8 JUNE 25, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Hundreds protest for removal of Christopher
Columbus statue on Astoria Boulevard
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
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.”
During 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.
There have been at least 15 transgender or gender
non-conforming people fatally killed this year,
according to Human Rights Campaign. Some of
the most recent high-profile cases include Tony
McDade, a Black trans-masculine person, killed
by Tallahassee police, and Dominique “Rem’mie”
Fells, a Black transgender woman found dead in
Philadelphia.
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 well-organized 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
Photo by Dean Moses
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 non violent 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.”
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