Restoring History: Another Famous Columbus Statue Makes A Comeback

Citizens of Columbus, Ohio, are advocating for their heritage after a city landmark was taken down during the statue wars of 2020.

According to the Wall Street Journal, traditionalists are now suing and lobbying local governments to return the memorials of Confederate generals, Founding Fathers, and European explorers. The most notable example of this is the citizens of Columbus, Ohio, calling for the restoration of their 22-foot-high, 3-ton statue of Christopher Columbus, which was removed from City Hall after protests broke out following the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

The explorer’s monument that once stood tall in Ohio’s capital now lies in a secure storage facility, monitored and labeled with caution tape. But a group of Italian Americans filed a federal lawsuit seeking the statue’s return and asserting that its original removal was illegal.

“You reach a point where this stuff is shoved down your throat, and you can only take so much of it,” said 67-year-old Jack Conte, the lawsuit’s organizer.

In a time overshadowed by the COVID pandemic with riots that raged against police and perceived racism, Democrat Mayor Andrew Ginther said the statue needed to be taken down so that citizens “will no longer live in the shadow of our ugly past.” 

Detractors of the Columbus statue have argued that Columbus was cruel to natives, but supporters of the explorer contend that he should be praised for his historic discoveries. 

The Trump administration joined the push to bring Columbus back by constructing a statue in March near the White House. The new Columbus statue, which is a replica of the Baltimore Columbus statue that protesters sank in 2020, was put up ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. This action is matched by President Donald Trump’s praise of Columbus as “the original American hero and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth.” 

The replica was loaned to the federal government by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, whose president — Basil Russo — was a former Democratic politician from Cleveland. According to the Journal, Russo said that America has made Columbus a “scapegoat for Western colonization.” Russo also questions how Columbus could have removed the statue in the first place, given that it’s the city’s name.

“What sense does that make?” Russo asked, per the Journal. 

Columbus, Ohio, was originally named in adoration of the explorer during the 1800s. The Italian explorer was honored for centuries in Ohio’s capital. However, as historians became belligerent concerning Columbus and raised inflated claims about the death toll of natives, the city incrementally removed his tributes. 

But people like Conte are working to undo this damage. Some of these efforts seek to create a new home for the statue and provide viewers with more historical context.