Controversial Statue Replaced with Living American Indians

When San Francisco’s Arts Commission removed a controversial statue from Civic Center that depicted a fallen American Indian beneath a looming missionary and a vaquero in a pose of yielding a whip, it left an empty platform on the Pioneer Monument. But over two days last week, the platform between the Main Library and Asian Art Museum came to life as more than a hundred Native Americans climbed onto the pedestal to have their picture taken in the statue’s place. Joe Rosato reports.