NUTLEY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – Protests in New Jersey are taking place amid heated debates around the country concerning Christopher Columbus statues.
A Black Lives Matter march in Nutley, N.J. is ending at Town Hall, where a Columbus statue stands.
People who are circling the Christopher Columbus statue at the center of town say they are defenders of the statue and defenders of their heritage.
They started gathering Friday afternoon after hearing several dozen people from the group Nutley for Black Lives would be marching down to the area.
Nutley PD physically separating a Black Lives Matters group & group defending Columbus Statue w/ bodies & barriers pic.twitter.com/Pr3Hst2evJ
— Jessica Layton (@JLaytonTV) June 26, 2020
That group began gathering about a mile away, and say they’re fed up by the injustices people of color are subjected to — not only in large cities but in smaller places like Nutley.
They say they’re doing this all in peace, and in fact they say the reason they’re marching near the statue really doesn’t have anything to do with the statue at all, reported CBS2’s Jessica Layton.
“We are ending at Town Hall because that is the center of our governing body. That is where our police station is and our Town Hall is. That’s the only reason why,” Catherine Pezo of Nutley for Black Lives said. “We do support the legal removal of the statue. Someone else, that is not part of our group, has made a petition for it. We do support it. But that is not the reason we are here today.”
Nutley police kept the two groups separated, Layton reported.
“To protect our history. Strictly, it’s our history, as an Italian American,” said Nutley resident Joseph Camelia. “I have rights too, you know? I worked 80 years of my life.”
Overnight in Newark, city workers were instructed to take down the statue of Christopher Columbus from Washington Park. The mayor there says The removal of the statue should not be perceived as an insult to the Italian American community, but rather it’s a statement against the enslavement and oppression Columbus represents.
“In keeping with the movement to remove symbols of oppression and white supremacy, we have decided to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus from Washington Park,” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said. “We took it down with City work crews in a safe and orderly manner, to avoid the potential danger of people taking it upon themselves to topple it.”
Baraka said the statue will be kept in storage until the city decides what to do with it. It was dedicated in 1997 and was a gift to the city from the Italian-American community, Baraka said.
Both sides in Nutley told Layton they plan to remain peaceful.
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