Senate Republicans want the state of Minnesota to restore a statue of Christopher Columbus torn down by a group of Native American demonstrators last year to its former spot on the Capitol campus.
The Senate's State Government Committee voted on Wednesday to repair and return the statue as soon as possible, though lack of support from DFLers at the Capitol makes it unlikely to happen this year.
Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, noted that the statue, first erected in 1931, was an initiative of the state's Italian American community, which at the time often faced discrimination. He said it would cost about $154,000 to put it back up.
"This is public property," said Ingebrigtsen, who's sponsoring the measure. "Everybody in the state of Minnesota owns this, and everybody in the state of Minnesota can come to see this. There seems to be a push to remove our history here in Minnesota and our country, and quite frankly that's the wrong direction."
A group of protesters from the American Indian Movement (AIM) toppled the statue last June, not long after George Floyd's death, at a time when groups of demonstrators were toppling statues around the country.
Native Americans and others have long taken exception to the now-discredited idea that Columbus, a 15th-century Genoese explorer and early European colonizer of the Americas, "discovered" America.
Michael Forcia, an AIM leader, was charged with one count of felony destruction of property but later agreed to 100 hours of community service, a year's probation and a letter of restitution in exchange for having that charge suspended.
The statue, which sat for decades on the east side of the State Capitol's front lawn, has been in storage since last June. Prominent DFLers including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, an enrolled tribal member, have said it should not be restored.
