March 28, 2024

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Bahamas charges against a man who destroyed a statue of Christopher Columbus

Bahamas charges against a man who destroyed a statue of Christopher Columbus

(EFE). – Police authorities have brought charges against a man who destroyed the statue of Christopher Columbus located in front of the official residence of the Governor of the Bahamas in the capital of the Atlantic archipelago, Nassau.

Police said Monday that the man, whose identity has not been released, will be charged with damaging government property, a holiday in the Bahamas as it is National Heroes Day. The agents also explained that after arresting the assailant it was found that he was not only carrying a hammer, but also a flak jacket.

The accident caused a real “storm” in social networks in the Bahamas, an event that was reflected in a several-minute video showing how the man, with the help of a hammer, hit the height of Christopher Columbus. As a result, the monument was left without his right arm and suffered further damage to his legs and base area.

There was no need for the indigenous peoples to discover these lands, because they already had a rich civilization, culture and knowledge adapted to the ‘sustainability’ of their environment.

When the cops arrived, the man started screaming that he wouldn’t resist, and ended up throwing himself to the ground before they reached his climax.

The event revived the debate in the Bahamas over Columbus’ role in the discovery of the Caribbean. The ambassador of the Caribbean province of Antigua and Barbuda to the Organization of American States, Sir Ronald Sanders, last week requested an end to the celebration of the Meeting of Two Worlds marking Spaniards Day, on October 12, a national holiday in Spain marking the discovery of the new world.

Sanders, through a statement, said that Antigua and Barbuda, like the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), would not be a true friend of Spain if it “pretends that this occasion is an occasion we welcome and support,” he said.

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“There was no need for the indigenous peoples to discover these lands, because they already had a civilization, rich culture and knowledge that was adapted to the ‘sustainability’ of their environment,” Sanders said.

In an exchange of opinions on social media on Monday after the Nassau incident, there was support and against the preservation of the statue.
Some people have pointed out that Columbus was a part of Bahamian history and that he remembered “where we came from”, through thick and thin.

Some people have suggested that the darker sides of the story should serve as a reminder of what needs to be done better. Others noted that they, like the Bahamas, were ashamed to highlight the figure of Columbus, which they attribute to their responsibility for supposedly terrible things, for which the statue should be removed.

In the United States, the name and legacy of Christopher Columbus has long been in question, but although many monuments in his honor have been removed or destroyed, there are still a few in the country.

There are also as many as 6,000 places named after him, from the District of Columbia in which Washington, the nation’s capital, is located, to cities, streets, rivers or mountains, according to the Data + Feminist Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Reflects the National Antiquities Audit, prepared by the Monument Lab and Foundation by Andrew W. (193) and George Washington (171).

This latest study has already had an impact on public policy and was cited in a bill by Pennsylvania Representative Chris Raab (D), who proposed earlier this month changing Columbus Day to Election Day.

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In recent months, more than thirty cases of Columbus’ monuments being beheaded, vandalized in many ways or removed by authorities can be counted in cities across the country, from Philadelphia to Boston or Miami.

The removal of various statues, plaques and memorials in 2020 accelerated during the wave of racist protests over the death of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The removal of various statues, plaques and memorials in 2020 accelerated during the wave of racist protests over the killing of African-American George Floyd, in Minneapolis (Minnesota), by a white policeman.

The protests centered on memorials to Union leaders, the founding fathers of the United States and explorers, whom the protesters viewed as symbols of racism, and one of its biggest victims was Columbus, blaming him for a prominent role in trafficking. The transatlantic slave trade and the extermination of indigenous peoples for centuries.

As an example, last year authorities in Columbus, Ohio had to remove two statues of the discoverer, one in front of the same city hall.

Less civil was the removal in Baltimore (Maryland) of one of the three works in honor of the Genoese sailor, demolished by Protestants in 2020, who left the obelisk that is the first monument to Columbus erected everywhere. world in 1792.

Last Friday, Joe Biden became the first US president to declare Monday a celebration not only of Columbus Day, but also of Indigenous Peoples Day.

The White House hasn’t been oblivious to all of this debate: Last Friday, Joe Biden became the first US president to declare Monday a celebration not only of Columbus Day, but also of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

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In his announcement to mark the holiday — which is celebrated on Monday in the United States this year — Biden acknowledged the “painful history of errors and atrocities committed by many European explorers to tribal nations and indigenous societies”.

New York Democratic Congressman Nydia Velasquez lamented this Monday that it is not just Indigenous Peoples Day and that they have to share the celebration with the “genocidal maniac” of Cologne and urged them to acknowledge that there is still “much work” to repair the “damage” caused by the Genoese.

Looking to abolish Columbus Day is not new, and in the 1970s quite a few activists requested that this federal observance be changed to another one that would highlight the indigenous population, which 14 states are already doing, the District of Columbia itself and more than 130 cities, either at the same time as Columbus Day or as an alternative to this celebration dating back to 1792, when New York celebrated the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival.

A hundred years later, then-President Benjamin Harrison officially declared this holiday for the first time, which is currently one of the most revered feasts at the federal level in the United States.

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