Columbus Day removal comes under fire
Three of Macomb County’s top elected leaders lobby for change
Lawyers, home builders, grocers, bakers, and elected public officials of American-Italian descent lobbied Clinton Township leaders to reverse a previous action to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day on their municipal calendar.
Although there were dozens of people in attendance for Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting, an agenda item relating the move was pulled without explanation. It will be acted on at a later date.
Still, many who were angered by the board’s Nov. 14 vote to replace all references to the Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day made impassioned please for a reversal. They said Columbus Day underscored the heritage and pride felt by the Italian community.
Macomb County Deputy Treasurer Joseph Biondo said the board’s decision to change the holiday without any input by local Italians was “unfair to us.”
“Especially in light of all Americans of Italian descent that are in this township that celebrate Columbus Day as more than a cele
bration of Italian heritage, but really a celebration of western civilization,” said Biondo.
Builder Benedetto “Benny” Sorrentino, founder of Icon Development, said it appears township officials took steps to replace the days without knowing about Christopher Columbus and his accomplishments.
“I think there are more important things to do in this township than to take a holiday out,” he said. “All of us have a problem with it.”
About 20% of the township’s 105,000 residents are of Italian-American descent, according to Clinton Township officials.
Michigan’s most populated township is also home to the Italian Cultural Center, Italian Tribune newspaper, Luciano’s restaurant, Freddy’s Bar, Lucido Insurance, and Randazzo’s, Nino Salvaggio and Vince & Joe’s fruit markets.
Macomb County Treasurer Larry Rocca, Clerk Anthony Forlini, and Prosecutor Peter Lucido — who all are of Italian-American descent — also spoke at the meeting.
Forlini called the move a “slap in the face” for Macomb Italians, while Lucido said he would “die for” his Italian pride and heritage. Rocca wondered aloud if trustees took into consideration “your citizens, your constituents, your voters” in erasing Columbus Day.
Those who support Indigenous People’s Day say the move is aimed at making the community more inclusive. More than a dozen states and 130 cities have moved toward some version of commemorating Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus Day.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes the Indigenous communities that have lived in the Americas for thousands of years. It became increasingly popular as a replacement for Columbus Day, which was meant to celebrate the explorer Christopher Columbus who sailed with a crew from Spain in three ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, in 1492.
Critics, such as the Navajo Nation, the country’s largest tribe, say Columbus brought genocide and colonization to communities that had been in the Americas for thousands of years. But many communities around the country, such as Clinton Township, still celebrated Columbus Day or Italian Heritage Day as a point of pride.
On the same night the township board voted for the change, trustees moved to add Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth Day to the township’s calendar of paid holidays for employees.
Rodney Tolbert, pastor of Liberty Missionary Baptist Church in Clinton Township, said he was not happy with the move to no longer consider Columbus Day as a holiday. He said the move and others like it continue to divide the country.
“Enough dividing one another on race, religion and national origin. God doesn’t care about your color — He cares about your soul,” Tolbert said to a standing ovation.
Joel Rutherford of Warren, chair of the Democratic Black Caucus of Macomb, thanked the board for making MLK and Juneteenth Day as paid holidays for township employees.
He added everyone should be proud of their heritage just as he is proud of being a Black American. But at the same time, he said, the public needs to face the truth of things in America that have happened.
“Columbus Day for so many feel like it’s about colonization. It’s about where the slave trade started. My relatives came over here in chains,” he said. “I wonder how many other people here did.”
The township board removed an item calling for the community to establish the second Monday of October as both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The resolution “is proper as both have contributed to the heritage and culture that exists today and the inclusiveness our Country strives for.”
Board members say the debate will continue at a future meeting.