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QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 28, 2020
Hundreds protest for the removal of
Columbus statue on Astoria Boulevard
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
More than a hundred
people marched toward
Astoria Boulevard on June
17 to denounce the Christopher
Columbus statue
as a “symbol of genocide”
and demand for it to be removed.
The protest, organized
by Queens-based group Justice
for George Queens, began
at Astoria Park’s War
Memorial. The organizers
hoped to show solidarity
with Black and Indigenous
people who’ve struggled
with colonialism for centuries,
as well as to bring
attention to Black trans
lives lost to hate and police
brutality.
Trasonia Abbott, one of
the protest’s leaders, began
with a meditation followed
by a land acknowledgement
in support of Black
lives in Lenapehoking (the
traditional homeland of
the Lenape people, which
includes New York City)
written by writer and photographer
Joe Whittle.
“Most of the Lenapeyok
and the main political and
cultural body of the tribe
ended up in Oklahoma
after repeated forced removals
and relocations
spanning over 50 years of
exodus and leading halfway
across the continent,”
the statement read. “It is
this storied, shared history
of oppression and solidarity,
and our love for all of
our fellow Indigenous peoples
from across the globe,
that drives us to stand up
for our Black relatives
today who face the same
ongoing colonial violence
that we do as Indigenous
‘Americans.'”
Later in the demonstration,
two artists who identify
as Muisca, Indigenous
people of Colombia, read a
poem in Spanish about the
intersection of statues that
celebrate colonialism and
the systemic racism that
persists within the United
States’ systems.
Manuela Agudelo, an
organizer with Justice
for George Queens, told
QNS they wanted to bring
closer to home the renewed
conversations happening
across the nation and
world to remove statues of
historical figures who contributed
to the oppression
and violence of Black and
Indigenous people.
“We saw that around
the world and other nations
that there were a
lot of people denouncing
these bigoted statues, and
we felt strongly that this
affected our community
in Queens,” Agudelo said.
“Queens is one of the most
diverse places in the world
— we should be respecting
people who built this country.
”D
uring the first half
of the protest, another organizer
focused on Black
trans lives by reading the
names of individuals lost
between 2015 and 2020, as
a violinist played a somber
melody. It took well over
four minutes for all the
names to be read.
The organizer also
spoke about LGBTQ pioneer,
Masha P. Johnson, a
Black trans woman known
as one of the most important
figures in the Stonewall
Riots in Manhattan,
which served as a catalyst
for the gay rights movement
in the nation and is
now recognized as Pride
month in June.
“So when you’re putting
on your rainbow colored
T-shirts, dancing
to your favorite songs at
a gay bar and throwing
on your body glitter for a
Pride parade, know that
none of that would be possible
without a Black trans
woman placing her life on
the line,” the organizer
said, as the crowd cheered.
“When Black trans women
are being killed at alarming
rates and beaten in the
streets, we must protect
and value them because
that’s exactly what they
did and continue to do for
the entire LGBTQ+ community
all over the world.”
Another organizer
spoke about how the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 afforded
so many other rights for
immigrants and minority
communities, due to
that “very tight bill” that
gave Black people “some
semblance of rights.” The
organizer implored others
to vote and “bother”
their representatives in
the local, city and state
Legislature.
The organizer also acknowledged
Senator Michael
Gianaris for attending
the demonstration.
The protest — a wellorganized
event with volunteers
handing out water
bottles, masks and snacks
— then transitioned into a
march toward Astoria Boulevard.
More than a hundred
people marched down
Shore Boulevard then Hoyt
Avenue, chanting “When
Native interchanged with
Black and trans lives are
under attack, what do we
do? Stand up, fight back!”
Police maintained distance
from the demonstrators
throughout the march
and protest, blocking off
traffic as they marched
down the highway and
onto Astoria Boulevard by
the N and W train where
the statue of Christopher
Columbus is placed.
While there, several
organizers and community
members spoke
about Columbus’ legacy
in the Indigenous
community.
“For many years a lot
of people here in America
an throughout the world
thought this man was a
cool guy, but now with
further education and …
marches like these, we
know the real truth,” said
Sanakori Taíno Sagrado,
who identified as being of
Taíno descent of Boriken,
the Taíno (Indigenous)
name for Puerto Rico.
Sagrado then asked
where the markers and
new monument honoring
Indigenous people are,
noting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
“broken” promise to
add those throughout the
city in response to calls to
remove Columbus monuments
back in 2018.
Others talked about the
larger movement to defund
and ultimately abolish the
police, address systemic
racism and unlearn the
ideals that prevent actual
change from taking place.
“It shouldn’t be disheartening
because the
signs to all this was in
front of us the whole time,”
said Joseph Martinez, a
Queens-based member of
Warriors in the Garden,
a collective of activists
dedicated to nonviolent
protest, as he pointed to
the Columbus statue. “The
system has not failed us.
You know why? Because
the system was never designed
for us in the first
place.”
After a few more speakers,
the demonstrators
sand and danced along to
Bill Withers’ uplifting anthem,
“Lean On Me.”
Before ending the demonstration
at about 8:30
p.m., the organizers called
attention to a petition for
the removal of the Columbus
statue, addressed to de
Blasio and Gov. Andrew
Cuomo.
When asked about the
calls to remove Columbus
statues last week, Cuomo
and de Blasio defended the
statues as representative
of the Italian-American
legacy.
This is not the first call
to remove the Columbus
statue at Astoria Boulevard.
In 2017, DNA Info
reported of a instance
in which the statue was
tagged with the words
“Don’t Honor Genocide.
Take It Down.”
Photo by Dean Moises