facciamo

(Let's make)

The blog is named facciamo, or “let’s make,” with the intent of inspiring lots of contributions as we develop it. Photos, recipes, writings, audio and video – anything you might have that in some way speaks to our living as Italians and Americans is welcome. Please email gabriel@italianheritagechicago.org to contribute!

Why not Columbus? I'm glad you asked. #14reasonswhynot

On Friday, July 17, in Chicago, Black & Indigenous organizations led protests that wanted to take down a statue of Columbus. The Chicago Police Department responded by attacking protestors. A statue dedicated to hate was more important to the city than Chicagoans. The Columbus statue should stay down, here’s why (hover over slides to pause them so you can read, use arrows to scroll):

1) Columbus and his men tortured, raped, enslaved, and murdered the Indigenous people that they encountered in the Caribbean.
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2) As soon as Columbus saw the Arawak people he immediately thought about how he could enslave them. “With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
Zinn Ed Center
3) Columbus committed genocide against Indigenous people “From a population of 100,000 at the lowest estimate in 1492, there remained in 1514 about 32,000 Arawaks in Española. By 1542, according to Las Casas, only 200 were left.” (Image from Smithsonian Magazine)
Click Here
4) For years American Indians have been demanding an end to Columbus Day and to stop honoring Columbus. The American Indian Center in Chicago has a whole activism page so people can help them in this fight. @aicchicago
Visit AIC Chicago website
5) The fight to no longer honor Columbus has been going on for years. Because of Indigenous Peoples and activists many cities and states no longer honor Columbus.
Learn more
6) For some thinking differently about Columbus may be hard. I at a young age was only taught “in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered America.” Once I became a history teacher I knew I had to do better. I had high school students research then write age appropriate children’s books that we read at a local elementary school about Columbus.
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7) As parents and educators we can teach our children age appropriate truths about Columbus. “Why rethink Christopher Columbus? Because the Columbus myth is a foundation of children’s beliefs about society. Columbus is often a child’s first lesson about encounters between different cultures and races.”
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8) The National Congress of American Indians demands the removal of Columbus statues and anything that honors hate, like Columbus. “This growing movement across the country to rid our shared spaces of symbols that represent hate, genocide, and bigotry illustrates that it is past time for all cities to stand on the right side of history moving forward.”
Read the statement
9) If you find yourself saying “but who would replace the Columbus statues if they came down?” Don’t fret, Indian Country Today has a list of Indigenous people our country could honor
Read the article
10) In Chicago it took years of activism but Chicago Public Schools finally decided to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
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11) However the decision to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day so enraged two fragile Chicago Aldermen that they said they would “bring an Army of Italians to the next school board meeting.”
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12) As a CPS history teacher and the grandson of an Italian immigrant I responded to the two alderman and the notion that Italian Americans were upset about not honoring Columbus.
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The Italian American Heritage Society of Chicago opposes honoring Columbus in any way.
14) If you are worried about “Italians needing someone to look up to”, no worries here’s some that are worth celebrating “Want to honor Italian heritage? Skip Columbus and learn about these justice fighters.”
Learn more
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Compiled and written by Dave Stieber. To share a version of this slide show on Twitter, click here.

The primacy of culture

August 27, 2020 No Comments

America is in a season of rage, seemingly boundless and beyond control. Its leaders could learn from those among its citizens who are the children

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