New York mayor considers Christopher Columbus statue removal

Bill de Blasio, the New York mayor, has said he may order the removal of the landmark statue of Christopher Columbus that has overlooked Manhattan’s Columbus Circle since it was erected as part of the city’s 1892 commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the explorer landing in the Americas.

The review, which comes amid a national drive to remove dozens of controversial statues and monuments, has prompted a passionate response. Italian American groups have argued that Columbus “was essential in truly legitimizing our transition from Italians to Americans”.

In a full-page ad in the New York Times on Friday, Angelo Vivolo, the president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, defended the Gaetano Russo statue, which sits atop a 70ft column a short distance away from Trump Tower. Vivolo said it had come to represent the many achievements that Italian Americans had accomplished.

“Our Italian American ancestors, facing bigotry and discrimination, identified Columbus as an Italian celebrated greatly across America for establishing a lasting bridge between the old and new world.”

Vivolo added that Columbus “certainly partook in actions over the course of his career that were deemed unjust”.

Columbus’s voyages helped establish the European colonisation of the Americas, but some historians have attacked his treatment of native people and participation in the slave trade. He brought Arawak indigenous people back from the Caribbean to Spain as slaves, having failed to find gold.

The statue, at the foot of Central Park, is one of dozens of artifacts under review as New York considers removing “symbols of hate” from the city. De Blasio, who is running for re-election in November, ordered the study after the Charlottesville rally over a decision to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee turned violent.

But near Columbus Circle yesterday, city residents and visitors to New York expressed mixed views.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take it down,” said Jose Simen of the Bronx. “He brought slavery to this country but he also founded it. Somebody else should be up there, but who, I don’t know. Abraham Lincoln? George Washington? Maybe someone who didn’t have slaves.”

Michael Aspesci, a construction worker, was incensed by the possibility the statue might be brought down. “Are you out of your mind? That’s history. That’s Christopher Columbus. Oh no, you’re breaking my heart. This is New York. Don’t ever bring down Christopher Columbus!”

Maya Sparks, a Spanish teacher who lives in Queens, said she felt Columbus should certainly come down. Her hometown of Seattle, she pointed out, had already renamed Columbus Day Indigenous People’s Day.

She said: “Columbus represents the start of the pillaging of native cultures in the US, and it’s something I don’t think we should celebrate. I think it’s really odd we still celebrate Columbus, so I think we should definitely get rid of the statue.”

One former New Yorker, who offered his name only as Allen and now lives in Virginia, said they should leave the statue in place.

He said: “I have mixed feelings, and I understand how this whole white supremacy thing is being tied to these statutes, I understand the symbolism, but no statue has ever bothered me. I’ve never looked at a statue of Robert E Lee and thought, ‘Hey, he was a good guy!’”

De Blasio said anything that could be deemed “hateful” on city property is under review, but he avoided naming Columbus specifically. “I’m not going to get into the name game here,” the mayor said at the Democratic mayoral election debate on Wednesday. “We have to look at everything here.”

But his rival Democrat Sal Albanese, echoing Trump, warned that the city was on a “slippery slope” by taking on Columbus. “He said Confederate statues that were reminders of slavery and racism deserved to be banned, but do we remove statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?”