Philadelphia’s Columbus statue caused less harm than city’s mayor and district attorney
Christopher Tremoglie
Video Embed
Oct. 12 is the “real” Columbus Day, the actual date explorer Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in San Salvador (now part of the Bahamas) in 1492. In 2020, a statue of Christopher Columbus in Philadelphia was condemned and restricted by the city’s mayor, Jim Kenney, who succumbed to pressure from radical left-wing agitators. Kenney claimed the statue was inappropriate for the 21st century and a threat to “public safety.” As a result, Kenney ordered a plywood box built around it so the public did not see it.
After some back-and-forth court filings, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court realized this was illegal (and completely absurd) and ordered the box removed. The Columbus statue was liberated on Dec. 9, 2022. Since then, there has not been any crime, nor have there been any threats to anyone’s “public safety” by the monument. Ironically, given the crime wave the city has endured in recent years, the statue is probably one of the safest places in the city. The same cannot be said for the area outside the Philadelphia mayor’s office.
ISRAEL WAR: BIDEN’S $6 BILLION IRAN PRISONER SWAP DEAL UNDER HARSH SPOTLIGHT
In January, gunshots were fired during a Monday morning rush hour, just a few yards from the mayor’s office in City Hall. In August, at Independence Hall, a distance less than 1 mile from the mayor’s office, a man was killed in a double shooting by the historical landmark.
Moreover, using Kenney’s logic and standards, if eliminating threats to public safety were the impetus for constructing boxes, the city should also have built a plywood box around Philadelphia’s radical, left-wing, Soros-funded district attorney, Larry Krasner. His policies have flooded the city’s streets with criminals, keeping dangerous people out of jail and free to terrorize communities.
The city has arguably endured the worst violent crime stretch in its history with Kenney and Krasner in charge. The Columbus statue did not cause the city to set a record for homicides in 2021. The Columbus statue did not cause the city to be overwhelmed with carjackings. The Columbus statue has not emboldened criminals to wreak havoc in communities throughout Philadelphia.
More Philadelphians have experienced public safety threats and been victimized by violent crime during Kenney’s and Krasner’s time in office than the entire duration of the presence of the city’s Columbus statue, which has existed since Oct. 12, 1876. If anything deserves a box around it to protect the city’s people, it is Mayor Jim Kenney and District Attorney Larry Krasner.