Italian American group says Chicago Columbus statues need to be reinstalled as expressions of art
Back in 2020, then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had three statues of Christopher Columbus removed in Chicago.
For all the time since, Italian American groups in the city have been fighting to put them back. They continue to do so, and now call the removal of the statues "selective censorship."
A few weeks ago, there was an uproar at City Hall over a piece of art on display at the Chicago Cultural Center. The display, titled "U.S-Israel War Machine," is part of an exhibit on puppets, and a group of alderpeople have called it antisemitic and want it removed.
At a City Council committee meeting earlier this month, "U.S.-Israel War Machine" sparked a heated debate about what should or should not be allowed on city property. But Ron Onesti of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans said there was no such debate about the Columbus statues.
"There was no outrage by City Council back in 2020," he said.
On July 17, 2020, a group of protesters clashed with police officers at the Christopher Columbus statue in Chicago's Grant Park. Some of the protesters tried to wrap a rope around the statue and tear it down.
A week later, the Grant Park Columbus statue was removed, to the cheers of people who said monuments to Columbus are insults to Indigenous Americans. A Columbus statue in Arrigo Park at Polk and Loomis streets in Little Italy, and a third statue that was part of a fountain at 92nd Street and Exchange Avenue followed soon afterward.
Ron Onestim, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, was infuriated.
"How can you just flippantly remove something without any discussion?" he said.
Onesti said it troubles him to see the site of the Grant Park Columbus statue still left as an empty pedestal five years later.
"This is owned by the citizens, and this is artwork, and this is free speech," he said.
The controversial puppet art at the Cultural Center was kept up in the name of art.
This week, 10 aldermen supported an order that would get the Grant Park Columbus statue out of storage. The Columbus statue and other monuments would also get reinstalled for "expression of art."
"The order put forth by Alderman [Anthony] Napolitano (41st) today really extends our emotions about this whole thing," Onesti said. "We're giving them 60 days to replace the statues based on the comments from the commissioner of DCASE [the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events] — the fact that controversial art should be protected by the city, and the government shouldn't get involved in any of this free speech stuff."
Onesti argued the Columbus statue may be controversial to some, but for that reason, it falls under art protection.
His organization has been fighting since 2020 with attorneys.
"I think actually what we did back then kind of set the tone for what's going on now," Onesti said.
Onesti said Italian Americans are long overdue to correct what he called a wrong, and said it is time for Mayor Brandon Johnson to take a stance.
"He's been very specific about dodging it, frankly," Onesti said of the mayor.
In August 2022, a panel created by Mayor Lightfoot called the Chicago Monuments Project recommended that the three Columbus statues should be removed permanently — along with several other public monuments they deemed as "problematic" on the grounds that they honor white supremacy or disrespect Indigenous people. No other monuments have been removed in the years since.
