SPEAKER

CULTURE byTALITHALINEHAN MOLLYMALCOLM

ACONTROVERSIAL CELEBRATION

Columbus Day
Limpresa del navigatore ed esploratoreCristoforo
Colombo si celebra tuttora come la scoperta del Nuovo
Mondo. Ma i popoli nativi abitavano quei territori già da
decine di migliaia di anni prima che arrivassero gli europei:
questo 12 ottobre e una buona pccasione per ricordarlo.

Clockwise from above: a 1519

portrait of Christopher Columbus
bySebastianodelPiombo, estatue
of Columbus inMinnesota ispuled
down in 2020 by the American EXERCISES IN
Indian Movement and other Native
American groups, in part in protest
against the police kiling of unarmed
Work It
Black man George Foyd; an ltalian
restaurant in New York City; a 15th
Out!
centurymap;aprotester.

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 AMERICA
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talianexplorer Christopher Columbus cent of its total population. Over BAD RD
SVcNGITHYou GUYSPP: CA
never set foot in what is now the US, 2.6 million live in the greater New 5ELEEROSE
buthe isthe third mostmemorialised² York metropolitan area. The rst SO DBPoucE. DECI5°10
person in the nation, behind Abraham Lin- Columbus Dayparade took place LUAME
coln and George Washington. He is par- in 1929, when the Italian Ameri- 0ACQU
ticularly celebrated on Columbus Day on can businessman Generoso Pope NAn
MICD:
12October. This annual celebration is now marched from Harlem to Columbus
highly controversial - but it isa big deal3 Circle, where a large monument to Co-
for many Italian Americans, especially lumbus still stands. Since then, every 12
those who live in New York City. October, a huge parade travels down the SCAN, READ
streets of New York City, from 44th Street & LISTEN
LATE STARTER
Columbus only became an American
north to 79th Street along Fifth Avenue.
Folkloricdancers perform to lItalian music, ) 09
symbolthree hundredyears after hisdeath, and delegations of associations from all
UPPERINTERMEDIATE B2
in 1506 because 18th-century revolution- over the country proudly parade among
ariesseeking independence from Britain Ferraris and Lamborghinis.
neededa historical gureheads, a hero yGLOSSARY
who could unite the young country. The CONTROVERSY 1 to set foot: mettere
rst celebration of Columbus Day dates Columbus Day is nowhighly controversial, piede
back to 1792. However, controversy over as many people believe it perpetuates a 2 to memorialise:
Columbus Day began in the 19th century, colonial narrative. After all, it commemo- commemorare
3 a big deal: fatto
when anti-immigrant groups rejected it rates the day on which European exploita- importante
because of its association with Catholi- tion of the American continent began, 4 to seek: cercare
cism. In1937,it was proclaimeda national disregarding? the genocide that Ameri- 5 gurehead: gura
holiday by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ca's indigenous population have suffered rappresentativa
6 parade: parata
under pressure from the Catholic lobby. for centuries. Across the country, around 7 to disregard:
forty statues of Columbus have been trascurare
CELEBRATION removed as a gesture against the legacy 8 to remove:
According to the Italian American Stud- of colonialism and the beginnings of the rimuovere
9 slave trade:
ies Association, the US has a total pop- transatlantic slavetrade9, although many commercio degli
ulation of about eighteen million Italians more monuments and literally thousands schiavi
and Italian Americans, making up 6 per of references remain. O

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 SPEAKER
CULTURE MOLLYMALCOLM
QINTERVIEW
INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE'S DAY
In 2021, US President Joe Biden designat-
ed 10 October Indigenous People's Day. It
falls two days before the now-controver-
sial Columbus Day celebration. The aim
of Indigenous People's Day is to honour
the sovereignty, resilience and cultural
heritage² of the Native American people,
and to acknowledgethe painfulhistory of
wrongsand atrocities that many European
explorers in icted on Native communities
after Columbusjourneyed to the Americas
in the late 1500s. To nd out more about
Columbus Day and its controversial histo-
ry. Speak Up talked with Professor Laura
Ruberto of the Department of Arts and
Cultural Studies at Berkeley City College.
After extensive research on the topic, Ru-
berto co-authored4a series of articles on
the Italiarn American engagementS with
Columbus as an identitarian symbol. We
beganby askingwhatsparked herinterest.
Laura Ruberto
(American ac-
cent): I have long
been interested in
Italian cultural is-
Sues, especially re-
lated to migration and transnational-
ism. And I also have an interest in
what's called 'material culture' and
public ways we come to de ne ethnic-
ity. So the Columbus so-called contro-
versy seemslike anatural place to take
myresearchbecause it brought togeth-
era number of factors that were impor-
tant to me of thinking about how in the
United States we remember and some-
time celebrate various parts of nation-
al history, how those celebrations get
created over time and reinforced over
time, and how they're connected to the
way different communities in the US
in our very multicultural world de ne
themselves and see themnselves at dif-
ferent moments and in different parts
of the US.
32 thirty-two
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DIFFERENT POINTS OFVIEW
A tattooed protest by Columbus isn't celebrated in the same
a Mapuche in Chile,
where the date of
wayacross the United States.Backinthe
early 1990s, the city of Berkeley inCali-
Columbus' arrival is
called Día de la Raza. forniawas the rst to no longercelebrate
Columbus Day, celebrating Indigenous
People's Day instead. However, in New
York it is still a major celebration for the
tatft Italian American community.
Laura Ruberto: In New York Cityand
New York State there's a higher num-
ber of Italian Americans. California is
a very big state and so it doesn'thave
the same density as a place like New
York or New Jersey. Even so, when
Berkeley made the decision in theear-
ly 1990s, there was controversy aswell.
However, there were also local Italian
Americanshere in California whovery
much supported the idea, whostated
that Columbus didnt representthem,
and certainly the use of his image asa
symbol for exploitation andgenocide
and violence and the settlement7 of
land and the overtaking® of peoples'
entire lives and livelihood9 didn't rep-
SCAN, READ
& LISTEN resent them as Italian Americans.
) 10 THE MEDIA
Even though there isa growing number
ADVANCEDC1
of ltalian Americans who do not identify
with the Columbus heritage, the media
YGLOSSARY still tends to give voice to the pro-Co-
lumbus side.
1 aim: scopo
2 heritage: eredità,
patrimonio Laura Ruberto: Many Italian Ameri-
3 to akcnowledge: cans nd Columbus to be an impor-
riconoscere
tant hero for them. But also many Ital-
4 to author: scrivere
5 engagement: ian Americans very explicitly do not
coinvolgimento nd Columbus as an important hero
6 to spark: accendere for them. And so the relevancy exists
7 settlement:
ina sense on either side of thedebate.
occupazione,
insedianento The media tends to only present one
8 overtaking: side of the debate with respect to Ital-
usurpazione ian Americans. In the US there's a very
9 livelihood:
signi cant presence of voices against
Sostentamento
10 to head: dirigere
Columbus and Columbus celebration.
11 to carry out: The media tends to present a clear di-
realizzare chotomy betweena moreprogressive
12 to re ect: ri ettere political position that's headed 10by in-
digenousvoices and minority cultures
 that are anti-Columbus and then puts
more politically conservative white
Americans, who may or may not be
Italian American, on the pro-Colum-
bus side. The media rarely acknowl-
edges that there are Italian Americans
who are against Columbus.

COMPLEX DEBATE
Ruberto and her collaborator, Joseph
Sciorra, carried out" a series of inter-
views with Italian Americans and asked
them to re ect12 on their identity.

Laura Ruberto: There are those Italian

Americans who we've spoken to, espe-
cially young people, who have been
really active in this 'contro Colombo"
movement, who are just extremely ar-
ticulate about wantingto acknowledge
and remember and understand the his-
toryofItalianworking-classimmigrant
struggle but at the same time acknowl-
edgethewaysthe dominantmovement
in the US has always been towards an
exploitation of people and that Colum-
busrepresentsthat almostabove allelse.

RECENT CHANGES
Ruberto acknowledges that Columbus
Day is now less relevant in the US than
before.

Laura Ruberto: More and more cities

CELEBRATING and states and small towns even no
(OLUMBUSDAY IS longer celebrate Columbus Day, many
have changed the day of cially to In-
CELEBRATINC
digenous People'sDay, others to Italian

CENCCIOE American Cultural Day or Italian Herit-

Toptwophotos:celebrating
12
Octoberin NewYork Citynere
the Italian American community
celebrateolombus as a gure
of national pride. Above: a
protest against Columbus Day.
Right: a statue of Columbus
originally in Grant Park, New
York that vwas removed in 2020.
age Day. The city of San Francisco cele-
bratesbothndigenousPeople's Dayand
Italian Heritage Day on the same day.
Others have kind ofseparated themout
oronly focus on one orthe other. I think
that's a very signi cant change. There
have beern dozens upon dozens of Co-
lumbus statues and other icons of Co-
lumbusthathave beenremovedacross
the world. And there has been so much
more conversation about Columbus in
educationalspaces, certainly in high
schools and universities in the US.O

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