from Mainstream Media
CAMDEN – Two Christopher Columbus statues in Camden County were among several targeted in a statewide vandalism spree, officials say.
Vandals daubed paint on monuments to the Italian explorer in Cooper River Park, Pennsauken, and Farnham Park in Camden, said Dan Keashen, spokesman for the Camden County Police Department.
“My understanding is that this was a statewide event,” he said.
The vandalism was discovered Monday, and crews cleaned the Camden County statues Tuesday morning.
Statues also were struck in Atlantic and Bergen counties, said Dominick Burzichelli, president of New Jersey Order Sons of Italy in America.In Bergen County, red paint was smeared on a pair of Christopher Columbus statues in two parks in the city of Garfield on Sunday, authorities said.
from Mainstream Media
A Christopher Columbus statue in Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood has become at least the fourth of the explorer’s likeness to be vandalized in New Jersey this week.
Lawmakers, officials and residents discussed the colonizer’s place in American history on Columbus Day in October.
Many lumped Columbus and his statues in with other historical figures that were being defaced across the country because of their ties to slavery and marginalization of certain racial groups.
A letter left at the statue in Trenton’s Columbus Park titled “F–k your new world” explains that the writers feel communities can be hurt by “progress that is quickly swallowing neighborhoods across the country.”
The note also says the group will be acting on Columbus statues throughout the state. It was signed, “Lovingly, NJ Anti-Facists.”
A statue in Dahnert’s Lake County Park in Garfield and two in Camden County were also splattered with red paint at some point in the last four days.
