SEE THE LATEST: Columbus Advocacy Prevails in Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Testing Politicians’ Resolve
A pair of anti-Columbus Day bills are quickly advancing through the Massachusetts’ House and Senate.
H2989, sponsored by Rep. Christine Barber, and S1976, sponsored by Sen. Joanne Comerford, have received favorable recommendations from the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight and have now been sent to the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling.
WE MUST STOP THESE BILLS. PLEASE UPHOLD OUR SHARED ITALIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE AND TAKE ACTION TODAY!
- Copy the info below.
- Paste it into an email.
- Send it to the MA House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling.
Email recipients:
Ann-Margaret.Ferrante@mahouse.gov
Email subject line:
Preserve Massachusetts’ Italian American History
Email body:
To the members of the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling and to House Speaker Ronald Mariano:
I am writing today regarding the bills pending before your committee to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day as a State Holiday.
There has been much misinformation circulating in the past few decades regarding the history of Christopher Columbus, and in a misguided effort to be inclusive and sensitive to all cultures, these bills produce the opposite effect: they foment exclusion and they are not supported by a majority of Italian, or Native, Americans.
Legislators know they can attract media attention with abolish-and-replace bills, but such efforts afford them little political capital among voters, as these measures fail to address the real issues their constituents face, such as economic uncertainty or public safety concerns.
Columbus’ History
In 1892, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison organized the first national Columbus Day parade in New York City to ease a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Italy, which surfaced a year prior when the largest lynch mob ever to assemble on American soil murdered 11 innocent Italian immigrants in the streets of New Orleans.
Given the massive success of President Harrison’s NYC parade (attended by more than one million people), Italian Americans built Columbus statues across the U.S. through the 1900s to help fuel their assimilation. It is plain to see that Columbus Day was intended to encourage greater acceptance of immigrants (ironically, the holiday is now under constant attack for the same reason).
See the 2022 and 2023 White House Columbus Day Proclamations for further context.
A Better Way Forward
I urge you to not support this legislation and to preserve Columbus Day, which is a celebration of Italian American pride and history. I also suggest that the day after Thanksgiving be recognized as Native American Heritage Day and that the entire month of November be celebrated as Native American Heritage Month, as is already declared by proclamation by the U.S. government. There is also the option of recognizing August 9th as Indigenous Peoples Day, which was designated by the United Nations in 1999.
Both groups deserve to celebrate and preserve their cultural heritage, so please stop this inequitable legislation from proceeding any further.
Very Respectfully,
(ENTER YOUR NAME HERE)
Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) President Basil M. Russo fully supports, and is tenaciously advocating for, the preservation of Columbus Day in Massachusetts.
COPOMIAO’s affiliate organizations — the Italian American Alliance led, in part, by Tom Damigella, and the Italian American One Voice Coalition, led by Andre DiMino — are spearheading this Pro-Columbus initiative.
