On Thursday, Charles Marsala, President of the American-Italian Federation of the Southeast will be at the White House with 30 other national Italian-American Leaders as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden. Ms. Biden’s heritage is Sicilian from the Messina Region.

For the second consecutive year, the White House’s Columbus Day Proclamation has acknowledged the 1891 Massacre of three Italians and eight Italian-Americans in New Orleans led to President Harrison’s actions in 1892, stating: “In fact, Columbus Day was created by President Harrison in 1892 in response to the anti-Italian motivated lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891.”

Marsala produced a film “Who Killa da Chief?” in 2020 to bring attention to non-Italian persons of interest that were not investigated in the murder of Police Chief Hennessey. The film placed second in the Russo Brothers / National Italian American Film Competition.

The 1891 massacre was funded by the New Orleans City Council, which gave a grant of $10,000.00 to the Committee of Fifty that used to funds to purchase dozens of Winchester Rifles that were used in the massacre.

On Sunday October 8^th, The Federation joined with the Knights of Columbus to host a Mass, Procession, and Reception at the Italian Piazza in New Orleans. Starting in 2022, the City of New Orleans no longer recognizes Columbus Day. Speeches at the Piazza focused on how Columbus Day was started and how the contributions to America by the Knights of Columbus led to Congress in 1934 passing a resolution for the President to annually recognize Columbus Day with a Proclamation.

For the last five years, the Italian Community in New Orleans has sought to erect state approved historic markers on the contributions of Italians to New Orleans and been denied.  In 2022, the City Council voted to rename Tivoli Circle to Harmony Circle.

Marsala will be bringing a gift to First Lady Jill Biden. It is a scale model of the Monument to the Sicilian Sugar Cane Harvester, which honors the 60,000 Sicilian recruited to Louisiana from 1870-1920 to save the sugar cane crop, build the railroads, and work the docs. 

Marsala is a former Mayor of Atherton, CA and hosts a weekly TV show “Celebrating Culture.” Episodes can be seen on the YouTube Channel AWE News. The show has been nominated for three regional Emmys. 

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