On New Year’s Eve, as part of the America 250 celebration, Christopher Columbus’s three ships were projected onto the Washington Monument; a federally sanctioned acknowledgment that Columbus remains inseparable from the American story. In Chicago, however, city officials have decided he is too offensive for Italian Americans even to be allowed to vote on.
Yet the City of Chicago and its Park District insist they are “listening” to Italian Americans. They claim to be engaging in “community dialogue,” weighing perspectives, and thoughtfully deliberating what should replace Christopher Columbus at Arrigo Park.
OPINION: THE NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION’S DEVOTION TO HERITAGE…