QUESTION: Is This Anti-Obama Statue Racist?

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ-A statue of a monkey donning an anti-Obama t-shirt is creating controversy over whether it was intended to be racist.

According to , business owner Rick Bond says “it was not meant to be racial."

Here's the gist of the story:

Bond, a former councilman and police officer, placed the statue in front of his Cedar Grove business, Don-Ric Self Storage at 405 Little Falls Road but removed it Tuesday afternoon after people started complaining.

“I absolutely never thought of it as racial,” Bond said. “It’s ridiculous.”

The monkey statue sported a T-shirt saying “OMG Obama Must Go.” The statue was in front of Bond’s business for at least a few days.

Bond would not say who dressed the statue, but added it was previously dressed in a Mets jersey. He said the statue was put up to scare away geese from coming close to his business.

But plenty of people aren't buying it. One person said he was outraged. Another called it hurtful. The president of the local chapter of the NAACP called it "incredible."

Thomas Reynolds, president of the Montclair chapter of the NAACP, said, "anyone who doesn’t realize what that (monkey statue) means isn’t just insensitive,” especially when they don’t realize how it can be taken as racial.

So we ask you, Patch users, what do you think? Is this statue racist? Does it cross the line?

Let's talk about it in the comments below.