Someone threw red paint on a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston on Wednesday and spray-painted it with the phrase “Black Lives Matter" -- the latest in a recent backlash against monuments that memorialize racist white men.
Memorials of the Confederate variety have been branded with the slogan in Baltimore; St. Louis; Durham, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; Asheville, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia.
It’s quite obvious why Confederate monuments are being targeted. Just two weeks ago, a white man executed nine black churchgoers in Charleston in arguably the most vicious anti-black terrorist attack after the civil rights movement. Since then, the removal of Confederate remembrances has been at the center of a national debate.
But defacing a monument honoring Columbus hits a deeper nerve. He was long dead when the Confederacy fought against the North in an attempt to preserve slavery. But while the connection may not be as direct, it’s clear why someone threw blood (back) in his face.
Columbus represents a longer, deeper legacy of racism in the Western Hemisphere. He and his cohorts were genocidal racists preoccupied with acquiring gold and raping Native women. Columbus' "discovery" of the “New" World -- which, for the record, was already inhabited -- linked Europe to the Americas and ushered in the transatlantic slave trade.
More: Political Activists Throw Blood Back In Christopher Columbus' Face
Columbus was an evil butcher and rapist. I applaud the activists who threw the red paint.
Memorials of the Confederate variety have been branded with the slogan in Baltimore; St. Louis; Durham, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; Asheville, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia.
It’s quite obvious why Confederate monuments are being targeted. Just two weeks ago, a white man executed nine black churchgoers in Charleston in arguably the most vicious anti-black terrorist attack after the civil rights movement. Since then, the removal of Confederate remembrances has been at the center of a national debate.
But defacing a monument honoring Columbus hits a deeper nerve. He was long dead when the Confederacy fought against the North in an attempt to preserve slavery. But while the connection may not be as direct, it’s clear why someone threw blood (back) in his face.
Columbus represents a longer, deeper legacy of racism in the Western Hemisphere. He and his cohorts were genocidal racists preoccupied with acquiring gold and raping Native women. Columbus' "discovery" of the “New" World -- which, for the record, was already inhabited -- linked Europe to the Americas and ushered in the transatlantic slave trade.
More: Political Activists Throw Blood Back In Christopher Columbus' Face
Columbus was an evil butcher and rapist. I applaud the activists who threw the red paint.
