History, whether good or bad, isn’t going to go down without a fight and Brooklyn Lawmakers are joining the fray.
State Senator Diane Savino (D-Coney Island, Staten Island) alongside Senator Jeff Klein (D-Westchester, The Bronx) today submitted over 1,000 signatures to the city’s commission reviewing public art in a bid to save the controversial Christopher Columbus statues from removal at a public hearing in the Bronx earlier today.
Currently, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments and Markers is considering the removal of the statue amid a national drive to remove dozens of controversial statues and monuments across the nation.
“The statute does not represent the explorer, it represents the experience of the Italian immigrant. Italians stretch from every corner of New York State, and I applaud the countless individuals who have also stepped up to voice their opposition to potentially removing the Columbus Statue,” said Savino.
Savino is just one Brooklyn lawmakers in a long list of opponents in the fight to save the historical monument. Last week, Assemblyman William Colton (D-Bensonhurst, Bath Beach) testified to oppose the removal of Columbus statue and presented over 2,000 signatures from community members at a public hearing in Brooklyn Borough Hall.
“We’re dealing with traditions and emotions. My [diverse] community…They all feel very strongly that their traditions should not be under attack. They feel that they are,” said Colton.
At the hearing, Colton went on to note the importance of defending and respecting the traditions of all groups, saying there is no room for divisiveness in our communities. The assemblyman also mentioned the qualities of Columbus, such as perseverance and bravery, that exemplify achieving the American dreams for all immigrants.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams has also weighed in on the issue recommending that the city’s monuments commission expand to include diverse figures and memorials such as immigrants, LGBTQ+ Individuals, and people of color.
“There has been wide public outcry about the need to revisit existing monuments that honor individuals with checkered pasts, and it is an important conversation that must take place. At the same time, we must build up our communities to recognize the rich and diverse history of individuals that strove against all odds to improve the quality of life of countless during a time when their efforts went largely unrecognized, and subsequently, were not honored by the decision makers that often did not look like, or experience the same New York City, as them,” said Adams.
In July of 2015, Adams wrote letters to the United States Department of the Army and members of Congress calling for the immediate renaming of General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive at Fort Hamilton in Bay Ridge, denouncing the honor of those who fought to preserve slavery in the United States. At that time, he first suggested an empaneling of “historians and local leaders to determine heroes truly befitting of having their names memorialized inside this post.”
“I believe that there are more than enough historical figures and campaigns that worked individually or collectively to build a Brooklyn and New York City that accommodates all and is reflective of our diverse history and community fabric. At the same time, New York City has more than enough venues to honor these individuals or movements,” wrote Adams.
Last month, City Councilman Robert Cornegy Jr. (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) was one of the first public officials to recommend that instead of tearing down statues, the city work to erect more.
Cornegy went on to state his disagreement with the Mayor’s commission and their possible decision to take down statues they deem inappropriate or not politically correct.
Cornegy has allocated $1 million of his capital discretionary budget for the erection of four statues of prominent African-Americans in the next four years. The first of the monuments would begin in 2018 with a statue of the late Brooklyn Congresswoman [and first mainstream black Presidential candidate] Shirley Chisholm in Crown Heights’ Brower Park on Brooklyn Avenue and Prospect Place.
The city’s commission reviewing public art will hold one final public hearing which will take place tomorrow in Staten Island.
Among those scheduled to testify include is Assembly Member and former mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis (R-Bay Ridge, Staten Island).
