During a time where Black Lives Matter has become a world wide movement, it is both insensitive and disgusting to ask that black people continue viewing a statue of Christopher Columbus, a known and somehow celebrated racist, on display for the world to see. It is hypocritical of Andrew Cuomo to make a public stance of standing with the protesters, naming the countless list of names of our people who have been slain by racist police officers, but then asking that we continue to pay homage to a man known for his cruelty to our people because it is of someone from his culture. Historically our ancestors were greatly divided, as we are today. Part of growth and moving forward is both accepting and acknowledging the wrongs committed in the past. If Andrew Cuomo is in fact for the people as he claims to be, he will not ask that black people continue to take a slap in the face by looking at this statue day after day. He will accept that amongst the many changes that have to come, this is one of them. Painting Black Lives Matter on street corners does not erase our pain. It does not suddenly rewrite history and it certainly will not pacify us. Change starts within ourselves and that requires facing hard truths. To keep the statue up is telling us that the openness to fairness and equality will forever remain rudimentary and that will no longer stand.