‘It’s a sign. It’s not a chief’: Native American against Black Hawk statue going up

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (KWQC) - It has been several weeks since our first story on the missing Black Hawk Statue in Rock Island. We continue to get viewer emails and phone calls about the future of the Black Hawk statue.

One of the phone calls was from Larry Lockwood who lives in the Quad Cities and is a member of the Cheyenne Tribe.

He does not want it up. He said he was a part of getting the sign put into the yard where TV6 Investigates found it. Lockwood said when it blew down in the storm in April 2023 it was a sign that its time has come.

I asked why he believes it should never be put back up. He said the statue does not represent Native Americans the way in which he said they should.

“It’s not a person. That right there. And for one thing, it’s a sign. It’s not a chief. And see, that is the dehumanizing part of what the sign represents,” Lockwood said. “It really dehumanizes Native Americans and relates us or resorts us to just a sign that is laying on the ground.”

Lockwood said he will continue to advocate for the sign to be destroyed and have proceeds from the recycling go toward organizations that help the homeless population in the area.

If the statue goes back up, Lockwood said advocacy and protesting against it would be his next steps against it.

We reached out to the City of Rock Island to get a response on the future of the statue. We have not heard back.