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President Donald Trump installed a statue of Christopher Columbus on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, after the original was torn down and thrown into Baltimore Harbor during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
The replica statue, installed Sunday night, is the Trump administration’s latest effort to portray the Italian explorer as a hero, even though his legacy has come under increased scrutiny in recent years.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero. And President Trump will continue to honor him as such,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to News themezone via email.
Trump has adopted a traditional view of Columbus and his 1492 voyage to the Americas, which historians once described as the beginning of European colonialism in the so-called “New World.” Contemporary historians view Columbus as the catalyst for the mass slaughter and subjugation of indigenous peoples in the Americas that took place over the following centuries.
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
On July 4, 2020, protesters tore down the original statue and threw it into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor during protests against racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. It was one of several Columbus statues vandalized around the same time.
The United Italian American Organization, which owns the statue, agreed to loan it to be placed on the White House grounds, News reported.
“We are delighted that the statue has found a place where it can shine peacefully and be protected,” John Pica, president of United Italian American Organizations, told News.
As public opinion about Columbus has changed, many institutions and government entities have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Joe Biden became the first US president to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in a 2021 proclamation.
Last April, Trump proclaimed that he was “resurrecting Columbus Day from the ashes.”
“The Democrats did everything they could to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation and all the Italians who love him so much,” Trump wrote on social media at the time.
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