I am not the first to say that as Italian Americans, we understand the pain and injustice of discrimination. For five generations, our people have felt its sting and endured its stain. Yet, for all our efforts, stereotyping is still alive and well. Last year, a New York City commission asked the public to identify great women worthy of new public memorials. Mother Cabrini was the top vote-getter by far. The commission picked seven other women but excluded Mother Cabrini until Gov. Cuomo intervened.

There is no place for hate in New York City in 2020. We firmly believe and have said on many occasions that indigenous people deserve a monument in New York City celebrating their culture. For Italian-Americans, the Christopher Columbus statue is a deeply-rooted public expression of our pride, our identity, and our culture. Our forebears conceived it, designed it, funded it, built it, and gifted it to the city they loved.

The defilement of Columbus statues in Boston, Richmond, and elsewhere is not mere vandalism. Nor are these actions protected speech. They are hate crimes, plain and simple, against those who seek to freely express their pride in their culture and the accomplishments of their forebears.

Federal and state law authorities must prosecute all hate crimes to the full extent of the law.

We know from the terrible events in Minnesota and elsewhere that hate is more than hurtful. Hatred eats away at the values and ideals that unite us as people.

It’s time to drop the hate and seek the truth.