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Happy Columbus Day, everybody!  That is, if you’re one of the folks who still celebrates Columbus Day because, appropriate to today’s often contentious designation, we’re presenting the sixth and final segment of our “Conversations on Columbus” series exploring the life and legacy of Christopher Columbus! This week is our attempt to tie a nice big...

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On Monday, Illinois state lawmakers and the American Indian Center will announce new legislation to swap out the official Columbus Day holiday with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Meanwhile some Italian Americans in Chicago are against this. A rally was held Sunday to demand Chicago and Illinois stop erasing Columbus from history. Another rally will take...

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Beginning on December 8th 1941, over 600,000 Italian-Americans were branded “enemy aliens” and were firmly under the surveillance of the US intelligence community. Out of that number, tens of thousands were experiencing a very broad range of civil rights violations and massive economic losses, and a few thousand were being held in internment camps...

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Italian Americans in Syracuse will gather in Columbus Circle Monday, to pay tribute to the Italian explorer, possibly for the last time. And they're not happy about it. After years of controversy and discussion, Mayor Ben Walsh made the final decision on the future of the controversial statue last week. The statue will be coming down. "The city of...

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It’s unfortunate that this year’s Columbus Day Parade was canceled because of the pandemic. But it’s even more unfortunate that in recent years, an anti-Columbus movement has risen up attempting to eradicate history. Columbus Day is not a day to honor an individual, but rather a day to remember a courageous voyage, the catalyst that initiated over...

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Dominic Candeloro, a former history and Italian-American studies professor, said that explorer Christopher Columbus’ legacy is not clearly an evil one, as some would argue. Candeloro (below), who also led the effort to create an Italian-American studies program at Loyola University Chicago, recently told The College Fix via phone interview that peo...

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Local officials, members of Italian heritage groups and residents of Nutley and Belleville gathered in view of their towns' Christopher Columbus statues Sunday to celebrate the explorer's legacy. The activities, which included a morning flag-raising in front of Belleville Town Hall and a wreath-laying ceremony and car parade in Nutley, replaced the...

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Early Sunday morning shortly before 6 a.m., News5's news crew noticed red paint on the Christopher Columbus statue in downtown Pueblo. Police officers had just arrived on scene and were shining their flashlights to investigate what happened, and they confirmed they received reports the statue had been tagged. For the next couple of hours, Pueblo Fi...

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Basil M. Russo, President of Italian Sons and Daughters of America — and the ISDA legal team, led by attorney George Bochetto — secured a temporary injunction in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas that will block Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto from removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Schenley Park. The Italian American community saved...

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The Columbus Day Parade was held in Bridgeport with a scaled back event to protect the public from COVID-19. The procession went through the city's North End with only one float. Organizers say that the scope of the event was reduced due to the pandemic, but they never thought of canceling it in spite of all the controversy surrounding Christopher...

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