As Hartford, New Haven, and other major cities in Connecticut have permitted and even overseen the removal of statues of Christopher Columbus, Waterbury has steadfastly stood by honoring the Italian explorer credited with discovering America.
Recently, the 5th largest city in the Nutmeg State has decided to hold a citywide referendum on whether to keep or take down the statue of Columbus that has greeted visitors to City Hall on Grand Street since 1984.
“This will hopefully settle the issue once and for all,” Waterbury’s Democrat Mayor Neil O’Leary told Newsmax last Friday, “We have stood alone in keeping Columbus’s statue and now the people will have their say.”
The referendum will be held on November 3 as residents of the “Brass City” vote for president and other state and local offices.
The referendum is the work of the Waterbury UNICO, the venerable Italian-American service club. Italian-Americans comprise roughly 21 percent of the city’s population and are in the forefront of the movement to preserve Columbus’s statue.
(Since protestors from the Black Lives Matter movement began calling for the removal of the statue earlier this year, it has been guarded by the local Ratpack Motorcycle Club. On an evening in July, when the cyclists were off the scene, someone climbed the statue and beheaded Columbus. UNICO promptly offered $5000 for information leading to the arrest of the vandal. The head has since been restored).
“And it’s not just the Italian-American community,” said O’Leary, himself a strong back of a ‘Yes’ vote on keeping the statue, “Many black residents privately say that Columbus is a part of our American history and his statue should stay where it is.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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