Italian-American community leaders in Baltimore are livid after vandals plunked a toilet down on the site of a Christopher Columbus statue that was hurled into the Inner Harbor by protesters in 2020.
Officials were tipped off about the “inappropriate” display last week, when passersby reported that the pedestal that once held the discoverer’s likeness was now topped by a white porcelain toilet, the Little Italy Neighborhood Association of Baltimore said on Facebook.
“Thank you to the residents and friends of Little Italy who alerted LINA about an inappropriate item being placed on top of the Columbus statue pedestal, where the Columbus statue once stood,” the post said.
“The item was removed today by a crew from the City’s Recs and Parks Department.”
The Baltimore statue, installed in 1984 by then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer and President Ronald Reagan, was brought down by a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters in July 2020 — one of several monuments vandalized or destroyed over the July 4 holiday.
The statue was later fished out of the Inner Harbor and refurbished before it was re-erected on the White House grounds in March by President Trump
However, the original resting place of the statute remained empty until last week’s display.
“I am appalled by this disrespectful action of some lawless thug again desecrating the Columbus statue,” Maryland State Delegate Nino Mangione told WMAR-TV News upon hearing there was no active police investigation into the incident. “We must not continue to turn a blind eye to this blatant racism the way Mayor Scott and others have.
“Their continued tolerance of this type of behavior is inexcusable and is now on display for the entire community to see,” Mangione added.
It wasn’t the only target of protesters in 2020, when BLM crowds went after statues of historic figures like Columbus, George Washington, Confederate figures and other slave owners.
In addition, a 12-foot granite statue of the 15th century Italian explorer was decapitated near city hall in Waterbury, Connecticut, over the holiday weekend.
In Portland, Oregon, another mob torched “The Promised Land” sculpture outside the city justice center.
