Victory Lap: Italian American Leaders Rescue Columbus Day

By Truby Chiaviello, PRIMO Magazine 

• COPOMIAO President Basil Russo Wins Key Revisions in 2022 White House Columbus Day Proclamation
• Italian Americans Flooded the Executive Branch’s Communications Network With Petitions
• Columbus Day Showed Intense Outpouring of Enthusiasm in Cities Across the Nation!
• It’s Not Over: Biden Issues Indigenous Peoples’ Day Proclamation on Oct. 10

What a day!

Maybe the best Columbus Day of the 2000s.

Italian Americans came out in glorious enthusiasm for festivals, ceremonies and parades, from Boston to Baltimore, from Syracuse to San Francisco.

Amateur photographs and videos from endless smart phone uploads flooded social media on Monday to show hundreds of thousands of participants in this year’s Columbus Day.

The weekend celebration began with a bang.

Big news from Washington.

Victory!

The outcome was at hand over the annual Columbus Day proclamation by the White House. Would the message be a repeat of 2021? Would President Joe Biden again insert text to taint the legacy of Christopher Columbus with reminders of past injustices committed by others against n=Native Americans?

Niente da fare!

Basil M. Russo came through. He sent out a call for all Italian Americans to get involved. As president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO), Judge Russo structured a well-managed grass roots campaign. Italian Americans were urged to contact the White House by email, text and phone. The mission was to demand this year’s proclamation be about Columbus, only.

Italian Americans flooded the communication lines of America’s executive branch. The message was heard loud and clear inside the West Wing.

The White House Office of Public Engagement turned to Judge Russo about the specific wording of this year’s Columbus Day Proclamation. Unacceptable was any wording to diminish the legacy of Columbus or taint the celebration of a day of great importance to Italian Americans.

No repeat of 2021: There were no of Indigenous Peoples Day references, or wording about the past injustices of Native Americans.

This year’s White House proclamation, posted on October 8th, praised the courage and vision of Columbus, along with the acknowledgement of contributions made by Italian Americans to the United States. That was what we wanted.

The effort is indicative of what Italian Americans can do when mobilized. When we speak up, we will be heard by our elected officials.

Victory is to be cherished. Defeatism avoided. Cynicism contained.

There will be those who remind us that not one, but two, White House proclamations were made this year. One for Columbus Day, the other for Indigenous Peoples Day. This was also done in 2021. Yet, unlike last year’s, the proclamation for this Columbus Day was solely focused on the Genoese explorer and Italian Americans. That’s a big step forward in lieu of a Democratic president and administration tied to a host of interest groups to embrace political correctness and historical revision.

President Biden is, no doubt, an experienced politician. He knows the ways of Janus. He turned one side to Italian Americans to ensure Columbus Day was…