Letter to the editor: Don't erase Columbus

In regard to the unanimous vote to remove Pittsburgh artist Frank Vittor’s Christopher Columbus statue (“Pittsburgh Art Commission recommends removal of Columbus statue from Schenley Park”): Pittsburgh Art Commission member Kilolo Luckett stated, “Christopher Columbus doesn’t uphold the values of the Constitution and human beings.” I did not realize that Luckett was the final arbiter of universal human values. She has not magically solved the riddle of universally defining normative ethics that philosophers have wrestled with since Aristotle and Plato.

Kirk Savage, a professor of history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, testified at an earlier hearing in support of removing the Columbus statue on the basis that the statue represents colonization, enslavement, looting and other cruelties (“Schenley Park’s Columbus statue ‘erases history,’ Pitt professor says”). The City of Pittsburgh is not a supporter of colonization, enslavement, looting and other cruelties by maintaining the statue. Columbus is a part of world history, and the Schenley Park statue is part of Pittsburgh history. This history should not be erased.

The Taliban tried to erase history in 2001 when they demolished the Buddha statues of Bamyan, ancient pre- Islamic figures. We should not emulate the Taliban. The wiser and more enlightened course, if one wants to exhibit sympathy for those who may be offended, would be to erect a plaque placing Columbus in historical context. But please do not erase him.

Gregg Rosen

Squirrel Hill