Tubman tribute long overdue

After seeing a photo of the stone statue of Harriet Tubman unveiled two weeks ago in Ghana, in western Africa, where her grandparents were said to have come from, even though she never even set foot on the continent, this community should be ashamed of itself. As the location that Harriet Tubman decided to spend her later life in, and a community that continually touts her, such a tribute should have been completed decades ago.

One of the first calls for a statue for Harriet Tubman came in the late Sen. George Metcalf's regular column on this page. A civil rights activist of note, he called on the community to raise the funds needed to commemorate her life and legacy.

If the old adage that things come in threes is true, it is only fitting that a statue be cast to join the likes of William Seward, Harriet Tubman's benefactor, and Thomas Mott Osborne, a former mayor and well known prison reformer. Plans were discussed to put a statue at Freedom Park, across from the Auburn police station. It could go there, where her home was on South Street or at several other fitting local locations.