A statue of Christopher Columbus was beheaded in Boston last night by protestors, which has led the mayor to announce its immediate removal.
We have not witnessed a civic uprising like this in years. People in each state are heading to the streets to demand justice for people of color, challenging the authorities in power to make changes to benefit the public so that racism -- and anti-black racism in particular -- could finally see its end.
The Christopher Columbus statue in Boston’s North End was left without its head after protestors chopped it off and left it laying on the ground overnight. Columbus is recognized as the man who "discovered" America but his trip overseas is also seen as the beginning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. There have been movements across the country to remove statues of well-known slave owners and this is one of the most powerful.
Mayor Marty Walsh has announced that the statue will be removed today and placed in storage. They will determine if it will ever be put back up.
"We are going to be taking the statue down this morning and putting it into storage to assess the damage to the statue," he said. "That said, this particular statue has been subject to repeated vandalism here in Boston, and given the conversations that we’re certainly having right now in our city of Boston and throughout the country, we’re also going to take time to assess the historic meaning of this action."
