Tearing Down Statues ofColumbus Also Tears Down MyHistoryBy JOHN M. VIOLA OCT. 9, 2017

A Christopher Columbus statue in Central Park was vandalized with red paint in September. Dave Sanders for The

New York Times

As I watched the disturbing events unfold in Charlottesville, Va., severalweeks ago, I knew our Italian-American community would soon be called toonce again address questions about statues celebrating ChristopherColumbus and the day named in his honor. We would once again be called onto “defend Columbus” against efforts to remake his day into IndigenousPeople’s Day.

Indeed, within days, Baltimore’s Christopher Columbus monument, believed

to be the first erected to the Italian explorer in America, was vandalized. Callsmultiplied to remove the iconic statue from New York’s Columbus Circle. Wewatched Columbus unceremoniously decapitated in Yonkers. Then, as reportsof similar actions began to flood in from around the nation, Los Angelesofficially replaced its celebrations of Columbus Day with Indigenous People’sDay.

I appreciate that for many people, including some Italian-Americans, thecelebration of Columbus is viewed as belittling the suffering of indigenouspeoples at the hands of Europeans. But for countless people in mycommunity, Columbus, and Columbus Day, represent an opportunity tocelebrate our contributions to this country.

Even before the arrival of large numbers of Italian immigrants in the late 19thand early 20th centuries, Columbus was a figure to rally around against theprevailing anti-Italianism of the time. He was a popular and useful focus ofnational celebrations, a rare figure in early American history free fromassociation with the recently-vanquished British Empire.

The earliest celebrations made little mention of his Italian origins, focusinginstead on his exploration and the patchwork of ethnicities that made upthese United States. In fact, Columbus’s earliest critics were the same whitesupremacists preying on our nation today, who loathed the idea that a non-Anglo-Saxon Catholic could be an American icon.

I have never been one to blindly uphold any single figure as therepresentative of all things Italian-American, since all individuals are flawed,and all monuments represent just a snapshot of our history, now measuredagainst 21st-century sensibilities. Some undoubtedly require re-evaluation,but that process should not include violence, vandalism and destruction ofproperty. The “tearing down of history” does not change that history. In thewake of the cultural conflict that has ripped us apart over these months, Iwonder if we as a country can’t find better ways to utilize our history toeradicate racism instead of inciting it. Can’t the monuments and holidays

born of our past be reimagined to represent new values for our future?

There are many monuments to Franklin Roosevelt, and although he allowedJapanese-Americans and Italian-Americans to be interned during World WarII, we as an ethnic group are not demanding that his statues be destroyed.Nor are we tearing down tributes to Theodore Roosevelt, who, in 1891, after11 falsely accused Sicilian-Americans were murdered in the largest masslynching in American history, wrote that he thought the event “a rather goodthing.”

It was in reaction to these tragic killings that the early Italian-Americancommunity in New York scraped together private donations to give themonument at Columbus Circle to their new city. So this statue nowdenigrated as a symbol of European conquest was from the beginning atestament to love of country from a community of immigrants struggling tofind acceptance in their new, and sometimes hostile, home.

Respect for historical monuments should not signify blind acceptance of thevalues and judgments of past societies; rather, they should be instructivetools in our quest to understand our history and use it to better meet thechallenges of the present. If we allow uncontrolled tearing down of memorialsor unilateral reinterpretation of American history, then we will be damagingour democracy by limiting vigorous debate on our history, with all its beautyand blemishes. In his first inaugural address at the onset of the Civil War,Abraham Lincoln called on Americans to allow a national dialogue led by the“better angels of our nature.” I think his counsel remains as wise andessential today as it was then.

We at the National Italian American Foundation strongly condemn thedefacing of historical monuments and expect elected officials and lawenforcement to protect our public memorials from further damage so that atrue conversation on their place in modern society can be organized. Webelieve Christopher Columbus represents the values of discovery and risk thatare at the heart of the American dream, and that it is our job as the

community most closely associated with his legacy to be at the forefront of asensitive and engaging path forward, toward a solution that considers allsides.

American ingenuity is built on the continuous re-examination of technology,and today, we have the technology to build interactive monuments out ofthoughts and not just of stones. We believe our foundation, and the ItalianAmericans community, can lead the effort to reimagine America’smonuments and memorials in a new light, and tell our story, the Americanstory, in innovative and thoughtful ways. If we can do that, perhaps the legacywe leave will be one that doesn’t face any controversy among futuregenerations.