Recently, we have seen a wave of local governments taking down monuments of Confederate soldiers and other racist and violent historical figures.  Philadelphia has taken down both the statue and mural of Frank Rizzo, the former police commissioner and mayor who instilled and enforced a strong "tough on crime" initiatives that disproportionately targeted communities of color; as well as the infamous MOVE bombing in 1985 that killed 13 people, 5 of them children, and destroyed approximately 65 homes-an entire neighborhood. 

There were more than enough just causes to remove both statue and mural of Frank Rizzo, and the same can be said of Christopher Columbus.  Columbus's presence in North America (even though historians claim he never actually stepped foot in the continent) marked the beginning of a brutal genocide for the Native peoples.  A false narrative exists around Columbus as an explorer when that is quite in fact the opposite. Columbus did not "discover" any land, as it was already inhabited by the existing society.  All Columbus did was enslave those people and initiate a process of ruthless ethnic cleansing and genocide.  

Quite frankly, this is long overdue.  Both monuments of Christopher Columbus in Penn's Landing and Marconi Plaza need to be taken down.  To be clear, this is not meant to be an attack on the Italian community.  Christopher Columbus is not a representative of Italian Culture but a mere individual figure. We recognize Italian culture and all that it has done to influence American society today.

Philadelphia lauds itself as the city that ignited the Revolution and birthed the Constitution, and murderous figures like Christopher Columbus have no room in "City of Brotherly Love." Please sign this petition to pressure our local City Council members to take action and remove this symbol of white supremacy and violence.