President Donald Trump is doubling down on plans to build statues for Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali, and Jackie Robinson, telling a White House crowd on Thursday that the legendary U.S. athletes will forever be memorialized in the National Garden of American Heroes.
President Donald Trump Signed An Executive Order To Create Statues For The National Garden Of American Heroes
Trump announced Thursday he signed an executive order to bring back his “National Park of American Heroes” while at the National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol Building.
“Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali,” Trump said at a gathering celebrating Black History Month at 1600 Penn. Ave., before announcing that Black Mamba would also be honored.
JUST IN: Trump announces statues of MLK, Muhammed Ali and Kobe Bryant will be built in the upcoming National Garden of American Heroes. pic.twitter.com/TkWG5xvp40
— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) February 20, 2025
“I have signed an Executive Order to resume the process of creating a new national park full of statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived,” he added.
“We’re going to be honoring our heroes, honoring the greatest people from our country. We’re not gonna be tearing down, we’re gonna be building up.”
Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali, And Jackie Robinson Are Among The Legendary Athletes To Get Statues
Kobe Bryant, the late Los Angeles Lakers superstar, was an MVP as well as an 18-time All-Star, five-time NBA champion, and two-time Olympic gold medalist. He was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020, at age 41, alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant and seven others.
Next, Muhammad Ali is arguably the greatest boxer of all time, owning a record of 56-5 with 37 knockouts during his professional career from 1960-81. Ali was an Olympic gold medalist in 1960 and became the first man to win a world heavyweight title three times. He held the WBC, WBA, NABF, and NYSAC heavyweight titles. Ali died in 2016 at the age of 74.
Lastly, Jackie Robinson was an American professional baseball player who became the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the color barrier when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
During his 10-year MLB career, Robinson won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and became the first Black player to win the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Award in 1949. He died in Stamford, Connecticut, at the age of 53 on Oct. 24, 1972.
Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, And Bille Holiday Are Among Those Who Will Receive Statues
Prominent figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Coretta Scott King, and Frederick Douglass will also get statues in the future.
According to Fox News, Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 to establish the National Garden of American Heroes, but the directive was revoked by former President Joe Biden the following year.
The original order was signed amid nationwide protests and riots against systemic racism, leading to Democratic voters tearing down Confederate statues and “those associated with violent histories.” That’s up to interpretation.
Republicans have argued in the past that it’s hypocritical to tear down statues of American Civil War figures while erecting a statue of Vladamir Lenin in Seattle and another of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Another part of the new executive order that Trump signed Thursday reinstates the 2020 order to protect monuments and federal offices from vandalism, according to USA TODAY’s Kinsey Crowley.
The National Garden of American Heroes is dedicated to celebrating heroic figures in American history. The sculpture garden is located on the grounds of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
