Italian Pride Marches On, And So Does Debate over Columbus

Tens of thousands of people celebrated New York City’s proud Italian heritage as participants in and spectators of the 79th annual Columbus Day Parade on October 9.

With sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, it was ideal weather for the event which began at 5th Ave and 42nd Street and continued north to 72nd Street, adjacent Central Park.

Although the crowds lining the parade route were sparser than in years past, there were two likely causes. First, was the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. With heated confrontations between pro-Palestinian protestors and pro-Israeli counter-protestors having taken place in this part of midtown the previous day, a sense of anxiety was unescapable.

Second was an ongoing controversy over the meaning of Columbus Day itself. Critics of Christopher Columbus accuse the Italian explorer, who landed his ship, the Santa Maria in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, of initiating centuries of oppressive colonialism. In response, some institutions have chosen to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day instead. The city in 2021 renamed Columbus Day on the school calendar with “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day” and the city’s public schools and libraries, which were closed for the day, acknowledged both occasions.

A bipartisan group of City Council members who are part of the council’s Italian Caucus, however, were pushing once again to return to the city officially calling it Columbus Day.

“To our understanding, Congress has not changed Columbus Day to ‘Italian Heritage Day’ or ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day,’ yet the City of New York and its agencies continue to refer to it as such, avoiding using the name ‘Columbus’ from any announcements regarding this holiday,” the letter read.

“Despite debates and disagreements, Christopher Columbus’s expeditions represent a significant turning point in global history, ushering in centuries of intercontinental exchange,” the letter continued. “Recognizing this fact does not dismiss Columbus’s shortcomings, just as removing his name from a long-observed holiday, or taking down a statue of his likeness, does not erase him from memory. What it does is take away an opportunity for us to address and understand his complicated legacy and our shared history and diminish the place that people of Italian descent have had in our nation’s history since before its inception.”

Governor Kathy Hochul was among the marchers but avoided the controversy, only noting that “At least one in ten New Yorkers have some Italian heritage in them.” Wearing a white jacket, a red shirt and an Italian tri-color sash labeled, she marched behind a banner that read “Celebrating Italian-American New Yorkers.”

Both Hochul and Adams were critical of the pro-Palestinian gathering that had taken place the day before the parade.

“I thought the message was the wrong message to put out,” said Mayor Eric Adams about the pro-Palestinian protestors. “It was a very hateful, insensitive message, when you saw a large number of people under a great deal of pain and uncertainty.” Adams went on, noting that while peaceful protests could continue, they would be monitored for potential threats. “Whatever happens on the international stage, it plays out in the streets of New York City,” he explained. “And we have an obligation to keep New Yorkers safe.”

Adams, wearing a navy-blue windbreaker and matching baseball cap emblazoned “Mayor Adams,” marched with his own cordoned security detail in tow. So that no one might mix up the occasion, several of Hizzoner’s men held aloft signs that read, “Mayor Adams Celebrates Italian-American Heritage.”

The Grand Marshal of this year’s event was Beth Paretta, CEO and Team Principal of Paretta Autosport, an IndyCar auto racing team dedicated to sponsoring women race car drivers.

The NYPD was out in force, including the sharp-dressed multi-ethnic members of NYPD Mounted division, their horses also neat in appearance as they clopped up Fifth Avenue; Highway patrol officers on motorcycles; and police band members and kilt-clad bagpipers on foot. A number of vintage police cars also garnered applause.

Other parade highlights included a phalanx of men and women riding Italian-made Vespa scooters; the Italian Welfare League float festooned with paper trunks labeled Sicily, Calabria, Latium and Tuscany; and camouflage fatigues-clad cadets of Xaverian High School ROTC, who showed off their fitness by dropping to the pavement and doing push-ups for the crowd.

Standing in the back seat of a convertible car, Rachelle di Stasio, the reigning Miss New York USA, wore a crown that sparkled like the Tyrhennian sea.