'F**k Columbus' Spray-Painted On Columbus Statue This Weekend; Man Charged [Updated]
By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 9, 2017 2:59PM
Update, 12:20 p.m.:
The Christopher Columbus statue was defaced yet again, this time apparently on Columbus Day.
The statue was tagged with the phrases "Mass Murderer" and "Decolonize" and also covered with red paint, according to DNA Info. A neighbor told the website it happened sometime early on Monday morning.
Original:
A 30-year-old man was charged with defacing a Christopher Columbus statue in Little Italy over the weekend.
Kyle Miskell, 30, of the 2200 block of West 23rd Place, was charged with felony criminal damage to government property and criminal defacement of property.
Miskell and two other men—all of whom were wearing masks—spray-painted the statue, at Arrigo Park (801 S. Loomis St.), sometime around midnight on Friday, just days before today's Columbus Day holiday, according to the Tribune. The group reportedly sprayed tags such as "f**k Columbus," "All colonies are burning" and "Muerte al estado." Miskell also shouted "Fuck Columbus" and "Die Columbus," the Trib reports.
Miskell was reportedly thwarted when an off-duty cop chased him down after the group took off on bikes. He was arrested at around 12:10 a.m. on Saturday and ordered held on $3,000 bail at bond court appearance on Sunday. The two other people involved in the vandalism were not apprehended.
Needless to say, Columbus the man and the holiday remain sources of controversy. Ald. Ameya Pawar said earlier this year that, if elected governor, he would work to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day. And ss the New York Times explored this morning, people have protested Columbus Day more or less since the day began.
Kyle Miskell / Chicago Police Department