Hello,

On behalf of the residents of Syracuse, New York, I am demanding the removal of the Columbus Circle Monument. We are a city built on the invaded and occupied territory of the sovereign Onondaga Nation, and a city Indigenous people have always called home which they continue to live in today. We despise such a symbol of Indigenous genocide and erasure in our city. In order to uplift BIPOC, we must recognize that it has no place in our downtown. 

There is power in a symbol. 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. 

That is why we are asking for the removal of the Columbus Circle Monument located in downtown Syracuse. It represents racist acts of violence through the forceful removal of people from their ancestral lands. We ask that these racist acts also be condemned by Mayor Ben Walsh as he has condemned the behavior of police violence against black people. 

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. It will make racially motivated killings of black citizens by police harder to justify.