Chicago statues of Christopher Columbus vandalized repeatedly since the death of George Floyd should not be torn down, but rather used to confront the nation’s history and trigger a “reckoning” that’s long-overdue, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday.
Lightfoot acknowledged “the issue of Columbus and Columbus Day” is a source of controversy and “great discussion.” But she argued the way to “educate our young people in particular about our history is to educate them about the whole history.”
“I have been watching with great interest the debate that’s been going on around Confederate monuments. And there was a Black historian. I don’t remember his name. But, he said — and I think he’s right — that we can use this moment as an opportunity to not try to erase history, but embrace it full on,” the mayor said.
“There was a lot of harm that happened over the arc of the history of this country — beginning with the original sin of slavery. It’s way past time that we have a reckoning on that. But we also have to recognize that our history — both in this country and in our city — is rich and diverse.”
The racial reawakening triggered by Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police has emotions running high, and statues of historical figures considered controversial have been hit with graffiti around the country.
Last Friday in Little Italy, a statue of Columbus was vandalized, leading residents to guard the statue. When Black Lives Matter protesters showed up and got into a heated confrontation with the residents the next day, a retired Cook County judge took a swing at a protester that he said spit on him.
After the statue was cleaned this week at a cost of $4,500, the statue was vandalized again, lead the Chicago Park District to cover it with a blue tarp.
On Thursday, Lightfoot acknowledged “Columbus and his legacy” are a “flashpoint for many people.
But, she argued, instead of tearing down Columbus statutes, the city must follow the lead of Columbus Day parade organizers who have invited people from different backgrounds and political perspectives to participate in what she called a “peoples’ celebration.”
“We have way too many divisive moments in this narrative that’s going on right now. As leaders, we need to step up and try to unify people. … We need to use this moment as an opportunity to find our common ground as people. That’s what we should be doing in Chicago, is to unify — not divide,” she said.
“Let’s have honest, hard conversations about the real truths of our history. But let’s do it in a way that provides people with an opportunity to speak their truth, to recognize the hurt and the pain that so many have suffered for way too long. That’s what this moment demands. Let’s create dialogue. Let’s start healing and unifying. That’ what we need to do. Particularly when we don’t see that happening by the leader in the White House.”
Last fall, Italian-American were infuriated when the mayor’s hand-picked school board voted to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
The mayor said then she had no plans to duplicate that at the city level.
She said only that she had “spent time with folks from the American Indian Center” and that there is “a lot more we can do to elevate the history of indigenous people in the past, but also in the present.”
“They are a marginalized community and . . . there’s a lot more we can do,” she said then.
