Last year the leaders of Tower Grove Park decided to leave the Christopher Columbus statue in their park standing despite a call for its removal, because "it represents Italian Americans". In light of the current momentum for racial justice, however, we feel that they should reconsider this decision and have the statue torn down. Christopher Columbus was not a hero or great explorer. He was a war criminal who raped, tortured, pillaged, and murdered the people indigenous to the land he stole. He represents racism, colonialism, slavery and white supremacy, and should not be given any honorable remembrance, or be a symbol of Tower Grove Park.