Baltimore mayor says protesters who threw Columbus statue in the Inner Harbor ‘will be brought to justice'
Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said Thursday he was not going to tolerate the destruction of property, warning those who toppled the Christopher Columbus statue near Little Italy that “if we identify them, they will be brought to justice.”
Young’s comments are the strongest reaction from the administration since the Fourth of July incident.
“We support peaceful protest. This is not a peaceful protest,” Young said. “It is unacceptable.”
The mayor — who lost last month’s Democratic primary and will leave office in December — said the protesters cannot “erase history. You learn from it.” Monuments, such as ones to the 15th-century Italian explorer, “should have something there to talk about what happened in the dark past.”
Last week, on Independence Day, a crowd pulled down the Columbus statue, dragged it to the edge of the Inner Harbor and rolled it into the water.
Dedicated in 1984, the statue has become a recent issue for many in the city as the legacy of Columbus has become increasingly more focused on his violent enslavement of native people. Throughout much of history, however, he had been characterized as a hero who discovered America.
A spokesman for Young had said on July 4 that the destruction of the Columbus statue was “re-examination taking place nationally and globally around some of these monuments and statues that may represent different things to different people.”
Lester Davis, a longtime Young aide, said, “We understand the dynamics that are playing out in Baltimore are part of a national narrative. We understand the frustrations.
“What the city wants to do is serve as a national model, particularly with how we’ve done with protesting. We’ve seen people who have taken to the streets, we have supported them. We are going to continue to support it. That’s a full stop.”
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