Written by Michael Palomba
California Democrats have officially ordered the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue that has been on display at the State Capitol for decades, adding to the growing list of monuments that are under attack nationwide.
Thankfully, Senate Republicans are on the offensive. Several state senators, including San Diego County’s Brian Jones and Pat Bates, have signed a letter urging members of the Joint Rules Committee to keep the sculpture where it is.
“The historical monument has been on display at the State Capitol since 1883 except for a brief time in 1981 when it was moved to a temporary location while the Capitol underwent restoration efforts,” the letter reads. “Some will say the removal of the statue is anti-Catholic. Others will say it is racist against Italian Americans. We say it is uninformed. We must not allow fear of our past to push us to ignore the lessons learned through uneducated and ignorant action by simply removing our history from sight. What will be next? Removing the Little Sisters of the Poor or Junipero Serra statues?”
The issue here is not that Democrats are uninformed, as they know exactly what they are doing. Statues are being removed—either by force or by order of local leaders—across the country. The latest to be removed include statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and even the pioneer who claimed the land where the California Gold Rush started—and Columbus, of course. All while many state and local leaders are either orchestrating or allowing it.
The truth is that statues aren’t being removed to end racism, that is just the excuse that far-left extremists are hiding behind. These statues are being removed in an effort to rewrite history and promote a radical agenda.
For example, Christopher Columbus didn’t even own slaves, yet statues of him are fiercely under attack. Chula Vista recently removed a statue of him from Discovery Park, where it had been since 1991.
According to an op-ed in the New York Post, “Cultural anthropologist Carol Delaney notes that Columbus himself never owned a slave and adopted an indigenous child as his son. Why must he shoulder the guilt for the entire 15th century? Slavery was already here in the New World. So were cannibalism and human sacrifice, neither tolerated in the Old World.”
That is the problem: we are holding great individuals like Columbus and our founding fathers accountable for the ideals of their time, and that’s just not fair. Even Abraham Lincoln has become a target, and he was the president that freed the slaves.
The left has really gotten out of control. The recent murder of George Floyd is being exploited to promote an agenda that Floyd himself may not have even supported. It’s despicable that his tragic death is being used as a political tool, but it’s become typical for Democrats who never let a tragedy go to waste.
