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Learn more about the Syracuse Columbus Monument, Columbus, and Italian heritage
For books to learn more about Columbus, click here.
State Supreme Court set to hear arguments in Columbus statue decision next week
March 27, 2023. For the full article and video, click here
October 10, 2022: State Assembly Member Bill Magnarelli was recognized by the Columbus Monument Corporation for his commitment to the community and support for the monument’s preservation.
“I think it should be a focal point for continued discussion of any issue — Native American issues, immigration issues, racism issues — let it stand, so we can talk about those things and discuss them as a community, so we can come together when.” it’s all done, don’t tear things down” said Magnarelli.
Charitable cobbler honored on Columbus Day in Syracuse
By Lacey Leonardi Syracuse
PUBLISHED 5:51 PM ET Oct. 10, 2022
A cobbler is a person who mends shoes, which is what Ralph Rotella does, but the word describes him only a little bit.
This Columbus Day, the happy cobbler was honored with the Pirro Family Santa Maria Award by the Columbus Monument Corporation during their Columbus statue wreath-laying and Columbus Day celebration.
Nick Pirro, the Columbus Monument Corporation vice president said, “It goes to somebody that excels at helping others. And Ralph certainly has exemplified that.”
The celebration came during a time of debates over the future of Columbus statues and the federal holiday itself.
“Everybody can celebrate their heritage,” Pirro said. “We have no problem with it. We just ask people to let us celebrate ours. You celebrate yours. Together, we can work and be happy doing it. But let’s not try to attack each other or make yours go away or ours go away.”
The Santa Maria award honors Rotella’s citizenship efforts and years of charitable work on behalf of the rescue mission.
Ralph Rotella, the Pirro Family Santa Maria Award recipient said, “This country of give me a lot of things, and that’s why I want to get back to people too. Because I know a lot of people that got to have shoes to go somewhere. Everybody got to have shoes to go somewhere.”
Born in Calabria, Italy, Rotella traveled to America in 1970 at age 16. He opened his shoe repair business in 1975, and became a U.S. citizen in 1980.
Since 2010, Rotella has collected and repaired tens of thousands of shoes to help the homeless working with the Rescue Mission.
“We started many years ago,” Rotella said. “The first year (of donations) was 35 pair, and I was so proud. The next year was 65. Wow. Not bad. Then following two years for over 300 pair, and after that took over 1,000 and 1,000 and 1,000.”
Don’t Scapegoat Columbus
It’s time for a more sensible effort of intellectual precision to convey the greater truth of Columbus.
By Tom Damigella, Italian American Alliance
- Discoverer of The New World has become the convenient fall guy for today’s “cancel culture”
- Villain Status based on disinformation by Howard Zinn — just 8 pages!
- All wrongs of American History blamed on this one man?!
No one can deny Columbus’ discovery of the New World had a long-term impact on the Indigenous People of North and South America. It was Columbus’s life-long mission to discover a shorter sea route to the Far East, not only for new trade, but, also, to find an unobstructed path to Jerusalem, then occupied by the Muslims. Not only was Columbus an incredible navigator who brought his crew safely to an unknown world, he was a pious Christian devoted to spreading the word of God.
It was never in this man’s heart to brutalize, rape, or, as some people have accused him of, creating purposeful genocide. Columbus was a noble man who was nothing like his portrayal as a villainous exploiter by Howard Zinn in “A People’s History of the United States.” This character assassination has unfortunately been repeated unwittingly by those who use just eight pages of Zinn’s book to teach the life and times of Columbus.
That’s right. Zinn wrote only eight pages of unmerciful lies and misinformation about Columbus to set the stage for a smear campaign against the United States. He wanted people to believe that the United States, along with the whole Western World, were nothing more than executioners of all minority people. In order to defame America, Zinn had to first defame Columbus.
Tragically, some 90 percent of the native population died of diseases brought here by explorers and settlers from Europe. The Indigenous People lacked the natural immunity to withstand such epidemics as Small Pox and Malaria. There was no intent on the part of Columbus, not to mention other explorers and settlers, to purposely inflict these diseases upon the natives. This cannot be called an act of genocide, but, rather another example of the tragedy of history. The Black Death of 1345 to 1347 was transmitted from China and eventually killed up to one third of the European population. (Sound familiar?) It was estimated that 25 million people died in a five year period! This was horrific, but should we blame China or accuse Chinese historical figures of genocide? Of course not. It was due to microbes, not people.
These facts are not meant to excuse the many broken treaties and wars against Native Americans by the United States government. Rather, my point is to bring intellectual precision to this historical discussion of Columbus.
Yes, there were atrocities committed against the Taino people, but not by Columbus. Indeed, he went so far as to ally himself with the tribes of Hispaniola against their historical enemies, the Caribs. Columbus sought only to befriend and treat the Taino fairly. He made efforts to baptize the Taino into the Christian faith to, in part, prevent their potential enslavement. He never threatened to cut off their hands or forced them to dig for gold. These are lies and myths. Columbus never owned any slaves, although at that time, human bondage was acceptable in every corner of the world. Columbus never raped or condoned the assault of Taino women. He punished his own men who rebelled against his authority to commit such felonies. This is all recorded and documented by Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest who lived in the 16th century and published a personal account of the Indies. Father de las Casas attributed most crimes to the conquistadors who followed Columbus to the New World.
An extensive list of scholarly sources are available today that support my viewpoint. For instance, the eight page defamation of Columbus by Howard Zinn is thoroughly disproved by such works as “Debunking Howard Zinn Fake History,” by Mary Grabar; “Columbus Hero,” by Rafael Ortiz; “Columbus and His Quest for Jerusalem” by Carol Delaney; and “Admiral of the Sea” by Samuel Morrison, just to name a few.
To solely lay the blame on Columbus for the inhumane acts, wars and conflicts to occur after his death because of mass migration, the clash of cultures and the introduction of diseases is absurd on its face and libelous in its action.
Columbus is a legitimate historical figure who helped change the world for the better. The positive contributions to humankind far outweigh the unfortunate tragedies that came with the development and discovery of the New World.
Yes, Native Americans deserve to have their day of special recognition, so we can all proudly celebrate their culture, history and heritage. They remain a significant part of the United States. Such recognition can and must be formalized, but not at the expense and insult to Italian American communities who have so proudly associated themselves with Columbus for more than 130 years.
It is unfortunate that some people do not understand the historical connection of Columbus to our grandparent’s generation who endured incredible oppression and bigotry. This emotional connection of pride to Columbus cannot be ignored if one is to truly understand why we defend Columbus against uninformed and misguided critics.
Since our nation’s founding, we have honored Columbus by naming cities, buildings and statues for his discovery of the New World. Because of Columbus, the United States has existed to do more for the betterment of all people than any society or nation in the history of the world. The world is a far better place because of America, regardless of Zinn’s poisonous telling of our country’s history.
The efforts made by those, today, who use Columbus as their scapegoat to push a political agenda is unnecessary and unwarranted.
We are all better than that. The time is now for a more sensible effort of intellectual precision to convey the greater truth of Columbus.
Editor’s Note: The author was a key leader in the successful effort to stop the most recent attempt in Massachusetts to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
The Italian American Alliance and Italian Sons and Daughters of America are proud members of The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations. COPOMIAO is comprised of 58 of the most influential cultural, educational, fraternal and anti-defamation groups in the nation.
https://www.onlineprimo.com
From Primo Magazine – Anthony Pietrafesa and Nick Pirro discuss the battle to stop Mayor Ben Walsh from destroying the historic Columbus Monument in Syracuse
Preserving Columbus statue would show we value diversity of thought Syracuse.com Jan 25, 2022
“It’s not about hate”: Syracuse Residents Stand Up for Historic Columbus Monument as Mayor Plans Removal Daily Wire 10/12/2021
Syracuse Mayor Wants to Ditch Columbus Statue But Residents Say No Way American News 10/11/2021
On Columbus Day, Statue Still Stands in Syracuse, Year After Promises to Remove It. CNY Central 10/11/2021
McMahon: Taking Down Columbus Statue Without Plans, Dialogue Would be “Devisive” CNY Central News 10/08/2021
Nick Pirro and Tony Pietrafesa on NEWSMAKERS
Courage and Conviction – The True Story of Christopher Columbus
BOOKS ABOUT COLUMBUS
COLUMBUS AND THE QUEST FOR JERUSALEM by Carol Delaney
“The quest for Jerusalem was Columbus’s grand passion; it was the vision that sustained him through all the trials and tribulations he felt, like Job, that he endured—the frustrating years of waiting to secure support for the venture, the sleepless nights and treacherous seas he survived, the mutinous crews and the rebellious colonists he put up with, the humiliation of being returned to Spain in chains and, later, being marooned for more than a year on the island of Jamaica with a divided crew and his 13 year old son. He had dedicated his life to the liberation of Jerusalem; on his deathbed, realizing he would never see his project fulfilled, he ratified his will that left money to support the crusade he hoped would be taken up by his successors.” i.e. taking back of Jerusalem from the Muslims. p. xvi (2012)
COLUMBUS—THE GREAT ADVENTURE—HIS LIFE, HIS TIMES AND HIS VOYAGES—by Paulo Emilio Taviani
“And Columbus was not an isolated product of the fifteenth-century Italian culture, of which Genoa was an essential part. Christopher Columbus of Genoa was the greatest and most spectacular actor at the beginning of the modern age. Beside him, enlarging the boundaries of geography, philosophy, politics, science, art and music, stand a host of Italian geniuses, his contemporaries. …..Christopher Columbus symbolizes the creative genius of Italy shaping the beginningof the modern age.” p. 263 (1991)
Columbus had a Hellenic sense of wonder at the new and strange, combined with an artist’s appreciation of natural beauty; and his voyages to this strange new world brought him to some of the gorgeous coastlines on the earth’s surface. Moreover, Columbus had a deep conviction of the immanence, the sovereignty and the infinite wisdom of God, which transcended all his suffering, and enhanced all his triumphs. Waste no pity on the Admiral of the Ocean Sea! He enjoyed long stretches of pure delight such as only a seaman may know, and moments of high, proud exultation that only a discoverer can experience.
One only wished that the Admiral might have been afforded the sense of fulfillment that would have come from foreseeing all that flowed from his discoveries; that would have turned all the sorrows of his last years to joy. The whole history of the Americas stems from the Four Voyages of Columbus; and as the Greek city-states looked back to the deathless gods as their founders, so today a score of independent nations and dominions unite in homage to Christopher the stout-hearted son of Genoa, who carried Christian civilization across the Ocean-Sea. p. 670-671 (1942) — Pulitzer Prize Winner for 1942
(Before Morrison wrote his book, he traveled the exact path that Columbus took on his First Voyage.)
COLUMBUS—THE FOUR VOYAGES BY LAURENCE BERGREEN
Columbus held up a mirror to the Old World, revealing and magnifying its inhumanity and greed along with its piety, curiosity, and magnifying its inhumanity and greed along with its piety, curiosity, and exuberance. Columbus’s voyages revealed many harsh truths about the limits of human understanding, but it is too late to undo the consequences of these voyages. Their crimson thread is now woven deeply into the fabric of European and global history.
For all the scorn Columbus engendered, his four voyages constitute one of the greatest adventures stories in history. Although he was not the first explorer to glimpse or visit the distant shores of the Americas, his was the discovery that permanently planted the reality of the New World in the imagination—and political schemes—of the Old. Columbus forever changed the idea of what a European empire could be. He had the vision—and, at times, the delusion—to imagine, and to persuade himself and others that he had found something immense, important, and lasting.
For all their accomplishments and liabilities, Columbus’s voyages were just the beginning, setting in motion consequences—political, cultural and scientific—that persist to this day. In its complexity and powerful contradictions, his example speaks more urgently than ever to our contentious era. p. 368 (2011)
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE FOUR VOYAGES (COLUMBUS’S LOG BOOK) edited and translated by J. M. Cohen
In order to win their friendship, since I knew they were a people to be converted and won to our holy faith by love and friendship rather than by force. (p. 55)
I saw some who had wound scars on their bodies, and I asked them by signs how they got these and they indicated to me that people from other islands nearby who tried to capture them, and they defended themselves. I supposed and still suppose that they come from the mainland to capture them for slaves. They should be good servants and very intelligent, for I have observed that they soon repeat anything that is said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians for they appeared to me to have no religion. God willing, when I make my departure I will bring half a dozen of them back to their Majesties, so that they can learn to speak. p.56 (1969)
THE LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS by Edward Everett Hale
Columbus met with many reverses, and died, one might almost say, a broken-hearted man. But history has been just to him, and has placed him in the foremost rank of the men who set the world forward. And, outside of the technical study of history, those who like to trace the laws on which human progress advances have been proud and glad to see that here is a noble example of the triumph of faith.
The life of Columbus is an illustration constantly brought forward of the success which God gives to those who, having conceived of a great idea, bravely determine to carry it through.
His singleness of purpose, his unselfishness, his determination to succeed, have been cited for four centuries, and will be cited for centuries more, among the noblest illustrations which history has given, of success wrought out by the courage of one man. P.125 (1891)
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE HERO by Rafael
Columbus was nothing revisionists claim him to be, neither today nor in the past. He was not ignorant, stupid, an idiot a pirate, a racist, dishonest, paranoid, narcissistic, ruthless, vindictive, evil, or a genocidal rapist. The real Columbus was a man of faith, educated, intelligent, honest, and all good things his contemporary and critic, Bartolome de las Casas told us about. In other words, Columbus was exactly what revisionists claim he was not. P.243 (2017)
THE LOG OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS translated by Robert Fuson
October 12, 1492—To this island I gave the name San Salvador in honor of the Blessed Lord (p. 76)
I want the natives to develop a friendly attitude to us because I know they are a people who can be made free and converted to our Holy Faith more by love than by force. I therefore gave red caps to some and glass beads to others. They hung the beads around their necks, along with some other things of slight value that I gave them. And they took great pleasure in this and became so friendly that it was a marvel. They traded and gave everything they had with good will, but it seems to me they have very little and are poor in everything. I warned my men to take nothing from the people without giving something in exchange.
Many of the men I have seen have scars on their bodies, and when I made signs to them to find out how this happened, they indicated that people form the nearby islands (Caribs) come to San Salvador to capture them; they defend themselves the best they can. I believe that people from the mainland come here to make them slaves. They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them. I think they can easily be made Christians for they seem to have no religion. If it pleases Our Lord, I will take six of them to Your Highnesses when I depart, in order they may learn our language. P. 76-77 (1987)
