In the wake of the police murder of George Floyd and the explosion of Black Lives Matter protests across the U.S., New Haven, Connecticut has witnessed some of the same tearing down of racist icons seen in the rest of the country. In early June, a letter from Italian American organizations was submitted to the city supporting the removal of a Christopher Columbus statue from Wooster Square, a park in a historically Italian-American neighborhood. In mid-June, the city’s Board of Park Commissioners voted unanimously to remove the more than 100-year-old statue, which was taken down on June 24 with only minor skirmishes between anti- and pro-Columbus factions – the latter group being mostly from out of town.
Some people in the community now are proposing a new statue honoring Italian Americans — such as depicting a group of garment workers or labor activists — as well as anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Others say a new statue should honor the indigenous people who lived in the area centuries ago. Less than a week later, the New Haven Board of Education voted 6 to 1 to rename Christopher Columbus Family Academy, a public school in the heart of the Latinx and immigrant community. The board also voted to rename the Columbus Day school holiday, “Indigenous People’s Day.”
Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Kica Matos, a Puerto Rican activist and the director of the Center on Immigration and Justice at the Vera Institute. Here, she explains how these changes, which appeared to happen “overnight” coinciding with the protests, were actually the result of years of grassroots organizing, and what she hopes to see happen next.
KICA MATOS: The first thing I would note is that destroying statues has always been a part of revolutionary movements, right? When you think about revolutions that have taken place in support of justice, inevitably there’s a statue or a monument that comes down that symbolizes oppression, and so it’s no surprise to me that in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and in the resurgence of a really robust movement not just for the defunding of the police but in respect for black lives and the demand that there be concerted efforts to end racism and anti-blackness, the nation has focused on these monuments.
So what’s coming down? Confederate monuments. Statues, especially Christopher Columbus. Flags, especially Confederate flags. So far this year there have been 51 statues, monuments, murals and flags that have come down across the country. It seems like this all of a sudden happened out of the blue – that one day the statues are here and the next day the statues are gone. But if you look at the work and the activism, the advocacy that has taken place around the country, the effort to bring down these symbols of slavery and white supremacy has been happening for a very long time. I happen to think that this particular moment is a revolution of sorts taking place across the nation. And so what happens when revolutions take place? These statues and monuments come down.
The fight to change the name of the Christopher Columbus Academy has been taking place for decades. The efforts to bring down the statue of Christopher Columbus from Wooster Park have taken place for decades. But the momentum has been growing. Now we have seen the tipping point. It feels like George Floyd’s murder was a tipping point and my hope is that there’s no going back, that this will be a moment of complete transformation in the nation and real substantive efforts to defund the police and to really advance a deeply anti-racist agenda at the federal, [the state] and the local level.
MELINDA TUHUS: So, with input from across the spectrum, including very established Italian-American organizations in New Haven and the area’s Italian-American member of Congress who’s served for three decades, the city’s Board of Parks Commissioners voted unanimously to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus. And less than a week later, the Board of Education voted 6 to 1 to rename Christopher Columbus Family Academy and retire the Columbus Day school holiday in favor of Indigenous People’s Day. The name of that school, because of its location, always seemed like the worst possible name.
KICA MATOS: The Christopher Columbus Family Academy is situated in Fair Haven, which is a neighborhood that has historically been a neighborhood of immigrants. And currently the largest population of immigrants that live in Fair Haven are Latino immigrants and there is a significant number of Puerto Ricans who live here as well. So, for as long as Christopher Columbus Family Academy has been in Fair Haven there have been protests and concerns about why in this neighborhood of people of color there is a homage to a perpetrator of genocide, and someone who stands not just for genocide but for our shameful history of colonialism. I live in Fair Haven and for many of us when we see Christopher Columbus it is an affront to many people of color and they remind us of the painful history of slavery.
MELINDA TUHUS: What do you think will happen next?
KICA MATOS: I am going to assume that we will be finding avenues for community input. Already, community-based organizations have unofficially renamed the school Montowese School, after a Quinnipiac chief. But I would very surprised if there was no community input around the renaming. And there is also a set of related demands. It’s not just about changing the name of the school. It’s also about making sure the curricula that are taught in the schools are accurate in their representation of indigenous history are factually correct about the history of European colonization of the Americas. They want to make sure that the teaching materials that represent Columbus as a hero or a role model are much more nuanced, and they really tell his history, including the history of genocide and colonialism.
