Council Gets Columbus Invite
The governing body is invited to take part in the 200th annual Columbus Day parade in Elizabeth on Oct. 12, which will probably spark a renewal of the local controversy over the city-owned Albert Bierstadt painting depicting indigenous people bowing down to the European navigator and his crew.The Columbus Parade Association of New Jersey may be unaware of the decades-long argument that the 1492 landing is no cause for celebration by minorities and that the painting should be sold or at least removed from Municipal Court. It formerly hung behind the judge's bench, but is now on a side wall. The late Kay Cotignola annually voiced Italian pride at the historic 1492 voyage, but activist Rasheed Abdul-Haqq, now a school board member, argued that Columbus brought harm to the people he "discovered."
Click here for a National Geographic video on the controversy.
The Elizabeth event marks the 516th anniversary of the landing of Columbus and will be held from 1 to 6 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Peterstown section of Elizabeth.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 1:28 AM
1 Comments:
When will a minority of Plainfied residents move on from - "me the poor victim." Have they forgotten how their forfathers were slave owners in the Dark Continent as well as in colonial America? Certainly one of mankinds most expolitative practices. Could it be an excuse for not dealing with pressing issues plaguing the city, e.g., drugs, education, % of young black men in prison, etc.?
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