Statues toppled
Confederate, Columbus memorials come down
Protesters are turning their attention to more than just Confederate monuments.
As the issue of whether Confederate memorials should still stand has been reignited amid demonstrations across the country against racial inequality and police brutality, groups of protesters in some cities have taken it up themselves to remove the statues before states and localities intervene.
The memorials include a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis toppled in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday night and a brass cast of Charles Linn, a captain in the Confederate Navy, ripped from its base in Birmingham, Alabama, among others.
In some places, groups have turned their attention to other prominent historic figures, including Christopher Columbus. More attention has been given in recent years to Columbus, who many say should be remembered as a violent colonizer responsible for countless deaths of indigenous Americans.
Here’s a look at some of the cities where protesters have ripped down statues, regardless of local officials’ responses:
Jefferson Davis, Christopher Columbus toppled in Richmond, Virginia
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney vowed last week that the Confederate statues on Monument Avenue would come down.
Stoney said he would begin the process as soon as a new law giving control of the fate of Confederate statues to localities took effect July 1, and Northam said the state-owned statue of Robert E. Lee would come down “as soon as possible.” The removal of the Lee statue is facing a legal challenge.
But as all statues remained by Wednesday night, a group of protesters took action into their own hands. The statue of Jefferson Davis was pulled from its pedestal late Wednesday. The Washington Post reported a small group of people with tools and rope brought the statue down using a car. Richmond police were on the scene and crowds cheered as the statue was towed away.
The day prior, protesters eyed a statue of Christopher Columbus in Byrd Park. The group used ropes and placed a sign on the statue that read, “Columbus represents genocide” as the statue was spray painted. When it was finally toppled, the group lit it on fire and rolled it into a lake.
On Saturday night, a statue of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham in Monroe Park met a similar fate. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that a small group of protesters used ropes to rip the statue down after most protesters had dispersed that night. One person urinated on the statue and ran away, the newspaper reported.
Columbus beheaded in Boston
A statue of Christopher Columbus was decapitated in Boston with its head found nearby early Wednesday. The statue, which has been spray-painted and beheaded before, will be fully taken down by city officials and placed into storage as its future is determined, Mayor
Marty Walsh said.
Portsmouth, Virginia, protesters behead four Confederates, tear one down
Four statues at a Confederate memorial in Portsmouth, Virginia, just outside of Norfolk, had their heads removed by a group of protesters Wednesday night, the Virginian-Pilot reported. A tow rope was used to topple one of the statues, but a man was hit on the head as it fell, the newspaper reported. At one point, the rope snapped, and the group hurled bricks and worked to dismantle one of the statues, the Pilot reported.
According to the Pilot, the city’s legislators were to meet virtually to determine the memorial’s future on Wednesday but decided to delay debate until next month.
Columbus statue outside Minnesota Capitol toppled
On Wednesday, protesters threw a rope around the bronze statue of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul and pulled it down.