On Thursday, NYPD officers were sent to Columbus Circle to protect the controversial statue of Christopher Columbus, as Columbus statues have recently been under attack across the country.
Recently, a petition to rename Columbus Circle was launched by Gabe Friedman, who is featured in the video above. At the time of writing, it has received over 6,000 signatures.
“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.
American Museum of Natural History to remove Theodore Roosevelt Statue
“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,” the petition states.
However, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio both support keeping the Columbus Circle statue intact – and keeping the name of the neighborhood.
Cuomo states that “The Christopher Columbus statue represents in some ways the Italian American legacy in the country, and the Italian American contribution in this country. I understand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts which nobody would support, but the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to New York so for that reason I support it.”
I support keeping the name of the area and the statue of Christopher Columbus… For all the reasons the Governor and Mayor state. In my mind it is absolutely the opposite of my opinion about the confederate statues etc. who represent ENDORSEMENT OF SLAVERY IN OUR HISTORY AND STILL DO TODAY.
Surely they could find a prominent person from the dead Italian American society who would be a better symbol of the Italian contribution to NYC? Maybe they could tweak the current statue and make it look like Perry Como. LOL.
Perry Como is an excellent replacement. Maybe someone could knit different color alpaca cardigans for the statue to wear during different seasons. So mellow.
I think a John Gotti statue would be appropriate . A man’s man till his last breath. Unlike these two whiny feuding phonies , DeBlasio and CUOMO
We can’t just change the name of Columbus Circle. We should re-name Columbus Avenue also. Wait – what about Columbus, Ohio? And Columbus, South Carolina? Let’s not forget the District of Columbia – good-bye Washington, D.”C.”! And forget about Columbia County, N.Y. This is going to be so much fun! And such an excellent use of public resources!
… states that “The Confederate Flag represents in some ways the Southern legacy in the country, and the Southern contribution in this country. I understand the feelings about it and some of the associated acts which nobody would support, but it has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Southern contribution to America so for that reason I support it.”
I see a legacy of Slavery, Repression of workers and Unions, Jim Crow, KKK, Lynchings. 600,000 deaths from a war that never truly defeated its root cause. North and South we’re both responsible Civil War . I don’t blame the present day southerners for theses actions. We are all Americans we must accept OUR legacy and one flag is sufficient to represent it