Five years after its expulsion from Pioneer Park, San Francisco’s Christopher Columbus statue remains locked in secret storage as interest in returning it intensifies. On June 19, 2020, the statue of the 15th-century Italian explorer, which had been pointing westward toward the Pacific Ocean since 1957, was taken from its base outside Coit Tower.
Following nationwide protests stemming from George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, local protesters vandalized public monuments, including those dedicated to Ulysses S. Grant, Francis Scott Key, and Saint Junipero Serra. Columbus, was next on their list.
