- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
RICHMOND, Va. — Protesters in Richmond tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into a lake on Tuesday night to protest the controversial historical figure as a symbol of racial oppression.
The statue stood in a park in the state’s capital city for nearly a century.
WWBT reports the statue was located in Byrd Park on the west side of the city. The protesters threw the statue into nearby Fountain Lake.
The incident happened last night at about 9 p.m. after about 200 Blacks Lives Matters movement protesters assembled near the statue to show support of indigenous rights. Throughout the evening, protesters marched through the city streets and ended up at the Columbus statue. Protesters emphasized solidarity between the plight of Black Americans and the colonization of the Indigenous community, according to Virginia Public Media (VPM).
VPM reported that once the statue was torn down, protesters sprayed painted it, placed an American flag on the top of it and then set it on fire.
Christopher Columbus stood for nearly a century in Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia. From Flicker
Richmond has had protests for the past week and half in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd who died as the result of excessive force by Minneapolis police officers.
Tuesday’s destruction of the Columbus statue adds to calls across Virginia and other states to take down statues of Confederate soldiers. In Richmond, a statue of a Confederate general in a local park was torn down last weekend.
Separate from the recent Black Lives Matter protests, for several years American Indian groups have worked hard to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday of October. After the city of Los Angeles did so, the city then decided to remove a statue of Columbus in November 2018.
More Stories Like This
This Day in History — May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson Signs Indian Removal ActNative News Weekly (May 28, 2023): D.C. Briefs
Oklahoma Legislature Overrides Governor Stitt’s Veto of Native Regalia Bill
Native Bidaské with Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillaire on the Opioid Crisis
Tohono O’odham Citizen Shot and Killed by U.S. Border Patrol; FBI Investigating
Native News is free to read.
We hope you enjoyed the story you've just read. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. Most readers donate between $10 and $25 to help us cover the costs of salaries, travel and maintaining our digital platforms. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to join the Founder's Circle. All donations help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
