1. In Barranquilla Columbia, rioters shouting the factually-incorrect statement “Colón asesino” (“murderous Columbus”), put a hood over the head of that city’s Christopher Columbus statue, and a rope around its neck, and then pulled it off its pedestal, smashing it to the ground. The statue was sculpted by Tomagnini de Pietrasanta and donated by that town to the city of Barranquilla in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s landfall. General Jorge Luis Vargas, the director of the Columbian police, correctly characterized the vandals as “delinquentes,” “criminals.” The criminals then beheaded the fallen statue and further vandalized its remains. The mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo urged the vandals to “let go of their hatred,” counseling that such acts “only generates more violence.” He promised to “continue identifying, capturing and prosecuting those who commit acts of vandalism and terrorism.”
2. In Newark NJ, the Italian American OneVoice Coalition is suing the City of Newark in federal court to enjoin West Orange Township to restore its Christopher Columbus monument, which it removed last year. The city has replaced its Washington Park Christopher Columbus statue with a statue of Harriet Tubman. Mayor Ras Baraka called replacing Columbus’s statue with Tubman’s statue “poetic.” He said, “Harriet Tubman actually stepped foot here in this property, Christopher Columbus did not, so it seems more appropriate to have a statue of Harriet Tubman.” Tubman participated in one Underground Railroad; Columbus conducted three Underground Railroads, rescuing Tainos from Carib slavers and from disobedient Spanish nobles who enslaved Tainos against Columbus’s prohibition.
3. In Medford MA, Italian Americans have risen up against the School Board and City Council demanding they “stop fomenting hatred of Italian Americans,” according to Italian American Alliance Chairman Dr. Domenic Amara. The group paid out of their own pockets to print and distribute hundreds of signs urging people to stop the hate against Italians. They are also planning to run candidates for the School Board and City Council to prevent autocratic and Marxist pressure groups, such as the group “Our Revolution,” from coercing the municipal bodies into committing Italophobic acts of discrimination.
4. In New Britain CT, the Italian American community seeks to celebrate Christopher Columbus Day 2021 by adding an engraving on the base of New Britain’s Columbus Statue honoring Italian American veterans from New Britain who served in foreign wars. The local Italian American Alliance successfully convinced the mayor and city council to reject demands by aggressive radicals to remove the statue based on their false accusations of “genocide” by Columbus and other lies. Now, the Italian American Community seeks to honor their ancestors and courageous veterans and fallen war heroes with an inscription at the base of the statue reading: “This statue, erected in 1941, stands as an enduring witness to the courage, dedication and faith of our New Britain’s Italian-American war veterans who, in the spirit of Columbus, ventured into a new world for the glory of God and country.” GoFundme.com seems to have shadow-banned the Italian American community’s fundraising website on that platform, rendering it invisible to web searches.
5. In Syracuse NY, the Columbus Monument Corporation continues to request support to register objections to Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh’s continuing attempts to demolish that city’s Christopher Columbus statue. The CMC’s lawsuit against the city will be heard before Onondaga County Supreme Court Judge Gerard J. Neri in late October. Despite having a dozen attorneys on staff at City Hall, Mayor Walsh is using taxpayer monies to pay for private counsel from an expensive New York law firm, and has hired the firm without even having informed Syracuse City Council (which they call “Common Council”). The Columbus Monument Corporation asks that you visit their website to sign their petition, donate to their GoFundMe campaign to protect the Syracuse statue, and send a blast email to Mayor Walsh and Syracuse Common Council registering our objection to their attack on the statue and Mayor Walsh’s use of taxpayer monies to fund his bigotry. The Columbus Monument Corporation’s website can be found at:
6. In Chicago IL, Cook County City Council has “taken off the table” their planned vote to replace Christopher Columbus Day with the usual misnomer about “indigenous peoples.” The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans hosted an Italian Unity Day memorial service there on July 25th the one-year anniversary of the removal of Chicago’s Columbus Statue in Taylor Street’s Little Italy. Last year, the city of Chicago removed three Christopher Columbus statues. The JCCIA is keeping the community informed with weekly updates via Facebook and emails. To join their email listserv, visit their webpage at http://www.jccia.com.
7. In Wakefield MA, eleven armed men, wearing tactical gear, carrying long guns, and identifying as the “Moorish American Army” were arrested after a standoff with police that shut down a major highway and prompted shelter-in-place orders. They claimed not to recognize the laws of the United States and told police they were on their way to training in Maine, near the border of Canada, where eleven Catholic churches have recently been burned or otherwise vandalized.
8. In Rochester NY, on the heels of a resounding victory by that city’s Italian American community in succeeding in overturning Mayor Lovely Warren’s removal of the “Little Italy” designation of Rochester’s historic Italian neighborhood from the city’s map and neighborhood directories, Neighborhood Service Director Daisy Algarín, in a counterstrike of malice and petulance, has organized a National Night Out with all northwest quadrant neighborhood groups, except the two Italian-American-led organizations in the NW quadrant. The founder of one of the groups, Mike Visconte, first organized the National Night Out thirty years ago, and is now being excluded by Director Algarín for no stated reason. The founder of the Little Italy Neighborhood Association, Silvano Orsi, has been targeted by Algarín and a cadre of associates on social media, including on the White House FaceBook page, claiming Mr. Orsi should be “deserves to be beaten to a pulp,” “kidnapped,” “dismembered, chopped up and stuffed in the trunk of their car.” Mr. Orsi has required bodyguards at an Italian-American event on Rochester Institute of Technology’s Henrietta campus as a result of the terroristic threats.
9. In Pueblo CO, where Christopher Columbus Day has been renamed Frances Cabrini Day, radical terrorists are calling for the removal of not only the Columbus Monument in downtown Pueblo, but also for the removal of the four “Medal of Honor Statues” at the Pueblo Convention Center, commemorating Pueblo’s four Medal of Honor recipients from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War – those latter two wars being fought against Marxist aggression in northeast and southeast Asia. The Columbus Monument Protection Project asks all listeners to write or email the local representatives of Pueblo to register your firm but respectful demand to keep the Christopher Columbus Monument and Medal of Honor statues in place. Mayor Nick Gradisar and Councilmembers Dennis Flores, Mark Aliff, Zolayne Bachicha, Ed Brown, Larry Attencio, Bob Schilling and Lori Winner can be emailed at the following addresses:
Also, please CC Sons of Italy representatives ginocarleo@
For more information on these news stories, please listen to the most recent episodes of “Christopher Columbus University” on Radio Voice Italia at the following archived links:
Episode 1 : Introduction — Il Professore, Robert PetroneEpisode 6 : Dem Bones or Christopher Columbus’s DNAEpisode 8 : Christopher Columbus, Super DadEpisode 9 : Who Are the Columbus-detractors?Episode 10: Andre DiMino Talks Columbus Day in Randolph NJEpisode 11: Columbus Day, an Atonement to Italian AmericansEpisode 12: Christopher Columbus, the First Founding FatherEpisode 14: The Primary Historical SourcesEpisode 15: Arguing with Columbus Detractors will air on Wednesday, August 4, at 6 p.m. on Radio Voice Italia
Please feel free to share these links with anyone you feel may be interested on social media, by email, etc.
Thank you!
Robert Petrone
President of the South Philadelphia Chapter of Filitalia International
Chair of the Committee for Heritage Justice, Filitalia International & Foundation
Co-chair of Conference of Presidents Subcommittee to Preserve Columbus Day
Co-curator of the preservecolumbus.us
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