On the 26th of February, the American Indian Movement planned to protest at the Columbus statue in Tampa, FL to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1973 takeover of Wounded Knee. The concert was near but not AT the statue, more likely the settler government of Tampa is simply determined to keep Indigenous people as far away from their precious Columbus statue as possible.

Two of the folks who made it out to the redirected protest at Lykes Gaslight Park in downtown Tampa are facing “criminal” charges for daring to add red paint to the Columbus statue at a previous protest. The red paint symbolizing the blood of all those murdered by Columbus and those who came after him should have been left on the statue until it can be removed. It is likely Tampa’s rulers fear this statue will be pulled down like the Albert Pike statue in DC was, then rolled back into the water from which Columbus came like the Columbus statue in Baltimore was during the 2020 Uprising.