Atlantic City’s Christopher Columbus Statue Likely to Be Moved

Atlantic City's statue of Christopher Columbus will most likely be moved this week to protect it from possible damage during protests, but when and where it's going remains unknown.

The statue, which has called the plaza on Arctic Avenue at the base of the Atlantic City Expressway home for the past few years, has been moved several times since first being unveiled in 1958, but never to protect it from demonstrators.

Atlantic City's Columbus Day Committee is requesting the move to safeguard the statue from possible damage during protests surrounding the ongoing national debate about Christopher Columbus' role in enslaving native Americans.

The History Channel's History.com, puts Columbus' complicated legacy in to perspective...

Like many European explorers, Christopher Columbus encountered indigenous people throughout his voyages. There are three main sources of controversy involving his interactions with the indigenous people he labeled “Indians”: the use of violence and slavery, the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity and the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on native people in the Americas.

Columbus statues around the country and locally have been moved, covered or disassembled recently in the wake of protests by Black Lives Matter advocates, including those in Philadelphia, Trenton, Camden and Hammonton.

The Press of Atlantic City quotes Atlantic City Council president George Tibbitt as saying he is concerned about vandalism to the statue.  "I've heard of multiple protests on July 4th."

Sources: Press of Atlantic City/History.com