A second statue of Christopher Columbus has been vandalized in Queens, just days after a statue of the celebrated explorer was found beheaded in a Yonkers park.
Int the most recent incident, blue paint had been sprayed on the base of the statue in Columbus Triangle, Astoria. The vandals had used stencils to spray the words "Don't honor genocide, take it down."
The NYPD was working to investigate the incident, it said. A day earlier, Christopher Columbus' head was found torn off a statue of him in Columbus Memorial Park, a mile north of the Bronx.
Lifelong Yonkers resident Pat Gamberdella found the bronze-colored head near a plastic bag and phoned police.
“It’s very upsetting that American values have sunken to the level they are today,” Gamberdella said. “It’s unfortunate because I did go up there and I did see it all smashed.”
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Yonkers police were investigating that incident and they said it could have been the work of juveniles overnight.
They also said there is a possibility it could be fallout from the deadly protests and counter-protests over a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month.
Those protests have led to calls for more public tributes to be removed, including a push in New York City to remove the Columbus Circle statue in light of the figure’s oppression of Native Americans.
