Boston removes decapitated Columbus statue

Boston removes decapitated Columbus statue

Activists across the U.S. have targeted public monuments they say glorify white supremacy, using both legal and illegal means to take the symbols down.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

The city of Boston on Thursday removed a statue of Christopher Columbus... or what was left of it, a day after vandals decapitated the monument.

"It's a park dedicated to white supremacy, it's a park dedicated to indigenous genocide." Activists across the U.S. have targeted statues and monuments glorifying figures and causes linked to racism and white supremacy, using both legal and illegal means to take down the public symbols.

In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy, was pulled to the ground Wednesday night.

Earlier that day, a crowd in Portsmouth, Virginia attacked the statue of a Confederate soldier with paint and hammers and tried to set it ablaze.

"Retribution.

Emotional reparations." In Minneapolis on Wednesday, a statue of Columbus came crashing down.

In Kentucky a group has formed to remove a statue honoring Confederate soldiers.

"We are suggesting that the statue be moved to a museum." Some residents like it where it is.

"I think the statue has been here for a long time.

It's beautiful artwork.

I think it should stay." Democratic governors in Kentucky and Virginia have ordered symbols glorifying the Confederacy removed, orders that have been challenged in court.