A vandal smashed a statue of explorer Christopher Columbus in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of an accelerating movement in the United States that calls to remove or destroy monuments of people with uncomfortable histories.
The video shows a masked man smashing the 225 year-old monument to the explorer who discovered America, while another holds a sign. A narrator in the background said that “Christopher Columbus symbolizes the initial invasion of European capitalism into the Western Hemisphere."
"Columbus initiated a centuries-old wave of terrorism, murder, genocide, rape, slavery, ecological degradation and capitalist exploitation of labor in the Americas. That wave of destruction continues on the backs of Indigenous, African-American and brown people."
Columbus has long been loathed by the radical-left, who argue that he was responsible for colonizing and killing millions of Native Americans.
Cities all across the United States have been removing monuments of Confederate leaders, contending that these statues honor the institution of slavery and are offensive to African Americans. These efforts accelerated after a rally last Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate figure Robert E. Lee turned into a neo-Nazi rally.
Many people have taken matters into their own hands, and have vandalized monuments which they consider offensive. A Confederate monument was vandalized in Florida, with the words 'Nazi' painted over it in bright red letters. A bust of American icon Abraham Lincoln in Chicago was also set on fire.
United States President Donald Trump has blasted the wave of statue removals. “This week it's Robert E. Lee." he said. "I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"