A Statue to Honor James Baldwin

There are now three statues in Harlem commemorating African-American achievers: Duke Ellington, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and, most recently, Harriet Tubman. A New York Daily News editorial (11/14/08) honoring the Tubman statue noted that she "risked her life to lead slaves to freedom, and later worked to promote women's suffrage."
There are streets in Harlem renamed for Powell, King, Douglass, and Malcolm X; luxury condos emblazoned with the names of Rosa Parks and Tubman; a city park named for Marcus Garvey; and public libraries bearing the names of Countee Cullen and the black Puerto Rican bibliophile Arthur Schomburg.
All of these individuals deserve to be so honored. But there is no statue, street, or park honoring the memory of James Baldwin, a native son of Harlem, whose eloquent novels and essays examined American race relations unequivocally.
Local politicians and community leaders should be made aware of the fact that this literary titan has been neglected and that a statue should be erected in or near 131st Street and Park Avenue, his old neighborhood.