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Over 6,000 people have signed a petition demanding the city of Syracuse remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from Columbus Circle.

The petition comes after protesters marched through Columbus Circle on Saturday. Protesters in Syracuse, organized under the name Last Chance for Change, have marched for 10 consecutive days in response to the alleged murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police.

The petition calls on Mayor Ben Walsh to condemn what the statue represents, including “racist acts of violence through the forceful removal of people from their ancestral lands.” Walsh marched with organizers on June 4, the sixth day of the protests. 

“There is power in a symbol,” the petition reads. “While we meet our local governments with demands to reform police and end unjust killings of indigenous people, we must also eliminate the symbols that allow us to view the most racist act of violence in our nation’s history in a heroic light.”

Some protesters at Saturday’s demonstration called Columbus a “murderer” and spoke about the systematic racism that followed European colonization of the Americas, Syracuse.com reported.

Protesters in several states have also demanded the removal of statues featuring historical figures associated with racism. Virginia’s governor has announced plans to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee from Richmond, with monuments to Confederate soldiers and slave owners also coming down in other states across the county. 

“Removing statues will not solve the problem of police brutality or racism, but it will send a message that Syracuse rejects racism, past and present,” the petition says. “It will make racially motivated killings of black citizens by police harder to justify.”

Published on June 8, 2020 at 6:18 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss