We the undersigned demand the immediate removal of the statue of Christopher Columbus from Grant Park in Chicago. This statue glorifies a man whose heinous actions laid the groundwork for the enslavement and genocide of Indigenous peoples all across North and South America and paved the way for the expansion of slavery into this country.

This statue does not preserve history: it hides it. Even for his time period, Christopher Columbus’s treatment of the people under his rule was considered unjust and cruel, and he was removed from power by the King and Queen of Spain after reports that he had mutilated and massacred local Taino peoples. By leaving this statue standing, you are celebrating this genocide and discounting the experiences of the over 22,000 Native and Indigenous people who are part of our Chicago community. 

His long list of crimes against humanity has been well documented in both his own writings and those of his contemporary, Bartoleme de las Casas. But still, this legacy was used by the United States government and its institutions to justify the eradication of millions of people and the removal of any survivors from their homelands. It’s time we face this part of history we try to sweep under the rug, and remove this statue.

The continued adoration of a man who was a mass murderer and the first slave owner in the Americas needs to end now. We have interwoven our city’s history with this atrocious person for far too many years. Let us not forget that one of the stars on our city’s flag represents a World’s Fair that bore his name and that rejoiced in his brutal actions in the pursuit of white dominance in the Americas. 

History will not forget Columbus, nor will Chicago. But it is time to stop putting people like him on literal pedestals. It is time to remove Columbus from a pillar inscribed with such lofty ideals as Faith, Courage, Freedom, and Strength, when he worked his whole life against those very principles.

We demand the immediate removal of this statue by the Chicago Park District. As similar statues of Columbus fall around the country in Boston and in Minnesota, we cannot stand by and let this history go ignored any longer in our city.