{"id":322631,"date":"2017-08-21T21:22:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T20:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/wave-of-destruction-columbus-monument-vandalized-in-baltimore-video\/"},"modified":"2017-08-21T21:22:31","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T20:22:31","slug":"wave-of-destruction-columbus-monument-vandalized-in-baltimore-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/wave-of-destruction-columbus-monument-vandalized-in-baltimore-video\/","title":{"rendered":"&#039;Wave of destruction&#039;: Columbus monument vandalized in Baltimore (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><time class=\"date date_article-header\">Published time: 21 Aug, 2017 19:47 <\/time><\/p>\n<p>        Activists in Baltimore, Maryland took a sledgehammer to one of the oldest monuments to Christopher Columbus in the US, blaming the European explorer for racism, murder, genocide and slavery in the Americas. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article__text text  js-mediator-article\">\n<p>Signs that read<em> \u201cRacism: Tear it down\u201d<\/em> and <em>\u201cThe Future is Racial and Economic Justice\u201d<\/em> were left next to the monument, originally erected in 1792 and moved to its current location in 1964. The plaque that said <em>\u201cSacred to the memory of Chis Columbus Octob XII MDCC VIIC\u201d<\/em> was smashed in with a hammer.<\/p>\n<p>The perpetrators filmed the deed and posted the video on the YouTube channel Popular Resistance.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iFSW0id36FA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cChristopher Columbus symbolizes the initial invasion of European capitalism into the Western Hemisphere. Columbus initiated a centuries-old wave of terrorism, murder, genocide, rape, slavery, ecological degradation and capitalist exploitation of labor in the Americas,\u201d<\/em> says the narrator who introduced himself as a resident of Baltimore named \u2018Tye\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThat Columbian wave of destruction continues on the back of indigenous, African-American and brown people,\u201d<\/em> the narrator continues.<\/p>\n<p>Activists can be seen holding up the two handwritten signs, before pulverizing the engraved tablet at the base of the 44-foot-tall obelisk.<\/p>\n<div class=\"arcticle__read-more read-more\">\n<p>Read more<\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/400212-monuments-clinton-lenin-confederate\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"read-more__cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.com\/files\/2017.08\/thumbnail\/59979312dda4c89b4d8b4567.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 presidentsusa.net\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>Between the footage of activists attacking the monument are illustrations of Columbus and his men observing dogs attacking the indigenous population, or watching the natives being mutilated.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cRacist monuments to slave owners and murderers have always bothered me. Baltimore\u2019s poverty is concentrated in African-American households, and these statues are just an extra slap in the face,\u201d<\/em> the narrator adds. <em>\u201cThey were built in the 20th century in response to a movement for African Americans\u2019 human dignity. What kind of a culture goes to such lengths to build such hate-filled monuments? What kind of a culture clings to those monuments in 2017?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The 225-year-old monument is said to be the oldest in the country, and possibly even in the world, dedicated to Columbus that is still standing. The Genoan-born explorer led the first expedition to the Caribbean on behalf of the Spanish crown in 1492, believing he was sailing around the world to India.<\/p>\n<p>There are two other monuments to Columbus in Baltimore, one located at Druid Hill Park, the other at the edge of Little Italy.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cPart of our evolution\u2026 requires tearing down monuments to destructive forces and tearing down systems that maintain them,\u201d<\/em> the narrator adds, ending the video with a call to <em>\u201cbuild a new economy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Last week, Baltimore removed four monuments to the Confederacy under the cover of night. There has been a renewed push across the US to dismantle monuments dedicated to the losing side in the 1861-65 Civil War, driven by activists who see them as an endorsement of slavery and racism.<\/p>\n<p>What started with Confederate monuments has since expanded to city parks and places named after slave-owners \u2013 including US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/400444-columbus-monument-vandalized-baltimore\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=RSS\">RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published time: 21 Aug, 2017 19:47 Activists in Baltimore, Maryland took a sledgehammer to one of the oldest monuments to Christopher Columbus in the US, blaming the European explorer for racism, murder, genocide and slavery in the Americas. Signs that read \u201cRacism: Tear it down\u201d and \u201cThe Future is Racial and Economic Justice\u201d were left [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-322631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}