Statue of Christopher Columbus near the White House after the original was vandalized in 2020. Disputes over US history
A statue of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus has been placed near the White House as part of a new initiative by President Trump's administration to redefine how US history and culture is presented.
Christopher Columbus statue. PHOTO: X/@DerrickEvans4WV
The monument was installed on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office building, within the presidential complex.
In a letter addressed to the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian-American Organizations, Trump confirmed the location of the statue and thanked the US government for the donation, Reuters reports.
The initiative is part of a larger campaign against what the Washington leader calls an ideology “anti-American”. That included measures such as the removal of slavery exhibits, the reinstatement of Confederate statues and other decisions contested by civil rights groups, which warn of the risk of undoing social progress made in recent decades.
The decision comes against the background of older controversies related to the image of Columbus in the public space. During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, several statues of the sailor were removed or destroyed in cities across the US. Protesters have criticized his heroic portrayals, claiming they ignore the violence committed against indigenous populations during colonization.
The new statue is a replica of the monument inaugurated in 1984 in Baltimore by former President Ronald Reagan. The original was thrown into the harbor waters in 2020 by protesters, whom Trump described as righteous “anti-American revolutionaries”.
In parallel, the American authorities continue to return other controversial statues to the public space. Last week, the Interior Department announced that the statue of Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a former slave owner, will go on display in Washington after it was removed in 2020. Also, the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike, toppled during protests, was reinstated last year.
