West Orange To Remove Columbus Monument Amid Fierce Debate

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange will remove a monument to Christopher Columbus from a local intersection because it’s “divisive” and a “symbol of hate and oppression,” Mayor Robert Parisi said.

The decision to remove the monument at Valley Road and Kingsley Street comes amid a fierce controversy in West Orange. A pair of petitions – one demanding its removal and another urging its preservation – each gathered hundreds of signatures.

Recently, someone hung a sign reading “Murderer” around the 5-foot granite monument, which was installed in 1992 for the 500th anniversary of his voyage to the Americas.

The monument reads “Christopher Columbus, Discoverer of America in 1492, Foresight – Faith – Courage.”

On Saturday, Mayor Parisi released a video statement about the town’s decision to remove the monument (watch below). He said that the choice was made after speaking to local residents and the organization that installed it and maintained it over the years.

“Support for the monument doesn’t change the facts,” Parisi said. “The legend of Columbus does not match the history. And today, the man and statues or monuments celebrating his life are divisive and a symbol of hate and oppression, and cannot remain as part of our community.”

“The township will remove the monument and together, we will find a more appropriate message to replace it,” Parisi added.

TAKE IT DOWN: ‘COLONIALISM, WHITE SUPREMACY, VIOLENCE’

An online petition titled “Remove the Christopher Columbus Monument in West Orange, NJ” has gained more than 850 signatures as of Monday.

According to the petition:

“Public veneration of a problematic historical figure like Christopher Columbus should not exist anywhere, especially in a town that claims to be ‘stigma free.’

“Christopher Columbus didn't discover the Americas, he monetized them. One cannot ‘discover’ land that already belonged to people for at least 15,000 years. These original people were indigenous, and they populated the land with hundreds of small nations and tribes before Columbus had ever arrived.

“When Columbus met the Native Americans, he wrote in his diary, ‘They do not carry arms or know them.... They should be good servants,’ revealing that his motives were AVARICIOUS and RACIST. Soon, the natives were forced into slavery, and punished with the loss of limbs or death if they didn’t comply. He also participated in sexual slavery; Columbus and his crewmen would violently rape Native American women. While using them for profit and stealing their land, Columbus and the Europeans brought the bubonic plague, chickenpox, cholera, malaria, measles, typhoid and other illnesses to the natives. This decimated large populations of the indigenous people Columbus found living on the land he ‘discovered.’

“The monument in West Orange incorrectly names Columbus as the ‘Discoverer of America’ despite the land already being owned by Native Americans. In addition, he NEVER set foot on the land that is now the United States. He only saw the coasts of Central and South America. Therefore, in regards to both morality and basic truth, everything about Columbus’ voyages were WRONG. Any justification of Christopher Columbus’ behavior, including the brainless belief known as ‘Manifest Destiny,’ is unacceptable.

“Christopher Columbus’ deliberate eradication of Native Americans initiated the pattern of colonialism, white supremacy, violence and xenophobia that the United States exhibits to this very day.

“Christopher Columbus is not deserving of a monument. We should not be honoring the Native American genocide that he is responsible for.”

‘HATE CRIMES OF RACISM AGAINST ITALIAN AMERICANS’

An online petition titled “Keep the Christopher Columbus monument in West Orange for generations to come” has gained more than 425 signatures as of Monday.

According to the petition:

“Che disgrazia! What a disgrace to have destroyed and defaced the statuary of Cristopher Columbus! Those responsible have committed hate crimes of racism against Italian Americans. These revisionists have blatantly considered themselves as ultimate judges of Columbus and sentenced him for genocide and slavery. They must have NOT believed that slavery existed among indigenous people. They must have forgotten that slavery existed in ancient times. The recent law breakers didn’t care to damage the image of OUR ethnic group, the Italian Americans. They forgot that Italians dug tunnels and subways in NYC, carted away America’s garbage, fixed shoes, cut hair, cooked and served in countless restaurants and yet were ALSO lynched in 1891 New Orleans.

“Columbus is a prideful symbol of this Italian American community, of those immigrants that came here because of extreme poverty, of those that ALSO suffered prejudices, of those that died on battlefields like Normandy and Anzio, in patriotic wars, of those that have worked to build America with their bare hands, and of ALL people that honor the humanism deeply embedded in Italian heritage of art, music, and the architecture of Italy.

“I urge all people to take pride in themselves and in their own special ethnic heritage. No people are perfect. The stigma of organized crime STILL depicts us by Hollywood. To Italian Americans: don’t apologize for being who you are, relish your concept of “famiglia”, be proud of the contributions made by Italian Americans, please have the “coglioni” to honor your Italian American ancestors including the ONE man, Cristoforo Colombo that persisted in his beliefs, and proved to ALL that the world might expand across the Atlantic! BRAVISSIMO!

“Yesterday Columbus statues toppled to the ground and some people applauded. When those statues hit the ground so did the thousands of immigrants that believed in Columbus. Those that respected a symbol, a statue to manifest their love for freedom in the USA. Did they get away with it? Time to erase history in selected terms? Attenzione!

“Disgraziati e maledetti loro che sono prepotenti che vogliono rovinare l’immagine di una povera gente trapiantata in America. Ma come sempre......c’è la faremo!”

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