New Haven removes Christopher Columbus statue, Philadelphia plans to follow suit

More like Christopher Canceled.

New Haven removed its Christopher Columbus statue Wednesday, becoming the latest city to bring down a monument to the explorer whose expeditions paved the way for the genocide of Native Americans as well as the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

New Haven city leaders made the decision following violence between pro-Columbus and anti-Columbus protesters, the New Haven Register reported. Punches were thrown and police detained one man.

Later Wednesday, Philadelphia announced plans to remove one of its two Columbus statues, where similar clashes have taken place.

“Philadelphia is experiencing a reckoning about the legacy of systemic racism and oppression in this country,” the city said in a statement. “Part of addressing that history is putting a spotlight on what historical figures deserve to be commemorated in our public spaces.”

The monument in question, in south Philadelphia’s Marconi Plaza, is currently boarded up, according to Philly Voice. But that hasn’t stopped both detractors and defenders of Columbus from squaring off at the plaza.

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner said that John Mooney, a 58-year-old white man, repeatedly told a black man, “Get out of here, boy” and punched him in the face Tuesday night by the statue, local NBC affiliate WCAU reported.

The city government plans to ask the Philadelphia Art Commission to remove the statue on July 22. Until then, the city is allowing citizens to comment on what they think the bronze Columbus’s fate should be. A separate statue on the city’s waterfront has seen fewer protests and is not currently scheduled for removal, though it has been covered.

New Haven, on the other hand, just brought in the cranes.

“The decision to remove the statue of Columbus today was one that was spearheaded by a group of leaders in the Italian community,” mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement. “I want to take a moment to thank those leaders for their support in recognizing the history of colonialism and its negative effects on many cultures.”

New Haven’s Columbus statue is just the latest to be removed, after those in Richmond, Va., and St. Paul, Minn., were toppled in anti-racism protests earlier this month. A Columbus statue in Boston was also removed after being beheaded.

Columbus himself never set foot in what would become the United States of America, first landing in the Bahamas in 1492. He would cross the Atlantic from Europe three more times after his well-known inaugural voyage, visiting Caribbean islands as well as Central and South American coasts.

He was also about 500 years behind Leif Erikson.