De Blasio’s statue commission is on a ‘fool’s errand’: activists
Italian-American activists are hotter than a plate of fra diavolo over Mayor de Blasio’s “ill advised” statue commission, and the peeved paisans are demanding every city politician state their position on the fate of Christopher Columbus monuments around the city.
Leaders of Italian-American groups on Saturday blasted the 18-member PC panel formed by the mayor, and provided The Post with a copy of the letter they will fire off to local pols after Tuesday’s primaries.
The litmus test devised by the coalition of 30 groups asks “all elected officials and those seeking public office” to check off whether they “support the retention” of the Columbus Circle statue and others like it, or “would remove” them.
“We intend to keep the millions of Italian Americans residing in this state informed as to the result of our inquiry and … who is supportive of the Italian American community and who will succumb to ant-Italian sentiment,” the letter reads.
The group wants answers no later than Sept. 28, and will consider non-responses a “lack of support.”
“Our Italian heritage and culture is being challenged by this commission and is unacceptable,” Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, told The Post. “Italian Americans are galvanized in their resolve to preserve the statues of Christopher Columbus.”
Philip Foglia, founding director of the Italian American Legal Defense and Higher Education Fund, fumed, “This ill-advised mayoral commission is on a fool’s errand.”
Deliberating over images of the Italian explorer would be considered a “frontal attack on the pride and achievements of Italian Americans, not on the character of a 15th-century man,” he added.
Columbus, long revered as the heroic sailor who discovered America, is now reviled by some activists as an imperialist colonizer who slaughtered indigenous Caribbeans. There are at least five statues on city land dedicated to his memory.
Joseph Scelsa, president of the Italian American Museum, said the commission “should not exist” because its mission “is beyond the scope of their individual or collective expertise.”
Members of the mayoral commission, announced Friday, include Harry Belafonte, World Trade Center memorial designer Michael Arad, and Jon Meacham, a biographer of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.
Neil Mattera, president of the Columbus Alliance, said the panel is “ill equipped to make judgments as to what constitutes the values of New York. Come out on Columbus Day and you’ll see a million people on Fifth Avenue celebrating their values.”
At Saturday’s Labor Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, Gov. Cuomo, who wants to preserve the statues, said the mayor’s commission is “his business” and that Columbus monuments are about “respect for the Italian-American community.”
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that the Italian American community doesn’t get a mixed message,” he said.
GOP mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis, said at the parade that she had no use for the commission: “We have so many more important priorities to be addressing in our city.”