NEW YORK - The American Museum of Natural History is removing a statue of Theodore Roosevelt on horseback with a Native American man and an African man on his sides after objections that it symbolizes colonial expansion and racial discrimination.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday the city supports removal of the statue because it depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior.

The statue at the museum's Central Park West entrance depicts Roosevelt on the horse with the Native American man and the African man standing on either side. The museum’s president, Ellen Futter, tells the New York Times the decision to remove the bronze statue comes amid the movement for racial justice following the killing of George Floyd.

Click here for more from the museum on the statue removal.

According to the museum, the statue was commissioned in 1925 , and unveiled to the public in 1940, to stand on the Museum steps on city-owned property.

Roosevelt served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He lived at Sagamore Hill from 1885 to his death in 1919. Sagamore Hill is located in the incorporated village of Cove Neck, near Oyster Bay on Long Island.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.