The stone likeness of Columbus was removed from “Columbus Green” — a sliver between Washington, Lafayette, and Russ Streets — months ago, yet the pedestal bearing his name remained this whole time.
Over the weekend, this was fixed by a group calling themselves Podunk Punks, self-described as “local BIPOC artists/activists concerned with our community,”
(BIPOC is an acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.)
An explanation of the new monument was affixed to the pedestal and can be seen below:
If you can’t read the plaque due to low color contrast, visit the Zinn Education Project website for a similar description. In short, Hatuey was one of the Taíno leaders to lead the resistance against European colonizers in the Caribbean. For his efforts, he was publicly executed on February 2, 1512.
If you want to view this installation, I’d suggest seeking it out sooner than later.
