No More Racism: This Monument Is Dedicated to Indigenous Women

By replacing its Christopher Columbus statue with one of an Indigenous woman, Mexico City honors Mexico’s roots, history, and culture whilst standing against racism and colonialism.

“It is very important to dedicate a monument to Indigenous women and to the earth, because if someone can teach us how to take care of this planet, it is our native peoples and that is precisely what we must learn again,” says Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes. “We all come from the land and we all return to it, and it is the land that should be in our mind—and not only in the past.”

Titled Tlalli – “water” in Nahuatl – the statue represents a woman from the Olmec civilization who inhabited the land roughly from 1,400 to 400 B.C.E. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum speaks highly of the statue that will be placed and dedicated to Indigenous women, stating, “We exist because of them. It is the history of our country and our homeland.” All around the world, since they incarnated the racial injustices, statues of Columbus were toppled as a symbolic act of resistance against colonialism and racism.