Shamanandaze Smith broke the statue of the European explorer with a sledgehammer in 2021.

This week, the Caribbean Freedom Project issued calls for Barbadian Prime Minister Philip Davis to grant a full pardon to Shervandaze Smith, who smashed a Christopher Columbus statue with a sledgehammer in 2021.

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Two years later, Smith was sentenced for damaging the statue and was ordered to pay US$7,050. “During his arraignment, he said he was in his right mind when he damaged the statue, adding that he did so because of a divine purpose after God touched him,” The Tribune recalled.

Although the court ordered Smith to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, his actions were part of a broader wave of protests around the world against statues honoring historical figures associated with colonialism and white supremacy.

In a letter sent to Davis, the Caribbean Freedom Project described Smith’s actions as a “principled act of conscientious objection” against a statue symbolizing the European genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.

“The letter was signed by project directors Shabaka Kambon and Dr. Claudius Fergus, who urged authorities to view Smith’s actions through a historical and moral lens,” The Tribune reported.

“Resisting the suppression, distortion, or minimization of historical or ongoing genocides is a principled act grounded in the defense of truth, justice, and the dignity of survivors and their descendants,” the Caribbean Freedom Project stated.

This Trinidad and Tobago–based organization has supported similar protest actions in the past, in line with its institutional mission, which the Caribbean Freedom Project defines as “confronting the past to free the future.”

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Source: The Tribune

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