While families across the U.S. were celebrating 感恩 with scaled-down gatherings or Zoom calls, 抗议者 were toppling historical statues and monuments.
在 华盛顿州, 的 Spokane Police Department reported that a statue of 16th President Abraham Lincoln was vandalized with red paint, while multiple colonial statues — including one of George Washington — were defaced and toppled overnight in Minneapolis.
PITTSBURGH PARK’S CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS STATUE SHOULD GO, ARTS PANEL DECIDES
“No more genocide” 和 “all colonizers are bastards” were scrawled in red graffiti on the works.
The Pan-Indigenous People’s Liberation (PIPL) network took responsibility for the move and explained in a statement that it was partly in response to a callout for a “national decolonial day of action.“
The American Indian Movement had previously pulled down a statue of explorer Christopher Columbus outside the state capitol.
波特兰, 矿石。, 抗议者 tagged local markets and a monument dedicated to the veterans of the Civil War, Mexican, Spanish and Indian wars with anti-colonialist rhetoric.
Local law enforcement arrested three suspects at Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery.
The Midwestern hub of 芝加哥 witnessed a similar effort, though protesters ultimately failed to knock down a park statue of President William McKinley on Wednesday.
The words “land back” were painted in multiple cities, 指 the LANDBACK campaign. The indigenous movement aims to develop communities in a sustainable manner, defend American land and fight against White supremacy.
“We must continue to decolonize our minds, communities, and sovereign nations,” LANDBACK says in its mission statement. “The decolonization of our communities and people is directly related to our ability to prosper.”
“Through the revitalization of our Indigenous ceremonies, 文化, languages and life ways we will continue to strengthen our identity, and break free from the oppressive systems that disconnect us from achieving the healing growth and connection to spirit that is integral for us as Indigenous people,” 他们写.
As citizens took to the streets in droves following the police killing of 乔治·弗洛伊德, state and local governments were forced to make decisions over whether to remove Confederate statues and monuments 那 — in some cases — had been standing for over a century.
夏天时, 的 Democratic-led 众议院 voted to remove Confederate statues 来自美国. 国会大厦.
