The Worcester, Massachusetts, city council has voted against a proposal that would move the city’s Christopher Columbus statue, which sits outside Union Station.
The Worcester City Council voted 8-2 on Tuesday to “file” a proposal by one councilmember that tasked the city manager to work with Italian-Americans in the community to take down the statue and replace it with a different one honoring the contributions of the city’s Italians, Boston.com reported.
The Telegram & Gazette reported that the motion to “file” the proposal essentially ended all debate and action on it.
WBZ reported that two men splashed red paint on the statue on June 23, sparking debate for whether the statue should be taken down.
A local Italian-American attorney gifted the Columbus statue to the city in 1978 in memory of his wife.
Columbus statues across the country, as well as other monuments with ties to slavery or racism, have been targeted by protesters seeking racial justice and demonstrating against police brutality.
Columbus was one of the first Europeans credited by many for discovering America, but critics say his trips started the trans-Atlantic slave trade and that he treated Native Americans violently upon his arrival to America.