A petition has launched to have Prince replace a Christopher Columbus statue

Split image of legendary musician Prince and Christopher Columbus.


Minnesota residents have launched a petition pleading with state officials to remove the Christopher Columbus statue that stands in front of the state capitol, and replace it with the legendary musician, Prince.
With the Black Lives Matter movement in full force around the world, many people are banding together to have statues that glorify the racists of history removed and replaced with much more fitting members of society.
While either of these statues would be more fitting than honouring people in history who incited racially fueled behaviour, let us draw your attention to the most recent petition to pop up: a Christopher Columbus statue to be replaced with none other than legendary musician Prince.
“Across the nation, city governments are choosing to remove statues of white supremacists, slave owners, and those who threatened the livelihood of Black people,” the petition begins.
“Here in Minnesota, communities are reigniting the demand to bring down state’s monument to Christopher Columbus, a man who murdered, raped and enslaved Black and Native peoples in the Americas.
“We, the undersigned, do not believe that Columbus represents the values Minnesotans carry. Rather than glorify a man who wanted to extinguish Black and Native peoples, we should honour members of our community whose leadership we find inspirational.”
Standing currently at 9,390 of the desired 10,000 signatures, the petition plainly states: “Prince represents Minnesota values and Columbus does not.”
Surprisingly, the petition is not a recent start up – it actually began back in 2017, but has recently been brought into the light following the unrest in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
With Prince standing as a native of Minnesota, who also boasted as a social justice advocate through his fight for both elevating musicians of colour, and creative freedom, Minnesotan’s calling the petition thinks that Prince is the perfect replacement for Christopher Columbus’ statue.
Keen to see the Columbus statue be removed, you can sign the petition via the Organize For website.
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