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New Haven's Columbus statue, installed in 1892 by Connecticut's Italian American community, was removed in 2020 by jittery civic leaders who rushed to dismantle historic monuments in a misguided effort to project inclusivity. Such decisions could be overturned as the Italian-American Defense League pursues a landmark ruling through a federal appeal...

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David Lee strummed a guitar while sitting on his front porch in New Haven. He lives two blocks away from Wooster Square Park, where the city installed a new sculpture representing an Italian American immigrant family, replacing a controversial one of Christopher Columbus which was removed by the city. Lee understands why the old statue means so muc...

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Christopher Columbus, once commemorated for the grandest achievement of human history, connecting two worlds in 1492, is now the target of the decolonize movement, which has the goal of decentering European culture in the United States. Decolonizers blame Columbus for all the sins of human history, without acknowledging the historical facts that pr...

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A half-dozen members of a group called the Italian-American Defense League gathered in Wooster Square Park to celebrate Columbus Day — and to renew their call for a return of the long-gone statue depicting that federal holiday’s namesake. The group charged with coming up with a new Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture for that same spot of Wooste...

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The Italian-American Defense League with plaintiff Ralph Marcarelli, a lifelong resident of Wooster Square, filed a lawsuit against Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven for removing the neighborhood’s Columbus statue.  Under Elicker’s reign, Columbus School changed its name, Columbus Day is now called Italian Heritage Day, and the Columbus statue was...

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A call for unity and action!  That’s the message of Keynote Speaker Virginia Gardner, President of the Italian American Alliance – National, at the Conference of Italian American Organizations in Connecticut, hosted by the Italian-American Defense League.  Gardner began her speech by jokingly pointing out how “Anglo” her last name by marriage is, b...

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