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Columbus Day in Chicago will look different this year as the fight for the return of the Columbus statues weighs heavy on the Italian American community. One of the Columbus statues removed this summer sat at Arrigo Park. It was relocated because of violent protests, but not destroyed. Italian Americans say enough is enough and to put the statues b...

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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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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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Four metal posts jut out of the empty stone pedestal where a 9-foot-tall statue of Christopher Columbus once looked over Arrigo Park in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood. A chain-link fence encircles the spot where city officials yanked the statue off that pedestal in the middle of the night after protests and vandalism in July. It's still an ope...

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It is no secret I am an Italian American, and a proud one at that. I was born on Taylor Street in Chicago's "Little Italy" neighborhood. Being a child of the early '60s, I was fortunate enough to have experienced much of the music from the Sixties and Seventies now referred to as "heritage rock" and "classic rock." How I was really lucky was the fa...

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On Friday, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans hand delivered a letter to Chicago’s mayor, asking her to return the statues to their “rightful locations.” The letter cites Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s statement regarding the fate of the statues over the summer, calling the removal of the statues “temporary.” “We understood the mayor’s stance w...

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The Italian flags and the red-white-and-green streamers fluttered along Taylor Street Thursday. Some posted fliers that read: “Celebrate Italian Heritage Month!” Others were careful not to display the back side of that flier because it contains the “C word.” “I’m afraid to put it up because if someone is against Columbus Day, I don’t want them to s...

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Sunday, Oct 4, 2020 at 12:00 PM. 10203 West Grand Avenue, Franklin Park, IL, 60131. Join us at Jewel-Osco Franklin Park for Festa Italiana, filled with the sights and smells of Italy, featuring a live accordion performance and a Live Chef Demo from Leo Spizzirri of the Pizza Academy as well as Rossella Martinello of @A.Taste.Of.Italy.At.Your.Table...

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Chef Joe Farina, known for his Chicago-style Italian fare, is bringing Victory Italian to Oak Park. Set to open in the former home of Two Brothers Social Tap, 100 S. Marion St., Victory Italian is poised to bring throwback charm and an arsenal of classic Italian dishes to the Pleasant District on Monday, Oct. 19. The Oak Park location will be a sis...

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Monday October 12 2020 at 10:00 CDT. Arrigo Park, 801 S Loomis St, Chicago, IL 60607. Join us as we celebrate this Columbus Day, Monday, October 12 at 10:00 a.m. at Arrigo Park in Chicago's Little Italy. Our petition drive and support is growing each day and it's symbolic in that more than half of our signatures thus far are from other ethnicities...

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