A misrepresentation

Well, I almost spit out my espresso as I read Christine Flowers’ op-ed, “Orwell’s Warning is Coming True.” She’s “chilled” by the destruction of a mural honoring Frank Rizzo (Philadelphia’s mayor from 1972 to 1980 whose legacy of police brutality aimed at Black communities is widely acknowledged.)

She’s also pretty upset that Christopher Columbus’ crimes against the Taino people are no longer hidden in deep water under the hulls of the Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria.

I got a real case of “agita” trying to understand why Ms. Flowers sees Orwell coming to “erase” the history of racists and conquistadors, but never mentions the Orwellian victories in keeping the consequences of their legacies out of our history books, let alone out of our cultural analysis. Besides, removing statues from places of honor to museums of racist history is not erasure, it is acknowledgement.

So, as an Italian American, I want to make sure this is heard loud and clear, Frank Rizzo does not “represent … generations of Italians and their pride.” I love the lilt of that language, the taste and smell of that food and the gesticulations of Italian communication. I say, “Basta!”

Italian Americans should not be “insulted” by honoring the resilience of African and Native Americans. That resilience has endured centuries of national amnesia about the inequities that benefit those of us whose histories don’t include the bellies of slave ships or the marches of ethnic cleansing.

I look forward to the day when my grandchildren or great-grandchildren might live in a truthful multicultural world. That’s not an Orwellian future.

EMILY DE FERRARI Point Breeze