Box covering Philly Christopher Columbus statue gets painted with colors of Italian flag
By Walter Perez
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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — More than two years after Mayor Jim Kenney announced his intention to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus from Marconi Plaza, the statue remains, as does the plywood box hiding it from public view.
The box was erected after several lawsuits were filed with the intention of keeping the statue in place.
Among those leading the charge to preserve the statue is Philadelphia Councilmember Mark Squilla, who requested the box painted with the colors of the Italian flag in time for Sunday’s Italian-American Heritage Day festivities.
Squilla says the city’s decision to put Indigenous Peoples Day on Columbus Day only created hard feelings on both sides.
“To try to pit people against each other by taking a holiday away from one group, and say you know, we don’t like the name you gave that holiday so we’re going to give that holiday to another group of people because we don’t think that person should be celebrated. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense,” Squilla said.
Of course though, while some see Columbus as a symbol of Italian-American heritage, others see him as a central figure in the European colonization of the Americas.
Action News spoke with people at Monday’s Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Penn Treaty Park, some of whom say celebrating Columbus is misguided at best.
“A lot of times that patriotism was built on genocide,” said Marcus Frejo, who is a member of the Pawnee and Seminole nations.
Mayor Kenney’s decision to take down the Columbus statue materialized in the summer of 2020 in the midst of the George Floyd protests that erupted in cities across the country, including Philadelphia.
Action News also spoke with members of the Italian-American community in South Philadelphia, some of whom say the Columbus statue is part of their neighborhood.
“I think they should just remove the box and let us live our lives,” said Mark Anthony Carlini of South Philadelphia.
The most recent hearings regarding the lawsuits linked to this case convened this past summer. No decisions were rendered.
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