Take that, Chicago: Springfield Italian American group mounts boycott over Columbus statues

A Springfield-based Italian American group is asking its members not to travel to or spend money in Chicago “until there is a satisfactory resolution addressing the taking down” of the city’s Christopher Columbus statues.

The Roman Cultural Society of Central Illinois unanimously adopted the resolution earlier this week. It also made a financial contribution to the The National Columbus Education Foundation, a new consortium of Italian American groups seeking to protect Columbus Day and preserve the Italian explorer’s legacy in the wake of recent controversy.

“We're not trying to take anything away from anybody else,” said Tony Leone, a Roman Cultural Society member who is spearheading the effort. “But we just think some of this revisionist history has gone too far, especially when they're missing the point of why Columbus was embraced by Italian American immigrants.”

Monuments have become a flashpoint in recent months as protests continue over systemic racial inequity in America following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Much of the focus has been on statues of prominent slave owners or those with ties to the Confederacy. But protesters’ ire also has been directed toward Columbus, the Italian explorer widely seen as the first European to establish contact with the Americas.

Protesters across the country have called for removal of Columbus statues, saying that he was responsible for the genocide, subjugation and exploitation of indigenous people in the Americas.

After days of clashes between protesters and supporters of the statues, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the city’s three Columbus statues “temporarily removed.”

“This step is about an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city’s symbols,” the mayor’s office said in the statement, noting that the statues were removed following “consultation with various stakeholders.”

The Springfield group said that if a “peaceful solution” cannot be reached to return the Columbus statues to the public spaces they’ve long occupied, then “an appropriate replacement” depicting the arrival of early Italian American immigrants should be installed in their place.

“I mean, we don't want to see the Columbus statues put up if they're going to be villainized and demonized and destroyed,” Leone said. “It's unfortunate that there's so much misunderstanding on this.”

Though the explorer’s legacy is far more controversial than what’s taught in classrooms, he has long been an important symbol of Italian American heritage.

Columbus Day was first proclaimed a one-time holiday by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892 in response the lynching of 11 Italian immigrants in New Orleans. It was made a federal holiday in 1934.

According to The State Journal-Register's archives, the Roman Cultural Society was founded at Saputo's Twins Corner in 1958 by a group of Italians who felt that they should form a group that would be "a non-political, patriotic organization formed to promote civic education and moral and intellectual well-being among its members."

Since then, the organization has raised money for the Chamberlain ballpark at 1900 E. Capitol Ave., Padre Canella Park between Seventh and Eighth streets north of Eastman Avenue, the fountains at the Municipal Center West, the walk bridge between the two municipal buildings, the old nocturnal building at the Henson-Robinson Zoo and the garden on the south edge of the botanical gardens at Washington Park, among other projects.

The group’s membership once was in the hundreds, but is now between 35 and 40, according to its president, Gabe Chiaro.

Chiaro said the resolution is a bit out of character for the group, which meets once a month and holds an annual golf outing that typically raises up to $10,000 for local charities. He said they typically “don’t get too political.”

“We tend to stay close to home,” Chiaro said. “But when we feel that our brothers have been slapped in the face, we want to have our voices heard.”

Contact Brenden Moore: 788-1526, bmoore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.