Community leaders delivered strongly worded rebukes about racist comments made against removing the New Britain Christopher Columbus statue during public participation at the City Council meeting Wednesday, August 12, 2020.
“I, a black man,” Ald. Colin Osborn (D-2) commented, “sat in my seat for over 90 minutes to be told by a large group of people that those of us who are in protest against systemic and societal racism, classism, colonialism and institutionalized enslavement must ‘get over it’.”
“We were called mobsters (a reference made against black and brown people),” said Ald. Osborn, “and it was even suggested that we (who are in support of the monument being removed) should get beat up. As a caller said, ‘maybe that is what THEY need’.”
“But what disturbed me most,” said Ald. Osborn, “is that I, along with other council persons of color, had to sit there and take the hits….we had to take the abuse….the subtle racial slurs and microaggressions.”
Chris Porcher, the 2019 Democratic Mayoral candidate comment that, “I couldn’t believe not one person spoke up and interrupted that man who said we were lazy and don’t work etc…. by staying silent this behavior was enabled.”
“And while he was the most explicit,” Board of Education member Violet Jiménez Sims (D) added, “others used derogatory terms as well. One guy was really struggling to keep from name calling and kept saying, ‘I’m just going to say that (crybabies) because if I say more I’m going to say something wrong’.”
A number of community leaders noted that most of the speakers against removing the Columbus statue were not New Britain residents.
Alicia Stong, co-founder of the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition said that an opponent of removing the Columbus statue, “ranted and raved about how ‘these people’ don’t work. ‘These people’ are drug dealers and criminals.” Strong said that,
It’s time we talk about the ways white immigrants often perpetuate anti-blackness and white supremacy while at the same time weaponizing civil rights language to victimize themselves.
I have no doubt that many immigrants came to this country from nothing and experienced many obstacles. But we must recognize that black and indigenous experiences are rooted in colonialism and chattel slavery. Our society systemically values whiteness. If we want to build a strong community then we must have some difficult conversations about how race, ethnicity and immigration intersect.
“The City of New Britain universally has a significant issue with racial and cultural inequality,” Ald. Osborn said. “Tonight also showed how New Britain’s totem pole system works. But moreover, tonight confirmed exactly why racism is a public health crisis, which is why the monument should be removed.”
