On June 7th, someone by the name of Gabe Friedman created a petition to rename Columbus Circle. The petition was posted to change.org and was directed towards Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the New York City Council.
The petition on change.org reads:
“We hereby petition New York City Council and Mayor DeBlasio to direct that: (1) Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan be renamed and (2) the Columbus statue located there and Columbus statues in any other public areas of the City of New York City be removed from public view.”FYI: The Christopher Columbus statue was designated a National Landmark in late 2018.
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The petition continues:
“In the era of the Black Lives Matter movement, we are rejecting the old ways of life and the antiquated systems put in place by the generations that came before us. We reject police brutality, we reject racism, we reject revisionism, we reject the colonization and slavery of America’s past. Numerous cities and towns around the country are taking action to remove statues and rename parks that honor the history of the Confederacy. As statues dedicated to upholding slavery and white supremacy fall, people in every part of the United States are also calling for the removal of statues of Columbus and the renaming of parks and landmarks named after him.
American Museum of Natural History to remove Theodore Roosevelt Statue
“It’s time to rename Columbus Circle and take down the statue honoring Columbus. Christopher Columbus was a white colonist who slaughtered thousands of Native Americans on their own soil. Honoring him is honoring those murders. We shouldn’t be memorializing someone who began mass genocide and enslavement in America.
“The Lenape Indians were the tribe that lived mostly in New York State before the arrival of the Dutch in the 1600’s. Seneca Village was a thriving center for African immigrants in New York City before their entire village was destroyed to create a portion of Central Park in 1857.
“We recommend either renaming Columbus Circle after the Lenape Indians or Seneca Village, but ultimately believe the city and its leaders should consult with Native American and Black leaders to decide what is best to move the city forward and remove the stain of white supremacy from our city.”
As of writing, the petition has gotten over 3,300 signatures. Here it is on change.org.
Other opponents of the Columbus Circle statue – not necessarily the name of the neighborhood itself – have recently reiterated their views to the city. In an interview with ABC News, Melissa Iakowi:he’ne’ Oakes, the executive director of the nonprofit American Indian Community House, stated “I think with everything that is going on now … I don’t see why (the city) would have an argument against keeping the Christopher Columbus statue.”
Stupidity at its best, idiots coming out of woods.
at its worst.
Signed. Italian-Americans can be honored in a different way, no need for a statue of a Rapist, murderer, and pillager.
I need to see the history of the Lenape first. I believe their name translates to “pure” and they considered themselves to be the superior ones…and they were pretty brutal to other first nation.
I’m in favor of it but I’m also Italian American.
I say replace Columbus with a statue of Enrico Caruso.
Call the place Caruso Circle. Why not? It’s near Lincoln
Center.
FABULOUS IDEA. Halfway between where the Old Metropolitan Opera House (39th & B’way) and the Ansonia Hotel once home of one of the world’s most beloved singers, (72nd – 73rd & Broadway)
Please start your own petition! (former 35 yr. resident of 103 & RSD).
Great idea! This man was a murderer, rapist and terrorist! How about Sacco and Vanzetti Circle 🙂 as a message against capital punishment…or less radical …..Montessori Circle! We need some women in our NYC history!
I think it should be named. “Eli enoi de New York”….Which means “The heroes of New York.”
In honor of the thousands upon thousands of Italian laborers responsible for building both the infrastructure of New York City, along with designing and building much of New York’s most beautiful buildings.
Montessori Circle would be great…Champion education…
I support the effort but it is a slippery slope. Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, etc all owned slaves will we see a movement to strike them from American history as well?
I thought I moved to Manhattan. This sounds like Berkeley.
I do like the Enrico Caruso idea. But does anyone know if he had a history of abusing women?
Jesus Christ – Caruso was not an abuser of women. Sure, he made passes at women (most men have at some point or another). As far as we know, he never pushed or forced himself on anyone. He was beloved by all who knew him, colleagues included. One stupid lady in Central Park accused him.
I have an idea, why don’t we all just get the f–k out of New York City, State and America and give the place back to the natives. We can go to the countries our ancestors came from – providing they would take us (highly unlikely). This is just plain stupid. You can neither change history nor whitewash it. Children should be taught everything, the good and the bad. Columbus discovered the Americas as we know it today. Only in the US would such a stupid proposal even be entertained. How about we give up speaking English, Spanish and French? Maybe we return Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California to Mexico. Puerto Rico? Give it back to Spain from whom we stole ? The whole idea is stupid. Almost as dumb as DJT.
It’s what the nazis did, banned books and movies. This is a form of brainwashing. This is supposed to be a free country. We’re not supposed to be robots here
Oh, this is just the beginning. Looks too familiar, unfortunately. Not only Nazis did it. Generations of Soviet children were taught literature without ever hearing about some of the classic Russian writers because they belonged to the wrong class or didn’t convey the PC ideas. Dostoevsky was cancelled until 1970s. Didn’t they just cancel Gone With Wind and Paw Patrol lol? Chinese Cultural Revolution anyone? If we don’t confront this trend, the freedoms will be over. The only way forward is to honestly and openly teach history and culture, not rewrite or cancel it.
Tell me are statues of Hitler, Mussolini & Stalin still standing in the countries where the men came from. Maybe the families of those who were murdered, butchered and hunted to extermination don’t want to have people see them because they may praise them or honor them as great country men heroes or patriots. As for history ask your average HS or College student who these men were and the silence will be deafening . Do you believe there was a Holocaust?
That’s a false equivalency. Hitler, Mussolini & Stalin were butchers that caused tens of millions of people to die. Columbus was far from perfect, but discovered this land for the Europeans. That’s the history. Don’t force your “woke” perspective on people of a different culture or time. Should we remove the statues of Jefferson because he was a slave owner?
Like I said elsewhere – EVERY culture we have today TOOK their land from the people that were there before them, all the way back to the extermination of the Neanderthals.
Fine leave the statues up so that people who supported Slavery can learn from them and understand what these men fought to preserve. Maybe it will enlighten those who don’t know or understand. Most of those statues are really Monuments that celebrate these men have been standing for 140 years. What have people and those people in the South learned from them?
Can’t speak for other countries, but there are countless Stalin statues all over Russia and other former soviet countries. And statues of Lenin too. And movies. And a lot of historically acurate movies. And history books in schools also teach kids real history.
I like it.
I rented at Columbus Square before moving to W. 75th Street. Just as I wouldn’t buy an apartment in a Trump branded property, I wouldn’t want my longterm home in a place named (however far removed) for a despicable character like Columbus. The name just grated on me every time I had to utter it.
If this idiocy grows we will have to “remove” (read “destroy”) all surviving monuments of ancient civilizations, which of course were based on slavery, serfdom, etc., etc. To be faithful we should also remove the Manhattan skyline, built as it is on a fraudulent land “purchase” that scammed Native American peoples. I could go on. Alternatively, however, we might develop a realistic sense of history and admit that ours, like all human civilizations past and present, was built and survives upon a mixture of good and evil, fair and foul, triumph and tragedy. Far better to memorialize a meeting of civilizations with momentous consequence AND ALSO, EQUALLY memorialize the tragedy of Native America (both North and South) that resulted therefrom.
David, agree, and thank you for being a voice of reason.
I am all for police reform and equality for all, but we have history – good and bad – and IMO it’s important to acknowledge our past to learn and improve going forward. We know where we’ve been… let’s concentrate or where we are going to make this a better place for all going forward. We can not forget the atrocities… we need at this time to enforce our commitment to end them and develop the respect and compassion that each one of us needs and deserves. Changing the name of a NYC icon? Is it easier to forget the past? Why not make this stand for what it was in all it’s faults and reflect on the positive changes our country has and will go through? How many MLK Blvd’s and Streets to we currently have across our nation? Does this change/help anything? Let’s give naming rights to the highest bidder… or maybe we’ll get a Presidential Executive Order to change the name to T____ Circle. Just my personal thoughts. I love NY. Always have, always will. It’s the spirit of the people and we will rise.
Don’t dump on Columbus all the sins of people who followed him. look closely at the history. Did he do these things himself? or order them? The history does not indicate that. It was the people who followed him in the new world – including his son Diego the governor of Sto. Domingo
I still admire C. Columbus as a brave explorer and oppose taking down his statues.
GinaFriedmansVagina: Well, that’s a really mature comment. How old are you, about 12? You have quite a creative vocabulary.
The person who made this moronic comment has been banned from making future comments on our website. All are welcome to express their views; that is why we have a comments section. Disagreements will happen, and opposing views are welcome. But those who act like children or spew derogatory slurs add nothing, and only detract from the quality of our website.
The commenter used four separate email addresses, which I assume was either to create the illusion there are this many stupid people, to protect himself from embarrassment, or to somehow avoid getting blacklisted. But unfortunately, this did not work for him.
Thank you!
So it’s to be left to black and Indian leadership to rename the street, like everything else it is they who must be consulted. Recently the democratic black caucus recommended our democrats wear the kente scarf in their embarrassing kneel down in Congress. If Lenape doesn’t work perhaps they will suggest Sharpton Square. Someone save us.
The argument the city clouds have is read better into the matter since you clearly haven’t. Screw the Italians who were allowed into the states by the anglos by pointing at Columbus and reminding them they were there before them right?
Why don’t we call it Vaffanculo Circle?
Another example of the “woke” left and their nonsense. This only serves to take the focus off the real issue of the day and that is BLM, police violence and lack of police accountability for their crimes and murders.
In case you didn’t know, EVERY culture we have today TOOK their land from the people who were there before them, all the way back to the extermination of the Neanderthals.
I need to see the history of the Lenape first. I believe their name translates to “pure” and they considered themselves to be the superior ones…and they were pretty brutal to other first nation people.
Stop crying about a man from 600 years ago and worry about your future. Worry about learning to read, parents staying together, and black on black violence. Statue isn’t hurting anyone. This is just a way to ignore the truth about whats really going on
George Washington was a slave owner but without him we would still be a colony so get over yourself already. If you dont like Columbus circle dont go there simple as that
Lets all leave america and give the land back? Why dont all of you blame your ancestors for their wrong doing
Emery Roth Circle!
Yes, that’s it.
New York should be renamed , city was named for a person who owned the largest slave trading company in the world( Duke of York) also Albany was his first name also should be changed