COLUMBUS – Mayor Andrew Ginther says a statue of Christopher Columbus will be removed from the south side of City Hall.
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther has announced that the Christopher Columbus statue on the Broad Street side of City Hall will be removed as soon as possible and placed in storage. pic.twitter.com/QU8Lpjp8z3
— City of Columbus (@ColumbusGov) June 18, 2020
The statue located on the W. Broad Street side of the building will be removed immediately and placed in storage as monuments to Confederates and other historical figures who repressed or oppressed other people are being dismantled across the country.
“For many people in our community, the statue represents patriarchy, oppression and divisiveness. That does not represent our great city, and we will no longer live in the shadow of our ugly past,” Ginther said.
Columbus is the largest city in the country named after Columbus. The statue was a gift from the people of Genoa, Italy in 1955.
There has long been debate across the nation over the explorer’s legacy, with some calling him a symbol of the conquest and subjugation of indigenous people.
The removal of such monuments follows weeks of global protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25.
Ginther asked the Columbus Art Commission to launch a process to determine how to best replace the statue and to studu other symbols associated with the city, including the seal and flag, and to make recommendations for change.