America's divisions seen in historic statues being taken down

City municipal crews guiding the Christopher Columbus statue down in Grant Park, Chicago, as it is being removed by a crane on Friday. The statue drew chaotic protests earlier in the week. — AP

ONE after another, statues recalling slavery in the United States keep coming down, and night after night demonstrators taunt police in a groundswell of anger over brutality against people of colour.

Two months after African American George Floyd died when a white policeman kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, triggering a nationwide and global outcry for justice, the United States is being shaken by an anti-racism surge that, more and more, is dividing its political class.