Kobe might not get a statue in Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes

Before leaving office, Donald Trump had announced that Kobe Bryant would receive a statue in his National Garden of American Heroes. Now it looks like that won’t happen.

In a flurry of activity just before leaving office, former President Donald Trump announced that Kobe Bryant would be among those honored with a statue in his planned National Garden of American Heroes. Kobe’s name was part of a list of 231 names who were added to the initial 31 on the proposed project. Other sports figures on the list included Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Lou Gehrig, Jesse Owens, Vince Lombardi, Babe Ruth and Jim Thorpe.

Notably absent from the list were several athletes with significantly greater resumes as players and much larger cultural and civic legacies than Bryant, including LeBron James, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Bill Russell. Any guesses as to why they weren’t included?

Of course, the whole project, which seems well-intentioned at the surface, was deeply problematic. Per Slate, it was “an idea conceived in response to the nationwide movement to remove monuments to the Confederacy.” It’s neither here nor there because it seems likely no one will actually be getting a statue.

Why won’t Kobe Bryant get a statue in Donald Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes?

The garden project was announced around the same time as Trump’s “1776 Report” which was accurately and succinctly described by Slate as “an outrageous whitewashing of American history.” On his first day in office, new President Joe Biden signed an executive order canceling the 1776 Report and any references to the National Garden of American Heroes have also been scrubbed from the official White House website. As NPR pointed out, Congress had never actually approved any budget for the project and, given the reason for its inception, the new administration is probably not going to try and revive it.