Residents of Providence, Rhode Island awoke on Monday, Columbus Day, to find a statue of Christopher Columbus covered in red and black paint, as well as obscenities. ABC6 reported that buckets of paint had been poured over the monument, located in Columbus Square, late Sunday night or early Monday morning.
This comes after similar incidents took place in New York and Connecticut as a means of protesting statues—and a holiday—celebrating a man who is maligned by many as a figure of European colonialism and destruction brought upon Native Americans.
Local resident Jeffrey Branch agrees with the negative view of Columbus, and endorsed the vandalism of the statue, despite its criminal nature.
“The reality is there is so much blood and so much hate and imperialism in what he did,” Branch said, “and so to see it actually reflected in the art of someone coming and painting blood on the statue it feels very cathartic and good.”