Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he supports the permanent removal of Christopher Columbus statues from two city parks. The statues were removed in 2020.
One statue, located in Arrigo Park, will now be loaned to the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans (JCCIA) to be featured in an Italian immigrant museum.
Johnson told Fox 32 Chicago that the move is not intended to erase “art and culture.”
“Art and culture in particular is something that I don’t believe we should erase,” Johnson said. “And we do have to make sure that our presentation is depicting not just truth, but the best part of our existence, which is our collective humanity.”
President of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, Lou Rago, condemned the statue’s transfer to the JCCIA.
“The statue will be hidden away indoors—out of public sight—as part of an undefined ‘museum-style’ exhibit,” Rago said, as per the Chicago Tribune. “A sad final disposition of a statue of the heroic navigator whose voyages led to the introduction of Western European civilization and culture to a new world.”
Last month, President Trump promised to “bring Columbus Day back from the ashes” after a Biden-era proclamation recognized Columbus Day alongside Indigenous Peoples Day. “The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.”
“They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but ‘WOKE,’ or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you’ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback,” Trump added. “I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!”
