In Louisville, Kentucky, there seems to be a lot of controversy and gossip about the John B. Castleman statue in Cherokee triangle. The first time I became interested in this statue was talking to my grandfather, aka my best friend, John Humphrey. I moved here from Louisville three years ago from New York City because my grandfather was from here! He lived in New York with my grandmother in Long Island before he passed away. He used to come and take daily visits to his hometown, Louisville, to see my family and every time we passed the statue on my way to work at my fathers restaurant, Roc, he would start rambling on and on about it. Saying it’s disgusting what people have done to the statue, vandalizing it, saying it’s sad to know that his Louisville people didn’t look at the whole truth. He claimed that the people who wanted to remove it were trying to erase its history. “We can’t erase history!” He would say. After his many lovely visits he became ill and his joyfully fulfilling life came to an end. In memory of him I would like to keep the John B. Castleman statue and hopefully get it cleaned up one day because I know, as he was my best friend, that’s what he would’ve wanted.  Currently it’s covered with spray-painted vandalism and there’s been discussion about moving it to better the community. However, when you take a look at the facts it informs us that Mr. Castleman was a good man. People say he segregated parks in the 1900’s but all he did was integrate them!! According to also Weekly, some parts of the park were separated but ONLY due to the Louisville school policy in the 1900’s: “separate but equal”. As a fact Mr. Castleman was part of the Confederacy HOWEVER, he also later served in the U.S Army. Also, the statue itself doesn’t symbolize anything military related, Mr. Castleman is riding a saddlebred. Leo Weekly also states that “In fact, a group of African American leaders, objecting to the parks’ segregation, wrote a letter to the editor on July 4, 1924, praising Castleman for keeping the parks integrated while he was alive.” This quote shows how misinterpretation can lead to negative outcomes. Another source, such as WFPL News Louisville interviews an attorney of Louisville named Steve Porter and he says the statute “is a contributing element and a contributing element cannot be removed by the standards that they used in their staff report.” This quote clearly sates that the statue is apart of the Cherokee triangle community and that it shouldn’t be removed based on wrongful allegations and misconceptions. Yet another website called “my Genealogy Hound” writes the facts about Castleman saying he became the colonel of Kentucky state guard in 1878 and was “idolized” by his soldiers. The website also claims that Castleman was “a trustful advisor and faithful friend” to Gov. Knott. Overall, looking at the FACTS, there is no reason to move the John B. Castleman statue! It is apart of the Cherokee Triangle community, and Castleman is now proven to be not only a good leader, but also human! We all are, and sometimes we make mistakes! Hopefully we can get the statue cleaned someday soon as well! If you do not support this cause then statues will keep being removed around Louisville based on misconceptions and gossip, the community will lose its contributing element, and finally, the history would be hidden! We need to know our history to learn from it and improve upon it so why hide it? KEEP THE JOHN. B CASTLEMAN STATUE IN CHEROKEE TRIANGLE! If you sign and support this petition you are supporting a community and keeping history known to all!