Bloomfield Nonprofit Battles To Preserve Legacy Of Columbus

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An Italian American anti-bias group in Essex County isn’t giving up their fight to preserve Columbus Day as a school holiday across the state.

The Bloomfield-based Italian American Once Voice Coalition (IAOVC) recently joined with other advocacy groups to decry the elimination of Columbus Day from the school calendar in Paterson.

In that case, the Paterson Board of Education removed Columbus Day from the calendar and replaced it with Indigenous People’s Day/Italian Heritage Day. A resolution stated in part that it was a move meant to “celebrate the legacy of America’s indigenous people and the historical contributions made by Americans of Italian heritage.”

But according to IAOVC founder, Manny Alfano, the attempt at pleasing both groups is a disgrace.

“It is just wrong,” Alfano said, adding that the nonprofit is working with other Italian American organizations who oppose the Paterson school board’s decision and want to see it overturned.

IAOVC executive board member Andre DiMino agreed.

“Don’t placate us with this bifurcated day for Indigenous People and Italian Heritage,” DiMino said. “No other group is told who or how they should celebrate.”

“Why pit one group against another by creating this fabricated, double-named holiday?” DiMino questioned.

The IAOVC, which describes itself as “America’s largest independent Italian American anti-bias organization,” has also been on the forefront of similar efforts in Randolph, where the school board recently backtracked on their own decision to give the axe to Columbus Day.

The group has also left a footprint in West Orange, filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the township last year after officials removed a monument to Columbus from a local intersection because it's “divisive” and a “symbol of hate and oppression.”

“We had great success in Randolph and we expect to prevail in West Orange as well,” Vice President Frank Lorenzo said.

• See related article: Newark Removes Columbus Monument From Park

According to the IAOVC, Columbus Day is revered by generations of people as an atonement and apology to Italian immigrants who have historically been subjected to “discrimination, denigration and lynchings” in the U.S.

“In 1892, then-president Benjamin Harrison declared that the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the new world be celebrated as Columbus Day to counter the negative treatment of Italian Americans so prevalent in those times,” the IAOVC stated.

Last year, the nonprofit released a video in an attempt to "set the record straight on Columbus" and what he encountered during his exploration of the Americas. The group has been especially critical of historian and educator Howard Zinn, whose iconic book, "A People's History Of The United States," accuses Columbus of committing genocide against the Indigenous people he encountered on his voyage.

According to the IAOVC:

“Columbus Day, a great American holiday, which Italian Americans revere as their own, as well as Columbus statues and monuments, are under attack with a false narrative about untruths attributed to the great explorer. This part of the world was no 'Garden of Eden' when Columbus arrived … But revisionists are silent on these facts. No one holds Indigenous people to today's standards, then why Columbus? He was a man of his times, and if you check the facts, according to reputable scholars and sources, he didn't perpetrate the breadth of atrocities accorded to him.”

It's a call that other Italian American groups in New Jersey have also taken up.

“Columbus was dead centuries before the things he is being accused of,” said Ralph Contini, first national vice president of UNICO National, which is headquartered in Fairfield.

“The Paterson Board of Education has been influenced by the false narrative about Columbus based on fabrications and exaggerations,” added Contini, who also serves as the longtime chair of the group’s Columbus Day Committee.

William Schievella, founder of the Italian American Police Society of New Jersey, also pushed for the preservation of Columbus’ legacy in the state – including as a school holiday.

“This just should not be happening in New Jersey,” Schievella said. “We have one of the largest populations of Italian Americans in the country and this is an insult. Columbus is an important symbol of acceptance to generations of our ancestors.”

• See related article: Tributes To Columbus In Essex County: 'A Great American Holiday'

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