ASBURY PARK - The Asbury Park Historical Society says people should never forget the city's late founder James Bradley's "advocacy of segregation," but it draws the line on removing the statue erected in his honor near Convention Hall.

The historical society issued a statement affirming support for the statue after a local group, Help not Handcuffs, said the monument should come down because of racist policies Bradley implemented decades ago.

The statue was erected in 1921, just days after Bradley's death, to commemorate the city's 50th anniversary.

"We should never turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of Mr. Bradley or any other historical figure but openly acknowledge them," the historical society said in a news release sent to the Press.

But the group said it wanted to voice its "complete opposition to the removal of the statue of the flawed but brilliant founder of Asbury Park."

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"Although he was a visionary in many ways, there can be no doubt that our city's Founder, like so many people of his day (he was born in 1830), was shortsighted and wrong in his advocacy of segregation," the Asbury Park Historical Society said.

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Werner Baumgartner, city historian for Asbury Park, said in addition to being the city's founder Bradley served as the city's mayor for several terms.

Randy Thompson, 43, founder of Help not Handcuffs, said he didn't think the statue gave enough context about Bradley's history. He said he doesn't want to erase the city's history, but said he thinks a better venue for the statue might be in a museum.

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“There’s nothing about the statue that teaches the accurate history of James Bradley," Thompson said, in response to the historical society's statement. You can see him outline some of his thoughts on the statue in the video posted above.

He said his organization hopes to hold a rally in Bradley Park to protest the statue in the coming weeks.

History Professor David Goldberg of Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, said Bradley was "an instrumental architect of segregation" in the city.

Goldberg authored the 2016 book "The Retreat of Reconstruction: Race, Leisure, and Politics of Segregation at the New Jersey Shore 1865 to 1920."

He said that when black workers in local hotels and businesses in Asbury Park began to frequent the beach and boardwalk, it drew an outcry from some white tourists.

"When Asbury was first formed there was no official segregation policy," Goldberg told the Press earlier this month."Over time white tourists began to pressure Bradley to begin implementing them. Sometimes it was segregation enforced by violence."

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But Goldberg said he was hesitant to endorse the removal of the statue. He said the erasure of Bradley from the city's history would also take away from the black workers who protested and organized to help fight the segregationist policies in the 1880s and 1890s.

Don Stine, president of the Asbury Park Historical Society, said it was important to view Bradley through his time.

"If you’re going to take down the statues of people who were segregationists in the United States, you would have to take down just about the statue of everybody," said Stine said. "It was a segregated society. It just was."

Stine said he favored keeping statues and monuments in place so that people can "learn lessons from the past."

He said the historical society is conducting a review of all statues and monuments in the city to see if it can help with their preservation. "We believe all monuments in this city are worthy," Stine said.

Austin Bogues 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com.

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