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COURIER L 18 IFE, DEC. 18–24, 2020 PS
Locals call to
remove Brooklyn’s
Columbus statue
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Downtown Brooklyn civic gurus
called for the removal of the local Christopher
Columbus statue outside the Supreme
Court Building on Adams Street
— saying the 15th century European
explorer’s history of exploitation and
atrocities against indigenous people
should not be publicly commemorated
in America’s Downtown.
“I think statues are a representation
of our values and it’s quite clear if
we know the real history here — which
is real — this is not a value of probably
anybody here,” said Nicholas Ferreira at
a virtual meeting of Community Board
2’s Parks committee.
The panel voted to send a letter to the
Parks Department in support of removing
the marble monument after a request
by the aptly-named activist group
Take Down Columbus NYC — a 10-member
organization of educators and social
workers that hold regular talks about
the colonist’s history and advocates for
removing effi gies to the colonist around
the Five Boroughs.
One member of the organization gave
the committee a presentation about how
Columbus’s history has been revised
to obscure the brutal acts that his men
committed against natives more than
500 years ago.
“The truth is that Columbus was a
capitalist through and through. He did
not go into the New World with a curious
lens but with a goal to hunt and
claim anything he could for material
gain,” said Victoria Vasquez.
Vasquez referenced letters from
Columbus boasting about offering enslaved
girls for his troops to rape, along
with accounts from his fellow travelers
about how his men slaughtered native
men, women, and children.
Several meeting attendees voiced
their support for ridding the square of
its controversial tribute, with one indigenous
Kings Countian saying its presence
tarred the local court houses.
The Christopher Columbus statue in Downtown
Brooklyn. Photo by Kevin Duggan
“I am Native American and Black
on my father’s side, I am Latino on my
mother’s side,” said George Scott. “I am
a Brooklynite who has to do jury duty at
that court house…but I have to go and
serve justice in a building that right in
front of it has a criminal, a historically
awful criminal — it is triggering every
time I walk by it.”
One community board member,
howeever, said activists needed to hold
their horses and allow for a broader discussion
on the issue.
“I think a very broad community has
to take part in this discussion, this cannot
be just you know, ‘We got together
after a year in a group meeting of 15-to-
20 people in a room and this is our proposal,
take down the statue,'” said Andrew
Lastowecky. “Although it maybe
should be considered for taking down,
but I think the discussion has to be a
little bit more broader in order to fully
completely get to the bottom of this.”
A Parks spokeswoman said the
agency will review the community
board’s letter once they get it.
“We recognize the importance of the
continued contemporary reevaluation
and dialog regarding historical fi gures
and related public tributes to them, and
will review the letter once received,”
Megan Moriarty said.
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