Mayor De Blasio,

In 2017, following the events of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a woman was murdered and hundreds more injured by neo-Nazi demonstrators, you ordered a review of all public works that constituted "symbols of hate" for potential removal from city property.

However, nearly three years later, a statute of Christopher Columbus remains on Astoria Boulevard, in defiance of basic moral sense and the values of humanity, empathy, and justice that Astoria stands for.

Columbus' crimes against the indigenous peoples of this and other countries are well-documented and beyond dispute. Enslavement, acts of genocide, and colonial violence and plunder are not incidental to his legacy, but central to it - they define his relationship with the peoples of this land and the generations who lived, died, and were murdered by those who carried on his work in the centuries afterward.

Because crimes against indigenous peoples and those enslaved in the Americas have been regularly dismissed in popular history, challenges to the public veneration of Columbus have been met with heated resistance. However, thanks to the work of activists and the confrontation they've inspired with the darker elements of its history, many now recognize that continuing to bestow public honor on Columbus is inappropriate. Just last week, the cities of Camden and West Orange, New Jersey removed their statues of Columbus from public display.

Astoria should do the same. We write to you to encourage the city to remove the statue of Columbus from Astoria Boulevard, and replace it with a more suitable testament to the Italian people, whose rich history certainly deserves public honor in our neighborhood.