Christopher Columbus monuments have been falling swiftly across the U.S. over the past few years, and with renewed momentum since the George Floyd protests against police violence began this summer. In July, even the city of Columbus, Ohio — named after the Genoese navigator who’s credited with discovering America — voted to take down the Columbus statue in front of City Hall, amidst a phalanx of Black Lives Matter demonstrators. But a Columbus statue still stands tall — 50 feet tall exactly — 200 miles away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the entrance of the city’s bucolic Schenley Park.
A growing chorus of Pittsburgh residents would like the statue removed. A Change.org petition with close to 14,000 signatures has been circulating calling for its banishment, stating that Columbus “didn't ‘discover’ America, he found native-inhabited land and claimed it for himself, using extreme violence and cruelty.” Others have written letters and sent emails directly to the city requesting the same. The Change.org petition names the Department of City Planning Art Commission and Mayor Bill Peduto as the “decision makers” for the statue. While both of those parties are in on the decision, Pittsburgh residents are stumped about what’s taking so long for Columbus to come down, and why it appears their otherwise progressive mayor — who previously wasn’t shy about taking down another problematic statue in the city — has been holding up the process for this one.
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