The north side of Syracuse is the best home for the Columbus statue (Your letters)

To the editor:

I read the letter from the Columbus Monument Corp. and was taken aback by their lack of cultural and social awareness (“Columbus Monument Corporation: ‘We Can’t Erase History'” October 18, 2024). Of course, for many years Italian Americans (myself included) celebrated Columbus and his discoveries. But then we grew up. We learned about how he brought disease and slavery to the New World. We learned that it never touched the North American continent. We learned that he wasn’t even the first European to sail to this side of the Atlantic, as the Vikings were in Canada almost 500 years ago. And we learned that he may not have been Italian at all; a recent documentary claims he may have been Spanish Sephardic Jew. None of this changes the fact that it was very brave of him to board a ship the size of the Santa Maria and sail into the unknown.

But it is high time to move his statue from the city center. Place it in a park in northern Little Italy. That’s where he belongs. And this is where the Columbus Monument Corporation can worship his feet daily if they choose.

Oh, and by the way, when the Interstate 81 viaduct fails, people heading to downtown Syracuse will pass through it almost every day.

Peter Lotto

Fayetteville