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Christopher Columbus Statue in Chicago Taken Down, Reportedly on Mayor’s Orders
By Zachary Stieber
July 24, 2020 Updated: July 24, 2020
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A Christopher Columbus statue was taken down by city workers from a park in Chicago in predawn hours, a win for Black Lives Matter demonstrators who recently tried to tear it down themselves.
The decision to remove the statue of the Italian explorer was reportedly made by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat.
Lightfoot’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The statue stood in Grant Park. It recently became a gathering point for demonstrators and counter-demonstrators, who wanted the monument to remain in place.
City workers used a crane and strong ropes to take the statue from its pedestal and carry it away. It wasn’t clear where the statue was going.
A group gathered at the statue and cheered as it was removed.
Epoch Times Photo
A group of people in support of the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue cheer as the it is driven away from Grant Park in Chicago in the pre-dawn hours of July 24, 2020. (Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Epoch Times Photo
A crane removes the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park from its plinth in Chicago in the pre-dawn hours of July 24, 2020. (Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
“This statue coming down is because of the effort of black and indigenous activists who know the true history of Columbus and what he represents,” Stefan Cuevas-Caizaguano, one of them, told Fox 32.
Pasquale Gianni of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans reacted strongly, issuing a statement to news outlets saying the Italian American community “feels betrayed.”
“The Mayor’s Office is giving into a vocal and destructive minority. This is not how the Democratic process is supposed to work,” he added.
According to Gianni, Lightfoot told him that the statue and one in Little Italy were being removed over public safety concerns.
Apparently ordering the removal represents a reversal from the mayor’s previous stance.
“I know that the issue of Columbus, Columbus Day is an issue of great discussion but I think that the way in which we educate our young people, in particular about the history, is to educate them about the full history,” she told reporters last month.
The mayor said she hoped people would not try to erase history, but “embrace it full-on,” and expressed concern that removing the statue would be divisive.
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[–] drozzxd ago
This one is too ugly to put on a pike