CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --A Chicago alderwoman said people took her Twitter poll the wrong way and that she meant no disrespect to the Italian American community.
"I'm fully aware of the positive impacts Italians & Italian-Americans have had," Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez said. "It fills me with hope to see so many Italian-Americans in this city committed to celebrating their heritage in ways that embrace the full complexity of history."
Sanchez said her poll was intended to be “playful” and “lighthearted” and was instead being “spun into a narrative of disrespect", according to the Chicago Tribune.
The poll asked the question: What's the best way to honor Italian Heritage in Chicago?
Answers included "erecting an Italian Ice monument".
Someone wrote -- a statue of a cannoli and the alderwoman responded --
"Yes, how did I miss that??"
Ron Onesti, of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans said if she stereotyped another ethnicity or group by reducing them to the products they enjoy or invented, it could lead to calls for her resignation.
“Not only did she disparage a community that's contributed so much to the city, but she encouraged others to join in the fun ...at the expense of Italian Americans," Lou Rago, president of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago told the Chicago Tribune.
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