Nutley Sees Angry Clash Over Columbus At Black Lives Matter Rally

NUTLEY, NJ — Essex County continues to see clashes over the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of Christopher Columbus monuments from public spaces.

On Friday, dozens of protesters amassed near Nutley Town Hall to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a follow-up effort to a peaceful, local rally held in the wake of George Floyd’s death earlier this month.

They were met by dozens of counter-protesters, mostly middle-aged white men and women, who were outraged over fears that Black Lives Matter supporters were there to remove a statue of Columbus, despite organizers’ insistence that the demonstration was unrelated.

Tensions among the counter-protesters ran high. Posts on social media showed several people shouting and flipping the middle finger to Black Lives Matter supporters and chanting “USA! USA!” and “All Lives Matter!”

At one point, the confrontation got so heated that police used a line of officers and barriers to separate the two groups.

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Prior to Friday’s event, organizers with Nutley For Black Lives billed the rally as a “peaceful solidarity march” against “police brutality, racism and injustice.”

“We want to make it clear that the protest is not centered around the town’s statue, however as Nutley For Black Lives, we do support its legal removal,” organizers said.

But despite protesters’ claims that they weren’t there for the statue, dozens of counter-protesters continued to stand firm and challenge them. A Nutley resident told CBS New York that he was there to “protect our history, strictly our history as an Italian American.”

“I have rights too, you know?” he said.

The argument fell flat with Black Lives Matter supporters, however. Many decried their critics as “racists” on social media.

“As you can see we came there with the intention to peacefully protest and we were met with many hateful and racist people,” a demonstrator tweeted, sharing video footage from the rally. “We still continued to remain peaceful despite the threats and the racist comments.”

While Friday’s clash between Black Lives Matter protesters and their foils made headlines for its aggressiveness, Nutley has also seen peaceful support for the BLM movement.

Earlier this month, Ted Glick, an environmental activist with the Roseland Against the Compressor Station Coalition, recounted an inspiring experience he had while riding his bike in Nutley.

"I was feeling pretty good, still high after my participation in yesterday's historic demonstration of many thousands in Newark against racist police violence and white supremacy," Glick wrote. "All of a sudden I started seeing Black Lives Matter messages on the pavement within a Nutley park that I was riding through. Then I started seeing young people, teenagers, mainly women and mainly white, stretching out for what became a quarter of a mile, chalking literally dozens of messages."

Glick continued:

"As I rode my bike by these wonderful, inspiring young people, I gave every one of them a thumbs up or said, 'good job,' or 'great work.' It was like a gift from God. As I continued my ride, I began thinking that I should go back and take some pictures, so after I got home, I got in our car and did just that. The young people were still there when I arrived, and after I took a number of pictures I spoke with one of them, an Asian American woman. I told her who I was, that I have been working on racial justice issues in NJ for 20 years, and that I was at the big demonstration yesterday in Newark. I asked her if their group was an organized thing, and she said no, that what had happened was that one of them who had gone to the Newark demonstration yesterday had texted to the others with this chalking idea. They were all Nutley residents. And like young people often do, they didn't waste any time putting the idea into effect. These are the kinds of things that happen when a mass movement is alive and well, inspiring and moving new people to action."

COLUMBUS STATUES IN NUTLEY, ESSEX COUNTY

Friday's protest took place less than a day after Newark city officials removed a statue of Christopher Columbus from a public park. A week earlier, West Orange officials announced the township would be removing a monument to Columbus from a local intersection.

• See related article: Newark Joins West Orange, Removes Columbus Monument From Park

The movement to remove tributes to Columbus has also taken the spotlight in Nutley. An online petition to “Rename The Nutley Belleville Columbus Day Parade And Remove The Nutley Columbus Statue” has gained more than 1,800 signatures as of Monday. (Read it here)

According to the petition, its signatories are asking for:

• The Christopher Columbus statue located on Chestnut Street and Kennedy Drive in Nutley to be removed
• The Nutley/Belleville Columbus Day parade to be renamed

The petition continues:

“Statues and parades are created to celebrate and honor individuals or events. It is well documented by historians and by Christopher Columbus himself, that he was not a man worthy of either. To continue on with a parade and statue that glorify Columbus only says that we condone and embrace the enslavement, rape, and murder of the indigenous people of the Americas. It is understood that many Italians take the Columbus Day parade, as well as the statue, as a symbol of their Italian heritage and pride. However, that is no excuse for ignoring the atrocities that he committed to the indigenous people of this land. Both Nutley and Belleville have a large Italian demographic and we welcome the celebration of their Italian heritage, especially during Italian Heritage month. There is no reason that the parade cannot be renamed to something that better represents their history and heritage. The same goes for replacing the current Nutley statue. This is not meant to disparage Italians, and this is not a rewriting of history. This is an opportunity to finally acknowledge the truth about this country's history and what this man did. We need to do better, and this is a small step in the right direction.”

However, another petition titled “Leave The Damn Columbus Statue Alone” has gained more than 1,600 signatures as of Monday. Its signatories are against “removing history” or “defunding police.” (Read it here)

According to the petition:

“History is our greatest teacher, our greatest ally when it comes to dealing with evil and maligned forces looking to re-write or change events of the past, in order to confuse, obfuscate and demoralize a country and its people. Only a fallen society would erase the history and fabric of its origins to satisfy the feelings of the unwitting ‘Cancel Culture’ generation, that has been indoctrinated by forces of globalist propaganda via our universities.”

The petition continues:

“This is why, as Americans, it is important for us to keep historical statues, monuments and celebrations close to our hearts and minds. To celebrate the journey, we have endured as a country, and all of the lessons learned along the way. History does not belong to you, and it is not yours to ‘cancel.’ It belongs to ALL OF US.”

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