CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago’s Columbus Day Parade seems to have gone the way of two statues honoring the explorer - absent from the city on Monday
The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans is planning a rally they are calling "Proud and Positive" on Monday at Arrigo Park, where one of the Columbus statues used to stand before Mayor Lightfoot removed them over the summer.
The committee's website said they will host a car parade, mass, and lunch afterwards in a sign of the movement against Columbus.
The city has no scheduled events.
“While there are no events organized by the city this weekend, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) will be monitoring weather conditions and any event or activity that should arise in relation to the holiday weekend," said Mary May, a spokesperson with OEMC, in a statement. "As always, OEMC and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) encourage everyone to wear masks and for all activity organized by residents to follow the City’s COVID-19 precautions and rules.”
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The Chicago Board of Education voted back in February to eliminate Columbus Day, instead giving students the day of for Indigenous Peoples Day. But according to the Tribune, Sergio Giangrande, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, in February called it “a slap in the face of the more than 500,000 Italian Americans in Chicago, and the 135 million Italian Americans worldwide.”
Many large cities have made the switch from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in an effort to reframe the day in honor of Native American history and culture.
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Over the summer, Mayor Lightfoot ordered the statues of Christopher Columbus removed from Chicago’s Grant and Arrigo parks overnight "until further notice."
“We took this step in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police, and to efforts by individuals to independently pull the Grant Park statue down in an extremely dangerous manner,” Lightfoot said in the tweets. “This step is an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city’s symbols. It also will allow us to focus public safety resources where they are most needed — particularly in our South and West Side communities.”
According to the Tribune, Lightfoot has said she has no plans to eliminate Columbus Day at the city level, and that she thought it made sense when CPS “essentially celebrated both, Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.”
CPS previously used both names on its calendar, and board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said it was their responsibility to lead on the issue.