christopher columbus day parade new york

In September, the statue of Columbus in Central Park was vandalised, its hands painted bright blood red and “Hate will not be tolerated” spray-painted on its base. “You can debate the historic figure of Christopher Columbus but you can’t debate the contributions of Italian Americans,” he told reporters before the start of the Fifth Avenue march.

Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/ReutersĮarlier, New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, addressed the sensitivity of calls to remove the explorer’s statue from Columbus Circle, a busy traffic junction at the south-west edge of Central Park, and another monument in the park itself. Protesters brave the rain at the 73rd annual Columbus Day parade in New York. We should tell the truth about American history and stop feeding our children lies.” “People will say, what about Washington? What about the Dutch? What about all these other people that have enslaved people? Well, they shouldn’t be honored either. We should not have a holiday named for an enslaver or for glorifying a murderer.”Ĭalling on Italian Americans to rename their event the Italian American Day parade, Barron said Columbus was not the only historical figure in need of reconsideration. “Columbus was a murderer, a rapist and a colonizer and he enslaved African people. “The land we are occupying now once belonged to indigenous people,” Barron said. He announced a new bill to change the designation of Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day. The small protest drew a handful of political figures, among them the state assemblyman and activist Charles Barron. His friend Alfredo Zubieta said even a statue of one of the Viking warriors who reached American soil before Columbus would be more appropriate. “We should replace Columbus with local Native American chief,” he said.

Medrano said he believed a violent far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August and ensuing national controversy had helped focus attention on the symbolism of oppression and energized efforts to have statues of controversial historical figures removed from public spaces. “If we’re going to remember him,” said Angello Medrano, 24, “we have to remember him as a murderer a rapist who killed 90% of the native population.”

Christopher columbus day parade new york