As cities across the country increasingly reject Columbus Day, choosing instead to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, Italian-Americans have sent a clear message: Their holiday isn’t going down without a fight. Columbus Day, named for the Italian explorer who sailed to the Americas on behalf of Spain more than 500 years ago, has become a painful reminder of the oppression endured by native peoples. At the same time, the holiday remains an important part of Italian-American heritage, and for many, it is one worth keeping.

“It serves as a unifying factor in our community,” Basil M. Russo, the national president of the Order Italian Sons and Daughters of America, said in an interview on Thursday. But to truly understand Columbus’s importance to Italian-Americans, he added, it’s necessary to understand how they were treated upon arriving in this country.