Hi, the Italian-American Defense League Monument Task Force and IADL members want unity and justice. We believe on June 24, 2020, the City of New Haven illegally removed Wooster Square's Columbus statue. That day the protests of 50 or more people of Italian descent were ignored when the city lifted the statue off its pedestal and placed it face-down in storage.

The symbolic bond that cemented the acceptance of Italians as Americans in Connecticut was broken. New Haven's Christopher Columbus statue was dedicated by Paul Russo, representing united Italian societies, on October 21, 1892. The statue was a symbol of Italian immigrants becoming an integral part of New Haven and Connecticut. It was the first time an immigrant group outside of the Protestant power structure was recognized with a public monument.