Peoria Columbus statue: keep or remove?

[JustRight]

From WMBD:
PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria Park District is seeking public opinion about the future of the Christopher Columbus statue that sits in Bradley Park.

The district has scheduled a Facebook Live event for 6 P.M. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, during which time comments will be taken for board consideration.

The board plans to incorporate the comments into a proposal to be presented at a Sept. 1 PPD Planning Committee meeting.

“If there are some strong viewpoints that come out of that public meeting, potentially, those folks [who have strong opinions] could be a part of the Planning Committee so we could have a more robust dialogue,” said Executive Director Emily Cahill.

Comments and recommendations from that meeting will be incorporated into a plan to be presented at a full park board meeting on Sept. 23.

Additionally, comments may be sent to ppd@peoriaparks.org.

The statue was placed in 1902 in the middle of the intersection of Columbia Terrace and North Institute Place, before being moved in 1947 to its current home in Bradley Park.

Deterioration and vandalism have forced the district to restore and renovate it many times over the years.

The board has laid out a number of potential outcomes for the statue, which include leaving it as-is, leaving it and changing the signage around it, leaving it but modifying it to resemble a different historical figure, selling it, putting it into storage, removing it and leaving the pedestal for a future sculpture, and removing it completely.

[kevwr1962]

What next? Are we going to rename Columbus street? Maybe the cannon at Glen Oak Park? It was used against Spain in the Spanish-American War. It may offend those of Spanish heritage. Some unpleasant things have been said about E.N. Woodruff; are we going to change the name of the tech center? I could go on, but where does it end?

[cjsummers]

It should be left where it is. The slanderous accusations against Columbus are unfounded. His exploration and navigational skills were tremendous for Medieval times, and he did discover a continent that was unknown to Europe at that time (although he didn't realize it was a different continent at the time). He was also a peaceful man who did not seek to enslave the native peoples or take over their land, but to trade with them, so both civilizations could benefit. Diseases were traded unknowingly. There were bad actors among the crews of the ships Columbus commanded that led to clashes with the native people, but Columbus sought to punish the wrongdoers even when they were his own men and to restore order. He had a rival driven by greed who created slanderous stories and had Columbus arrested, but he was never convicted of any of those accusations, and the evidence provides no corroboration for them.

All other complaints against Columbus are not really complaints about the man, but complaints about Medieval Europe in general and Western civilization specifically. Columbus can hardly be saddled with full responsibility for the Western worldview of the 15th century. Besides, the statue is not a monument to Western civilization. It's a monument to Columbus's achievement of successfully sailing across the ocean at a time when no one really knew how big the ocean or the earth was in that part of the world. It's a great achievement in the history of the world no matter how you look at it.

[LovelyRita]

It should be left where it is. The slanderous accusations against Columbus are unfounded. His exploration and navigational skills were tremendous for Medieval times, and he did discover a continent that was unknown to Europe at that time (although he didn't realize it was a different continent at the time). He was also a peaceful man who did not seek to enslave the native peoples or take over their land, but to trade with them, so both civilizations could benefit. Diseases were traded unknowingly. There were bad actors among the crews of the ships Columbus commanded that led to clashes with the native people, but Columbus sought to punish the wrongdoers even when they were his own men and to restore order. He had a rival driven by greed who created slanderous stories and had Columbus arrested, but he was never convicted of any of those accusations, and the evidence provides no corroboration for them.

All other complaints against Columbus are not really complaints about the man, but complaints about Medieval Europe in general and Western civilization specifically. Columbus can hardly be saddled with full responsibility for the Western worldview of the 15th century. Besides, the statue is not a monument to Western civilization. It's a monument to Columbus's achievement of successfully sailing across the ocean at a time when no one really knew how big the ocean or the earth was in that part of the world. It's a great achievement in the history of the world no matter how you look at it.

Take it down. The Columbus statues should be sent to Europe. They can celebrate one of their own!

[born2race2win1954!]

Really?! Didn’t most of each of our ancestors come from different areas of this world?

[JustRight]

Well, Chicago's mayor caved to the haters:
Christopher Columbus statues removed from Chicago's Grant Park, Little Italy
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/chr ... autoplay=0

[RPlant]

8 reasons to hate Columbus (Day)
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/columbus ... -terrible/

Good enough for me, he's a douchebag. Tear it down.

[LovelyRita]

Well, Chicago's mayor caved to the haters:
Christopher Columbus statues removed from Chicago's Grant Park, Little Italy
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/chr ... autoplay=0

Or.... She was smart to take it out in the dead of night. She just removed a source of conflict in the city. Good for her for being proactive.

[kevwr1962]

She should have left in the dead of night while she was at it. She is making a mockery of the city.

[AV8R]

She is making a mockery of the city.

Well here's to hoping federal cops hit her with teargas as well....