00:00It's been long debated and protested over, but on Friday morning during this year's African Emancipation Day celebration,
00:08Port of Spain Mayor Chinua Alain announced that the bronze statue of the man long credited for discovering TNT,
00:15Christopher Columbus, will be removed in keeping with the revised legacy of this seafarer.
00:21Alain says as we celebrate emancipation, colonial iconography still exists across the city,
00:27and he believes it is the responsibility of both central and local government to lead the process of restoration and repair.
00:35The council of the city of Port of Spain has taken the decision to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus
00:44from Independence Square and to make it available to the National Museum and Art Gallery for display.
01:01He says renaming Columbus Square where the statue stands is also going to happen.
01:06To establish a committee to recommend to the council a new name for the square
01:12in honor of all of the victims of the genocide of indigenous peoples, the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism.
01:22Additionally, they will be assembling a group of young artists to create a new monument
01:27to be erected on the renamed square in honor of those same victims.
01:31Mayor Alain, in addressing the crowd on Friday, said the city cooperation also intends to rename
01:38part of a street in the capital after African ancestor Kwame Touré, a man born in Port of Spain
01:44who was a monumental figure in the American civil rights and black power movements
01:49as well as pan-African movement.
01:52With such renaming, he says, the hope is to inspire future generations
01:57with the struggles and victories of those that came before.
02:00In honor of his contribution to the global fight against institutional racism and injustice,
02:09the Council of the City of Port of Spain has resolved to rename a portion of Oxford Street
02:17from Argyle Street to Charlotte Street, Kwame Touré Way.
02:23Cindy Raguban, Tika Singh, TV6 News.
02:30Y'all Jane
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