A group of Prince fans in Minnesota have launched a campaign to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus and replace it with a monument to the late singer.
The petition, which has achieved more than 9,000 signatures online, says that âPrince represents Minnesota values and Columbus does notâ.
âAcross the nation, city governments are choosing to remove statues of white supremacists, slave owners, and those who threatened the livelihood of Black people,” the petition states.
“Here in Minnesota, communities are reigniting the demand to bring down stateâs monument to Christopher Columbus, a man who murdered, raped and enslaved Black and Native peoples in the Americas. We, the undersigned, do not believe that Columbus represents the values Minnesotans carry.
“Rather than glorify a man who wanted to extinguish Black and Native peoples, we should honor members of our community whose leadership we find inspirational.â
It concludes: “Prince represents Minnesota values and Columbus does not.”
The petition actually started in 2017, but it has experienced renewed traction and relevance after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent global outrage. It has now attracted almost 10,000 signatures.
A second part of it is calling for the State Capitol statue of Columbus to be replaced with one âchosen by [the] Native communityâ outside the Capitol, and a statue of Prince to be built separately.
Earlier this month, a new petition also sought to replace a statue of a former KKK leader with one of Dolly Parton.
The monument to former grand wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest is currently located in the Tennessee Capitol building.
Last week, a guitar used by Prince on his âPurple Rainâ tour fetched over ÂŁ450,000 ($563,000) at auction.
The custom electric blue instrument was one of four âcloudâ guitars used between 1984 and 1985 in support of the âWhen Doves Cryâ hitmakerâs seminal sixth studio album.
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