MEMPHIS, Tenn — While calls for the removal of Christopher Columbus statues are happening across the nation, here in Memphis, the statue memorializing the Italian voyager has been vandalized twice.
Two separate incidents of vandalism were reported to the statue in Marquette Park.
“If you don’t have a plan and all you’re doing is vandalizing statues and things of that nature, you’re just vandalizing,” said park visitor Darrell Crawford.
The group behind the statue’s funding spoke out Wednesday.
“If you don’t like Christopher Columbus or you think it stands for something bad, well, don’t come here,” commented Michael Spano, the UNICO Memphis Chapter Foundation president.
UNICO is an Italian-American organization which paid for the statue commission in 1984.
“I’m sorry that this potentially offends some folks,” said Spano. “Okay, that is their right.”
The statue previously stood downtown at Third and Adams and was moved to Marquette Park because of the location of the Italian Festival.
“This is a part of Italian heritage preservation,” said Spano. “So our goal is to raise money and make this community better.”
One park visitor says the statue of Columbus doesn’t add up.
“You’re honoring somebody who did not discover this country and someone who committed atrocities wherever he went. He went to South America, he went to the Caribbean. He did not set foot on North America,” said Crawford.
Spano says he’s fed up with the repeated acts of vandalism.
“Frankly it’s taking away from money that we could be using for scholarships to repair this,” he said.