Leave the Columbus statue alone

THE EDITOR: I would like to ask the mayor of Port of Spain to reject the proposal of the Cross Rhodes Freedom Project to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus. The arguments for its removal do not appear to be based on any intellectual appreciation of history but on emotional interpretations.

If we are to judge and to change every historical event based on 21st century politically-correct standards, then we are doomed to repeat them and our grandchildren will be none the wiser.

Columbus is that only individual who has directly impacted our existence in the Caribbean as we know it. He lit the fuse. Slavery, indentureship and colonialism, our crucible, happened because of Columbus.

We cannot, as painful as it may appear, reject our colonial past. If one’s grandfather committed a wrongdoing in the past, should one deface his gravesite, or move it to a museum?

As a seaman and explorer, few mariners are on historical record as being capable of undertaking the perilous yet courageous journeys of Columbus; commendable acts of bravery.

If the history of the world is compiled, rape, murder, racism and slavery feature prominently, going back thousands of years. Columbus did not come bearing candies and vials of antibiotics, but was on an economic mission from the Spanish crown.

What can this mean for our trade links with Spain or the inevitable renaming of our capital city? Since his final destination was to be India, was it his intention to rape, plunder and murder the Indians?

As occupiers of the original lands of the Tainos and Kalinagos, our response should not be to blame Columbus as a scapegoat, but to honour the country’s indigenous peoples by planting the land, protecting our women and stop killing people.

Let the status be.

RUSSELL JOSEPH, St Augustine