Author: columbusmonumentassociation

Opposition to taking down the Columbus statue in Downtown Syracuse is not limited to Italian-Americans alone, but every Central New Yorker who wants to preserve Western culture within the vast and ever changing mosaic of American life. If we follow the logic that Columbus, by discovering the Americas, was somehow responsible for later atrocities visited upon Indigenous peoples by European powers, might we make the same argument that the Jesuit Fathers who canoed down from Quebec to the shores of Onondaga Lake, paved the way for European expansion into Central New York. Moreover, that the Jesuits and those who followed in their wake, likely robbed local Indigenous peoples of their culture, religion, land, and way of life. Given this, would it be a stretch for local politicians to somehow demand that LeMoyne College be renamed, since Father LeMoyne, the school’s namesake, was party to this ‘atrocity‘? I pose this argument to illustrate the folly we are currently experiencing. I hope I haven’t started us down the road to yet another cancel culture cause. That’s not my intent. But where, oh where, does it end?

Decisions motivated by angry mobs usually don’t stand the test of time.

We want to thank the many who have responded to our requests for help.

As an update, the Columbus Monument Corporation Board, has thru its attorneys, filed a Notice of Claim to the City of Syracuse and the Mayor. This is to put them on notice that we may, when appropriate, take an Article 78 action. Our attorneys firmly believe that the Mayor does not have the authority to remove the statue.

Please continue to follow this website and participate in using the “Tell the Mayor” click to send your comments to the Mayor and others.  

And help us spread the word by sharing this website or the donation website with your social media friends. Our strength is in our large numbers!

Thanks again to all who have helped and supported this important effort.

Please don’t take down a city’s history. I don’t care what happened centuries ago. This statute has been in it’s present place for as I can remember 

Each historical figure is a product of his or her milieu. If we judged each by our PC lens of today the walls of our National Portrait Gallery would be bare. We must learn from history lest we repeat it .
Recognize Columbus for his skill and courage as a seaman and explorer and make note of shortcomings. At least have this discussion or ‘that history book on the shelf’
will keep repeating itself.

To whom it may concern: I see your covering the story on Christopher Columbus. I’m 100% Sicilian both parents migrated here from Sicily. Christopher Columbus is to us as Martin Luther King is to the African Americans. We are proud of him and will always be. He was a smart, strong man who never let anyone change what he felt in his gut.

Millions of others from everywhere wouldn’t have came to America as quickly, if it wasn’t for Christopher proving the earth was round. We would have never came together as one nation under God, as it used to be, but we had to change all that too.

Leave our statue alone it represents all of the America people. Italians and Sicilians are proud because he is one of our own.

Broken heart America/Sicilian,

History is extremely complex, full of details, opinions, facts and half truths…Columbus opened up a line of communication at a vital moment in human history. That much is fact. Did he do bad things? Most likely, but terrible things were happening all over then and are today. Columbus had nothing to do with what was going on in the northeast. The Iroquois were engaged in constant warfare and making slaves of Algonquin and Huron. That was the nature of the world. Yet nowadays people are bound to listen to pop condensed history through the opinions of temporary political opportunists (Walsh) who has little interest in culture, true history, or apparently running a city.

The Mayor is supposed to be the conservator of our city assets. He was not elected to curate what he likes and what he doesn’t like. Changes to the Columbus Monument – or any of Syracuse’s public art, for that matter – is not his decision to make. The city attorney should explain this to him. Otherwise the courts will need to explain this to him.

Please help us by clicking on DONATE above. Many thanks!

The statues are not problems. We learn from them and history. Take a better look at what is being taught in schools pertaining to the history of the statues.