On Hiawatha statue: “Removal is not off the table,” said Human Rights Commission chair.

The La Crosse city council could get a recommendation on the future of the Hiawatha statue within the next couple of months.

Recent public discussions have brought new life to the recurring argument over whether the large Native American-looking statue at Riverside Park is so offensive that it should be removed.

La Crosse’s Human Rights Commission is working to write a resolution for the council.

“Nothing is too solidified in terms of, ‘What’s the ask?’ and various things like that, but definitely, removal is not off the table,” Shaundel Spivey, who chairs the commission, said.

Spivey added that he would like to see a “healthy dialogue” about the statue without the anger of past discussions, which have included death threats.

Spivey believes recent public forums at the Ho-Chunk office in La Crosse have also been useful.

“There was a lot of information about the history of the statue … but then also perception and different things of that sort, too,” he said.

The commission co-sponsored one such forum in December.