Image Credit: Raymond Boyd / Contributor / Getty Images 
A monument to Christopher Columbus made from a statue torn down by BLM rioters in 2020 has been installed near the White House.
The new statue is a reconstruction of a statue erected in Baltimore in 1984 by Ronald Reagan and subsequently destroyed by BLM rioters in 2020, who threw parts of it into the city harbor.
Those fragments were later recovered and restored as part of a community effort between Italian-American groups, local officials and artists, with funding provided by charities and federal grants.
The statue bears the inscription: “Destroyed July 4 2020. Resurrected 2022.”
In a statement referencing a popular meme from the television series The Sopranos, a White House spokesman said, “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero. And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.”
In March of last year, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at reviewing and restoring public monuments that had been taken down over the previous five years to “perpetuate a false revision of history” or disparage historical figures.
The Order also took aim at the Smithsonian to combat “divisive, race-centered” narratives pushed during the Biden administration.
“Once widely respected… the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” the Order stated.
The Order set a deadline of July 4, 2026—America’s 250th birthday—for completing all reforms.
“President Trump aims to ensure that the Smithsonian… sparks children’s imagination, celebrates American history and ingenuity… and makes America proud,” the White House said.
