Wall Street's Bull Gets a New Showdown

Wall Street's iconic Charging Bull statue is currently facing off with a gorilla. Not just any gorilla, but Harambe: A 7-foot-statue of the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla who was fatally shot as he carried around a 3-year-old boy who'd gotten into his enclosure in 2016 was, on Monday, installed across from the bull statue. In addition, the bull was surrounded by 10,000 bananas, which will later be given to local food banks and community fridges, NBC New York reports. The organizers of the piece say it is meant to bring attention to vast wealth inequality and point out that Wall Street is "bananas," with the 1% out of touch with what the 99% truly need, PIX 11 reports.

The organizers are Robert Giometti, Tejay Aluru, and Ankit Bhatia, founders of Sapien.Network, an upcoming social media platform that pledges to put "the needs and welfare of human beings first." They commissioned the bronze statue, and they say Harambe represents the millions of people for whom the US' system of capitalism "enriches wealthy elites and leaves the average person behind." But, Giometti says, they're not advocating for ditching capitalism. Rather, he says, the statue is about "revolving [capitalism and the current system] into the current future and letting them empower more groups of people." (More Harambe stories.)