Two indigenous activists are in court Wednesday at the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida following their arrests in October last year for throwing fake blood on a statue of Christopher Columbus.
Mauricio Vasquez held a sign today that said “Take Down Columbus. Stand with the Statue 2”
“The City is claiming that it wasn’t the city who put up the statue, that it was a private organization. But in the meantime that doesn’t mean that the city doesn’t have the power to take it down. It’s been taken down in most parts of the US.”
More than 40 statues of Columbus have been removed nationally since the 1970s. Tampa’s statue on Bayshore has stood there since 1953. Indigenous activist Sheridan Murphy said that despite the reality that indigenous nations were met with genocide during advent of colonial America, many colonists are still celebrated.
“That’s where the system’s at. It celebrates genocide. Imagine if Germany had statues to Adolf Hitler everywhere, what people would think. But find me a town in America that doesn’t have a statue of an Indian killer. Just one town. Find one. You can’t.”
Jeff Castellanos is from the Chickasaw Nation, and was charged with a second degree misdemeanor with damage under $100 along with Oscar Rosario, who were arrested after throwing fake blood made with water and food coloring on the statue.
“The statue is not damaged. If anything they cleaned it; it looks better than before…It’s for me standing up for my ancestors that passed away, you know. They would have wanted me to be here, you know, to not forget them and all that…what they went through. People need to know what we went through. A lot of people really don’t think highly of us you know. They’re quick to not look at us as human beings.”
Burning sage and playing traditional music outside the courthouse about a dozen activists stood in solidarity with who they have dubbed the Columbus 2, and they say today’s pre-trial hearing is just the beginning of their legal battle.
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