by Joe McDonald

A 19-year-old college student from College Hill who asked Easton City Council Wednesday night to remove a huge statue of Christopher Columbus from Riverside Park because he found it offensive received a crash course in world history from a city official. Mayor Sal Panto Jr., a former teacher, pointed out the errors of the student's thinking. Thomas Weber, 19, a political science major at Bloomsburg University, said Columbus represented a "really dark part of our history," one that involved slavery and genocide of Native Americans.

He said for that reason Columbus should not be celebrated. Panto said Columbus had nothing to do with what happened to the Lenape Indians, the local tribe that was pushed out of their homeland in the 18th century, and pointed out that the statue was erected in 1930 as a gift from the local Italian American community, some of whom mortgaged their homes to raise the funds.

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Source: http://www.wfmz.com/