Chicago City Wire

An Italian-American hopes to show others that the movement against Christopher Columbus isn’t just removing statues — it’s taking away the history of Italian-Americans.

Ron Onesti is the current president of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and the vice president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans in Chicago.

Onesti said the three statues of Columbus around Chicago in Arrigo Park, Grant Park and one where South Chicago and Exchange Avenues meet — have been temporarily removed. Another statue, the monument of Italo Balbo that is in Burnham Park, was flagged as a potential statue to be removed as well.

“The statues are gone,” Onesti said. “The city has them wrapped and locked away.”

Onesti said Mayor Lori Lightfoot then put together a monuments and memorials commission that is made up of approximately 30 community group representatives. Onesti represents the Italian-American community on the committee.

“First of all, they had to catalog the city’s art,” Onesti said. “If you went to the city, as a journalist, and asked them for a list of all the statues (before) they didn’t have that. Or all of the artwork, the plaques. They’ve been working on that.”

After that, the committee identified 41 pieces that have questionable issues surrounding them. Four of those on the list were the Columbus statues and the Balbo statue.

“The three Columbus statues and the Balbo statue represents gifts from Italy to Chicago,” Onesti said.

The Balbo statue was gifted to the city for the Chicago Century of Progress World's Fair in 1933.

“Now we’re talking about should it stay up or should it come down and if it comes down, what will go up in place of it?” Onesti said.

Onesti said the committee is tasked with answering if new art be made by a local artist or would it be an artist from an ethnic group the previous statue represented.

“The Balbo statue was flagged … because it was done during Mussolini’s reign,”  Onesti said. “(They say) it’s about fascism. That was the type of government at that time. The fact is … as opposed to being about the gift from Italy to commemorate the transatlantic flight, it is being turned into something from a fascist government. That’s not the story about it.”

Onesti said one could look at any monument and find something wrong with it if they looked hard enough.

“You could look at any monument and … it’s a real deep thing,”  Onesti said. “As Italian Americans, we have a strong feeling about Columbus and it’s come to be an icon that represents traditions that we have celebrated for generations.”

Onesti said the rumors and rhetoric surrounding Columbus have no truth to them.

“We have the intellectual community who would love to get together with the intellectual community of the opposing side to show them because we have the facts. This isn’t true. Columbus genocide and raping and murders and all that really didn’t happen with him. It happened after him.”

Onesti said the challenge that they are facing now is that at this point, statues are being removed without community involvement.

“This stuff is really near and dear to the hearts of the Italian American community and we want to be treated just as ethically and fairly as any other group,” Onesti said.

Onesti said Italian-Americans have no problem with a broader scope of stories being told.

“Then they talk about replacing … Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which is another thing that we don’t understand,” Onesti said. “Indigenous People already have a state day, a national holiday, how many days do they want? They’re trying to replace Columbus Day. We would love to sit at the table with those that disagree. We’re not fighting. We just want to talk about it. That’s the opportunity that we want.”

Onesti said he wants to come to an equitable resolve on the topic.

“Maybe the story needs to be expanded to tell the Indigenous Peoples’ plight, we’re all about that,” Onesti said. “We will celebrate with them. We will march with them arm-in-arm. Just, why does it have to be at the expense of our holiday? Nobody has given it that thought.”

Onesti said history can’t be rewritten and it needs to remain to learn from it. Onesti also said there is legislation regarding cities that don’t want to recognize the federal holiday.

“Evanston and Oak Park have already denounced Columbus Day and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but again, is that legal?” Onesti questioned. “By replacing it, not only are you taking away something that is important to us — Columbus — but that’s the one day a year Italian Americans come together to celebrate their culture, their heritage, so (not only are you) going to replace it with an Indigenous People’s statue or a Native American statue, or African American statue or whatever it is, not only are you taking away the statue, but you’re taking away our day to celebrate. We’re two-time losers here.”

Onesti said it’s not just about a statue or a holiday but how it is impacting an entire community.

“It’s not realized,” Onesti said. “They’re thinking removing Columbus is just removing a guy from hundreds of years ago, they don’t realize it’s affecting me because that statue and those traditions represent my grandparents that came here from Italy looking for a better place for their family and they celebrated at that statue. These were gifts to the city. They were paid for by the Italian American community in recognition of the World's Fairs.”