Who replaces Columbus? Da Vinci? Calabresi?
My column last week about replacing the statue of Christopher Columbus in Wooster Square Park with one of Frank Pepe and his wife Filomena drew passionate rejections, hearty endorsements and some imaginative other proposals. “I am deeply disturbed by your suggestion of a statue of Frank Pepe to replace Christopher Columbus,” wrote a man with family...
Lawmaker calls for Hartford to rename Columbus Boulevard after local civil rights leader
A state lawmaker and other members of a historically Black fraternity are calling on city officials to rename Hartford’s Columbus Boulevard after Frank T. Simpson, a local civil rights leader. “As nationwide calls for the removal of statues glorifying colonialism and white supremacy have now reached our city, which is evidenced in the recent...
No clear path forward after Columbus statue put in storage in Bridgeport
This week began with the city’s abrupt decision to remove the Christopher Columbus statue from Seaside Park and ended with an uncertain outlook for the future of the likeness of the controversial explorer. “It needs to come back out. It doesn’t belong to the city. It belongs to all residents of Bridgeport,” City Council President Aidee Nieves ackno...
Columbus Statue's Missing Nose Leads To Beheading Suspect: PD
Police in Waterbury are looking for a New York man who tried to sell the broken-off nose that was once attached to the Christopher Columbus statue in front of city hall. In a news release, the department named 22-year-old Brandon Ambrose, of Port Chester, as a suspect. The Columbus statue was discovered decapitated shortly after 5:30 a.m. on July...
Girl Power: The 1933 New Haven Garment Workers Strike
In 1933, a poor Italian-American teenager led the dramatic New Haven garment workers strike that lifted thousands of women into the middle class. Jennie Aiello wasn’t the only leader of the New Haven garment workers strike of 1933. But she was certainly a key to its success. On a cold day in April, Jennie slid down the clothing chute from the secon...
New Britain latest Connecticut city to weigh removing Columbus statue
After a rally Wednesday evening in downtown New Britain, a few dozen people took turns phoning into a common council meeting to demand the city remove its Christopher Columbus statue. “I’m a second-generation Italian and I still think it should be removed,” resident Joan Leone told the council. “Italians have enough to be proud of. There are a lo...
Daughter of Stamford’s first Italian-American mayor says Columbus statue and park must stay in city
I am a daughter of the late Bruno Giordano, the first Italian-American mayor of Stamford. I do not want Columbus Park to be renamed. The statue and the park name must remain. Dad was a member of UNICO and participated with many Stamford citizens to present this gift to the city. My grandparents and his parents showed courage in leaving the old worl...
Let’s put Frank and Filomena Pepe in Wooster Square
Amid all the angry confrontations and bitter feelings over the city of New Haven’s removal of the Christopher Columbus statue from Wooster Square Park, there is something that has the power to bring us back together: Frank Pepe’s pizza. When my wife, Jennifer Kaylin, and I recently were brainstorming at our kitchen table about a suitable replacemen...
Newport’s Columbus statue holds meaning to Italian Americans
This letter is written in response to the person or persons who wrote a petition to remove the Columbus statue in Newport. I imagine that many of those who signed the petition never knew there was a statue there. They drive by that statue and most likely don’t notice it or know who it is. But we Aquidneck Island Italian Americans know. Why? Because...
Proponents, opponents both blindsided by removal of Bridgeport’s Columbus statue
Whether trying to preserve the Christopher Columbus statue in Seaside Park or pressure City Hall to remove it, people on both sides of the debate were blindsided Monday when Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration abruptly put the monument in storage. Shoshana Mahon, who just graduated from Fairchild Wheeler High School, helped organize a July 4 protest c...
Bridgeport News: Columbus Statue Taken Down At Seaside Park
City officials removed the Christopher Columbus statue at Seaside Park and placed it in storage out of an abundance of caution for the preservation of the historic artifact, the need to respond to modern-day sensitivities, as well as public safety at large. Community leaders of all cultures and ethnicities are discussing ways to continue to honor...
Why New Haven alders proposed Italian Heritage Day on Columbus Day
Italians have been a foundational part of the city since at least the 1880s. Now, a group of members of the Board of Alders is proposing an official recognition of that history with an Italian Heritage Day to be held on the second Monday of October. Six alders submitted a resolution calling for that date, currently recognized as Columbus Day, to be...