A city official for Providence, Rhode Island, said that vandals who covered a local statue of Christopher Columbus in red paint for Columbus Day are contributing to “healthy dialogue.”
Residents in Providence awoke on Monday morning to find their local statue of Columbus covered in red paint with a sign that said, “Stop celebrating genocide.” The word “genocide” was painted on the back of the statue in orange paint.
Workers had cleaned the statue by Monday afternoon. The perpetrators are still unknown.
A local radio host asked Katherine Kerwin, a Democrat on the Providence City Council, if she supported the vandalism.
“You know, I do. I think the statue should be removed,” Kerwin told WPRO. “I think that healthy civil disobedience is really good for society.”
“I don’t know who did it, but they created a really healthy dialogue in Providence,” Kerwin said.
