STILL STANDING
As Columbus Day arrives, debate over Stamford statue and city park remains unresolved
“We’ve done it every year for 60 years, so we’re not going to stop now.” Al Fusco of the Italian American group Unico Stamford
STAMFORD — For Al Fusco, this Columbus Day has a little extra significance.
That’s because Fusco and other Italian-Americans in Stamford fought this year to maintain the statue of Christopher Columbus in the city’s downtown amid pressure from many who want it removed.
On Sunday, the Italian-American group Unico Stamford, which Fusco leads, will hold a brief ceremony at the statue, located in the downtown square also named for Columbus.
“We’ve done it every year for 60 years so we’re not going to stop now,” Fusco said.
For how much longer they will be able to hold a celebration near the statue — at least one of Columbus — is still up in the air.
The monument dedicated to the 15th-century explorer, and his name on the park where the statue stands, caused heated debates in the city this summer, mirroring those at other spots honoring Columbus around the country.
In July, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Jennifer Williams said an ad-hoc committee would be formed to discuss the statue and whether or not it should be removed.
At the same time, the Board of
Representatives was set to consider whether or not to change the name of Columbus Park. The city Charter states that the volunteer Parks and Recreation Commission must ask the Board of Representatives to make the change.
It was unclear this week whether movement had been made on either front. Williams and Board of Representatives President Matt Quinones did not return messages. A member of the mayor’s staff was unable to provide information.
Steve Cerulli, one of the organizers this summer of a petition drive to get the statue removed and the park renamed, said he wants the city to move faster.
“I think they’re moving a little too slow,” he said. “I think it should have been addressed over the summer when petition reached over 1,000 (signatures).”
The petition currently has more than 2,000 signatures.
“The whole point was to get the city to have some kind of accountability,” he said.
Much of the resistance to removing Columbus, in Stamford and elsewhere, come from the fact that he and the day named for him long ago became focal points for celebrations of Italian Americans. In Stamford, organizers of the movement for change said Italian Americans’ contributions to the city should still be honored. But they suggested the honor be tied to a different figurehead.
The petition, co-created by Cerulli, calls for Columbus Park to be renamed for former Stamford Mayor Bruno Giordano.
But Giordano’s daughter, Esther-Marie Giordano, penned a letter to the editor defending the statue and
stating she does not want the square to be renamed.
Cerulli responded that the idea to honor Giordano was always meant as a suggestion and not something the group is demanding
The statue of Columbus in Stamford depicts him standing on a globe — to symbolize the New World — in the center of a small pool of water. It was erected in 1960 by the Stamford chapter of Unico, an Italian-American service organization established in Waterbury in 1922.
The movement to take down the Stamford monument gained steam earlier this year as groups across the country fought to remove memorials to Columbus, as well as to Confederate leaders, from public spaces — an extension of the mass protests that were set off by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Columbus’ legacy and the way he is taught in schools has changed drastically since the Stamford
statue was installed in 1960. While he is credited for connecting Europe to the Americas, Columbus also led a massive slave trade as well as the slaughter of indigenous people.
Fusco said the Columbus Day celebration — to feature a short ceremony and and the playing of the Italian and American national anthems — would take place on Sunday around 11:30 a.m. Columbus Day in Stamford has recently been celebrated with the That’s Amore Italian Street Festival, which has drawn a crowd of thousands to Columbus Park. But due to COVID-19, the food festival was canceled this year.
Fusco said Unico members never considered not holding some event to commemorate the holiday.
“It’s one day a year for us to show that this is important to us,” Fusco said. “We’re just thankful that we’re able to do it in front of the statue and the park.”