Many of us are taught in school that Christopher Columbus was a heroic explorer that paved the way for Europeans to move to the Americas. In reality, he was a terrible man who caused centuries of pain and suffering for Native Americans. Columbus enslaved and murdered hundreds of Native Americans throughout his journey of "discovering" America. On top of this, he began the practice of forcing Natives to convert to Christianity and stripping them of their culture and religious practices. 

Columbus is no man to be celebrated. Back in 1839, Elbert Dickason named the town we live in after the colonizer. We should not be honoring him with a statue outside of our city. It shouldn't be there because he's a part of our history. Having a giant statue of Columbus is honoring him in a way that he doesn't deserve. The statue should be taken from its place and be relocated to a museum or other place where it could help show history without displaying it so publicly.

Now is the time more than ever to take action. Statues of Columbus across the nation are being taken down along with other racist historical figures. We should follow suit. Racial justice needs to be achieved in our nation, and even though we are a small town, we can contribute in many ways. By taking down the statue of Columbus, we are making a statement that the city of Columbus does not have any room in our town for racism and bigotry.

Below, I have linked some more articles on the subject.

https://secure.understandingprejudice.org/nativeiq/columbus.htm

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/us/christopher-columbus-statues-down-trnd/index.html

https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy