Such an action is craven, not proactive. Rather than fostering harmony between Italian Americans and Indigenous peoples, the group unilaterally surrendered to the vandals and the rabble rousers. What’s more, former federation President Donald Alessi and Mayor Byron W. Brown displayed their profound historical ign Cristoforo Colombo is neither the despoiler of a New World Garden of Eden nor a 15th century Adolf Hitler orance.
The United States is a proud multicultural society. And one of our founding precepts – e pluribus unum (out of many, one) – underscores this storied diversity. However, in removing Buffalo’s Christopher Columbus monument – and stripping the park of its namesake – the Federation of Italian American Societies of Western New York has violated the spirit of this hallowed dictum.
