Naming, Blaming, and Claiming: The Columbus Monument and the Struggle for Diversity Rights in Syracuse, New York

Abstract

A person handed me a white glove stained in red paint and returned to the base of the statue, where fellow protestors had finished setting up the PA system. “The Columbus Monument must come down! It is an ongoing reminder of the city’s complacency with systemic oppression and colonialism. . . . Nobody is free until everybody is free!” demanded Alice “Queen” Olom in Syracuse, New York, on October 11, 2021.1 A few dozen protestors clapped while others nodded in agreement. Several dog walkers edged near the crowd, removing earbuds to better hear the commotion. I listened to the protestors from the steep staircase of the Beaux-Arts Onondaga Courthouse (fig. 1), designed in 1904 by local architect Archimedes Russell. From the elevated staircase, the crowd appeared small against the tall spires of Russell’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which also stood along Columbus Circle, so named after the statue’s dedication in 1934. Protestors circled the bronze statue of the explorer, raised their red-stained gloves, and chanted, “Take it down!”