A nonprofit organization is planning to erect a new Christopher Columbus statue in Brooklyn, New York, the New York Post reports. The city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, condemned Columbus in 2020, posting a picture of the statue and writing, “Take it down.”
The statue comes through an effort by the Preserving Italian Heritage Coalition, organized by Chinese-American state Assemblyman Lester Chang (R). The statue is planned to be featured at the John Hughes Club in Dyker Heights, a private property.
“I’m Chinese, but this is my community too,” Chang told the outlet. The group is seeking $100,000 for the project.
New York Young Republican Club President Stefano Forte shared with the New York Post, “At a time when Italian American history and culture are being erased by Mayor Mamdani, our club is highlighting one of the giants of American and Italian history, Christopher Columbus.”
The White House has also installed a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The move followed President Trump signing a proclamation last year recognizing October 13 as Columbus Day.
“Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’s journey carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas — paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776,” the proclamation read, going on to condemn the actions taken by “left-wing radicals” who have “toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces.”
