A College Hill teenager accused Christopher Columbus of cultivating genocide and called on Easton City Council to remove his statue from Riverside Park.

Thomas Weber, 19, said the Italian who discovered the New World practiced slavery and was the catalyst for the genocide of Native Americans.

"Christopher Columbus, while his discoveries were great, his position to Native Americans ... represents a figure that I don't think is someone who should be celebrated by Easton," said the political science and communications major at Bloomsburg University.

It took two years of fundraising by working-class Italian immigrants in Easton to finance the $13,000 statue erected in 1930, a fact not lost on Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. He is among the Italian Americans who regularly gather at the statue on Columbus Day.

"I understand the statue was a great gift from the Italian American community, but I think for the greater good of Easton it's not something that should be celebrated. It's a really dark part of our history," Weber said.

"Christopher Columbus was a dark part of our history?" the mayor asked. "That's an opinion."

"Yeah, that is an opinion, but..." Weber said.

"Tell that opinion to the hundreds of people who mortgaged their homes for that statue," the mayor said. "Maybe to them that's a different opinion."

The mayor acknowledged injustice at the hands of Native Americans by white settlers, but said that's no reason to downplay Columbus' accomplishment.

"If you want to take the opinion that Christopher Columbus was the reason Native Americans were enslaved and tortured, I would have to disagree with you," he said.

Weber also called on council to demilitarize the Easton Police Department. He said assault weapons and SWAT vehicles only escalate violence.

Council member Ken Brown said those measures are necessary for officers to protect themselves against modern threats.

"You'd rather see our officers go out there unprotected?" Brown asked Weber. "Do we send them out there with no protection?"

Panto said police need the correct gear when they respond to a homicide or hostage situation.

"Their pistols aren't going to do anything against an AR-15," Panto said. He said the police have conducted more than 45 raids over the last eight years and no one has ever been injured.

The mayor thanked Weber for attending the meeting and encouraged him to return and keep participating in democracy.

"Don't stop coming and giving your opinion," he said. "Don't give up your values and what you believe in. That's part of the American way. That's what's good about it."

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.