I was surprised to see throughout Syracuse many posters with a particularly interesting message containing two demands. The first one was to celebrate diversity; he second, to replace the Columbus statue. But how can we celebrate diversity by removing a preeminent symbol of diversity? 

The Syracuse Columbus statue was paid for with the donations of Italian immigrants; people who risked their lives coming to America in filthy hulls of ships, escaping from an economic crisis. And exactly as other minority groups at the time, they were segregated — not de jure but de facto — fiercely criticized by the press, and subjected to all kinds of humiliations and discriminations.