A Boston Art Commission, along with input from the public, will make the decision about the future of a statue of Christopher Columbus that was beheaded back in June and now has been removed from Boston's North End, according to a report from WCVB.

The statue was put up in Boston in 1979.  A few years ago, in 2015, someone had vandalized the statue with the words, "Black Lives Matter" in fake blood.  In 2016, the head of the statue was removed.  It was missing for about a week before it was found, the report says.

There is far too much information and history to digest in the space I have here as to determine exactly what happened when Christopher Columbus came to America and the ongoing dispute.  There is, however, an article from History.com which explains a bit of the controversy.  Here's a graphic portion of the article.  Warning:  It's disturbing.

As governor and viceroy of the Indies, Columbus imposed iron discipline on what is now the Caribbean country of Dominican Republic, according to documents discovered by Spanish historians in 2005. In response to native unrest and revolt, Columbus ordered a brutal crackdown in which many natives were killed; in an attempt to deter further rebellion, Columbus ordered their dismembered bodies to be paraded through the streets.

For years now, and you may disagree, I have thought that Christopher Columbus himself should not be celebrated.  That's not to say that I want history re-written or erased, I'm just saying that if I were a Native American in 1492 and some Spanish dude invaded my home and treated me and my family in the way described in Columbus' own journals, in his handwriting, I wouldn't be too happy that in 1976 a statue had been erected in his memory and honor.

I'd be okay with this statue to go away.  Not the history of what happened.  That should always be preserved and told accurately.

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