Keep the Columbus Monument

My father was first generation #ItalianAmerican born in this country and like most was very proud of his Italian heritage. When my grandparents first came to this country most of their family settled in Pennsylvania but my grandfather came to Central New York where the city was the namesake of another in the old country, #Syracuse. When my grandfather died my grandmother raised their nine children here in Syracuse, they moved around the city throughout the years and in the 1930s they were on Burnet not far from Erie Boulevard, just a short walk to downtown. My father told me about the day the #Columbus statue was dedicated and how the family really felt like they were at home here in Syracuse. Dad passed away in 2001 and I can’t imagine how sad he would be to see what’s happening to the city that he called home.

“Good Luck! Appreciate you and your community for standing up for our heritage, and standing for the memory of those whose dedication of the statue reflected a pride of being Italian-American, and had no idea about transgressions of CC 500 years prior… They looked to him as a symbol of all that is good about our world and the Italian peoples formative role in it… no one can take that away from us…”

“History shouldn’t blind us; it must enlighten us. To ignore parts of history is to minimize and possibly destroy what history can teach us.”

The reason I feel strongly about the memorial is that I know the local citizens who worked and saved for the monument, never meant it to be “a bad thing’………….My Great Grandfather, Brig.Gen. William Verbeck received a medal from Italy due to the monument being erected and I dare say the ‘249th National Guard Regiment’ marched in the parade.