Ron Onesti | Facebook
Ron Onesti | Facebook
Debates on Columbus Day being replaced by Indigenous People's Day has been an arena the Italian-American community has been at for some time.
Several locations including Oak Park celebrate Indigenous People's Day on the same day as Columbus Day, a federal holiday.
The Oak Park Board of Trustees approved the proclamation suggested by Oak Park activist Anthony Clark, following several other communities throughout the country, that aims to recognize the culture and battles of indigenous people, according to oakpark.com.
Ron Onesti, a representative of the Italian-American community on the monuments and memorials commission that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has formed, said that the rumors and rhetoric surrounding Columbus have no truth to them.
According to him, their community is open to dialogue to come up with fair resolutions. “You can’t just pull down history and rewrite it,” Onesti remarked.
Onesti says Italian Americans are upset with Chicago taking down statues of Columbus.
“Maybe the story needs to be expanded to tell the Indigenous Peoples’ plight, we’re all about that,” Onesti told Chicago City Wire. 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 also told Chicago City Wire that there is legislation regarding cities that don’t want to recognize the federal holiday.
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