Looks like revisionist history is all fun and games until someone loses a vacation day!
According to the Western Journal, the City of Philadelphia voted to take down a statue of Christopher Columbus and send it into storage last summer, citing the tired leftist talking point that the explorer was an early progenitor of the “deep legacy of racism and oppression” in America.
That didn’t stop them, however, from joining many government offices across the nation and closing in observance of the Columbus Day holiday earlier this week.
🤔 you removed the Columbus statue but will celebrate Columbus Day? Must be nice to be hypocrites. https://t.co/ivtGL83IM5
— Jason (@GutterTheGreat) October 9, 2020
“As Philadelphia — and the nation — continue to reckon with the deep legacy of racism and oppression in America, it is critical that our public spaces are seen as safe, welcoming and inclusive for all people,” city spokesperson Lauren Cox said of the decision to remove the statue back in August, according to CNN.
The city’s art commission voted 8-0, with one abstention, to remove the statue from Marconi Plaza.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, however, Cox said that the city government is “open to changes,” hinting that this year could be the last Columbus Day observance the city will see.
“We know that Columbus Day is an important symbol for many Italian Americans, including those in our city,” Cox said. “Ultimately, each individual is able to make their own choice about which holiday(s) they do or do not celebrate personally. In terms of its future as a City holiday — where City buildings and services are closed — the administration would be open to changes.”
City unions are also weighing the issue.
“The issue of holidays, not just Columbus Day, is being discussed internally,” Cathy Scott, president of AFSCME District Council 47, a union representing some of the city’s workers, told The Inquirer.
“I don’t think anyone can predict how this will turn out, but there’s certainly … a kind of moral force at work to rename and dissolve the mythic histories that have controlled our thinking about historical events,” Temple University associated professor of sociology Matt Wray told the paper. “Columbus is not only charged with being an enslaver but also an architect of racist genocide and a harbinger of massive land theft of Indigenous people.”
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