Native American charged with misdemeanor after protesting Columbus statue in Tampa | Tampa Bay News | Tampa

A Native American from the Choctaw Nation has been charged with a second-degree misdemeanor after protesting Tampa’s controversial Christopher Columbus statue.

The man, whose name is withheld for now for privacy reasons, is facing a criminal mischief charge with less than $200 in damages after attending a protest on Oct. 15. During this demonstration, fake blood made of water and food coloring was thrown on the statue of Christopher Columbus by demonstrators. Several people also placed bloody handprints all over the statue.

The Choctaw man’s notice to appear in court was issued by Hillsborough County Court on November 23, more than a month after the event and during Native American Heritage Month. He is currently due in court in January, but the date is likely to change as he has secured a lawyer to represent him.

The protesters were there in October because, for Aboriginal people, Columbus represents pedophilia, slavery, grated and genocide. It is well documented that the explorer, who got lost and found himself in Hispaniola, committed brutal atrocities on the peaceful indigenous peoples he found there. He has even fed native babies to dogs in front of horrified parents.

Natives protested the statue for 30 years, but their cries were ignored by the city of Tampa.

That day in October, the Choctaw man was arrested by multiple TPD officers as he left the protest, but was released without incident. CL asked the TPD why he was arrested but released, and why it took over a month for him to receive a charge.

TPD said the man splashed a container filled with red dye onto the Columbus statue in the presence of TPD officers, causing damage that required Tampa Fire Rescue to help remove the dye.

“[He} was stopped by officers as he attempted to leave after committing the act,” TPD’s PIO wrote. “Officers ultimately decided to direct file charges with the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) rather than take [him] to jail. The one-month delay in charging [him] will have to be treated with the SAO. »

TPD said charges were also directly filed for another person who splashed the dye. The District 13 State’s Attorney’s Office did not respond to request for comment.

His notice to appear in court was given the day before what most people call ‘thanksgiving’, but what locals call a national day of mourning because the holidays actually represents violent colonization North American Indians.

The Native Alliance of Florida says that in response to the man’s accusation, the group is reaching out to Native groups around the country to join them in “condemning Tampa as a place of hate” and to fight the TPD and the prosecutor’s charges against the man.

Today the fake blood was washed off the statue of Columbus, which is now surrounded by a large chain-link fence. The FIA ​​says the fence was erected in response to the group’s event to honor the National Day of Mourning at the Columbus statue last Thursday.

The group was still holding the event, but could not pray for their native ancestors near the statue because of the fence, where they have usually prayed in recent years.

FIA’s Sheridan Murphy told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the city’s decision to fence off the property is a violation of federal law. American Indian Religious Freedom Act. The law states that any site classified as a ceremonial site by Natives must be accessible to Natives for ceremonial purposes.

“They wouldn’t let the natives at a site to pray that we’ve been praying for regularly over time,” Murphy said. The group filed a complaint with the US Office for Civil Rights.

UPDATE: Updated 11/28/22 3:32 p.m. with TPD commentary.