Certainly, differing responses to the Columbus Monument controversy should be allowed and respected.\u00a0\u00a0But when there are serious misstatements that do not represent the truth, then those must be addressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am in sympathy with and respectful of our Italian American \u201cbrothers and sisters\u201d who are The Federation of Italian American Societies in Buffalo, NY for having to make the devastating decision to remove their Columbus Statue from their Buffalo Park. There was fear that the Columbus Statue would be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the 21 women suggest altruistic reasoning was the Federation\u2019s rationale, it is clearly fear that pushed them. The 21 women ascribe integrity, grace and honesty as the motives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t want our statue destroyed. We want to prevent its destruction,\u201d<\/strong>said Don Alessi, past president of the Federation. Let these words speak the truth. Anarchic vandals \u201cwon the day.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Does one truly think Alessi was pleased to have to change locations?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 21 women wish to \u201ccorrect history.\u201d The proper term used today is \u201ccancel history.\u201d Columbus is being used as a scapegoat by these \u201ccancel artists.\u201d How does a man who died in 1506, fourteen years after setting foot in a new hemisphere, get all the blame for over the next five hundred years of history? In fact, he never knew he landed in a different hemisphere truly thinking he was on the shores of China, India or the islands near Japan. These \u201c21\u201d need to read history and learn the truths. They are really concerned about the global impact America has had on the world for over five centuries and they want that erased for some reasons they never discuss. It is \u201csymbolic murder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They allude to the 19,000 supportive signatures they have from a website\u2014Change.org. What they don\u2019t tell you is that site is an international site created for thousands of worldwide issues people from around the globe support. All of the Columbus Monument supporters are local in Syracuse and Central New York. The vast majority of their signers have never even seen our Monument nor know where Syracuse is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201c21 women\u201d espouse that Mayor Walsh\u2019s decision is not solely his decision. It certainly is. The mayor\u2019s Dialog Circles were a subterfuge for a decision he always intended to make with little or no bearing coming from the wasted time Interfaith Works put into months of wasted labor. Just look at the 2019 and 2020 reports on City Hall website. There are suggestions there, not conclusive actions. It is the mayor\u2019s decision and only his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their historical comments about Columbus are totally worthless stemming from a brief excursion into fallacious \u201conline history.\u201d I would truly like to know their actual historical references so a debate can be had instead of arguments based on \u201csand.\u201d What do the terms, \u201cgenocidal figure\u201d and \u201cthe necessary evils of Columbus\u201d mean? I\u2019m not sure they know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, I find they are disingenuous in labeling themselves as \u201c21 Italian American women\u201d as though they are writing from that arrogant perspective. Why don\u2019t they state their real perspectives are from the political organizations they belong to such as the Syracuse Peace Council and Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation? Only then can we fully understand who they are and what they truly represent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Certainly, differing responses to the Columbus Monument controversy should be allowed and respected.\u00a0\u00a0But when there are serious misstatements that do not represent the truth, then those must be addressed.\u00a0 I am in sympathy with and respectful of our Italian American \u201cbrothers and sisters\u201d who are The Federation of Italian American Societies in Buffalo, NY for having … <\/p>\n