Up to 1,000 people were in attendance at the American Museum of Natural History for the Anti Columbus Day Tour on Indigenous Peoples Day (October 8.2018), organized by the Decolonize This Place Artist and Cultural Workers’ Coalition.
For the third year in a row, coalitions and its allies have demanded “rename, reclaim, respect…” asking that the AMNH, funded by various major corporations, remove its statue of Theodore Roosevelt. Removal of the statue, activists say, is the first step to decolonizing a museum that places indigenous people, as well as people from the African, Asian, Oceanic, and Central America diasporas alongside animals.
Until the museum respects indigenous sovereignty and assists in reclaiming the day, activists say they will continue to stage the action.
