relocate the two-ton monument again.
“The statue radiates hatred through its symbolism,” said Mitchel Ray, a tribal council member of the Eastern Pequots, whose uncle Lone Wolf Jackson was instrumental in its removal from Groton, during a recent council meeting. “I support removing the statue and putting it inside the walls of the [Windsor] historical society.”
