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The Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation and Women of Italian and Syracuse Heritage hosted the first of two sessions in their virtual workshop series Monday, “Goodbye Columbus: Time for Justice, Time for Healing.” The event was hosted to support the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle.

Mayor Ben Walsh announced plans to remove the Columbus statue on Oct. 9, 2020, which came after over 18,000 people signed a petition calling for the statue’s removal and for Walsh to condemn the racist violence the statue represents. The Resilient Indigenous Action Collective held a rally in July 2020 to further convince Syracuse officials to remove the statue.

The Columbus Monument Corporation contested the removal in court. The group is made up of Syracuse residents who felt removing the Columbus statue would erase history and Italian-American heritage, according to their website.

The general counsel of the Onondaga Nation, Joe Heath, was the keynote speaker of the first virtual workshop. In his presentation, he criticized the civil legal action taken against the city by the CMC in an attempt to keep the statue.

“We need to remember that this small group does not speak for the entire community, and they don’t even speak for the whole Italian-American community,” Heath said. “We understand that these specific Italian-Americans have a desire to hold on to the legacy of their past … but this unreality is based on the idolatry of a man who deserves no honor.”

Heath said that the Onondaga Nation filed for an amicus curiae on Sept. 9, 2021, but it was dismissed in early November. This process, meaning friend of the court, would have allowed the Onondaga Nation to be heard in court without being subjected to the court’s jurisdiction and rulings, Heath said. The exclusion would be best for the Nation, he added, because of court decisions that haven’t gone its way in the past.

There have been misrepresentations of the Nation’s view on the statue, which is why an amicus curiae would allow the Nation to be heard firsthand, said Heath.

Nicholas J. Pirro, a former Onondaga county executive and member of the CMC, is cited in the amicus after he reportedly said that two Onondaga chiefs attended the original unveiling of the statue — which he said means it had their blessing.

“The Nation does not need Mr. Pirro or any other party to speak on its behalf. The Nation wants the Court to know how fundamentally offensive the current monument remains to its leaders and citizens and how firmly it would support any decision by the City to relocate or move the monument from the Circle,” the amicus curiae filing read.

The Judge ruled in his dismissal that the Nation’s amicus curiae filing only brought up irrelevant issues such as bringing up past land treaties that didn’t mention statue removal, Heath said, despite the amicus proposal being very substantial and strong.

Because of this issue, among others, Heath said the Nation plans on filing another amicus curiae to support the statue’s removal, which will have to go through the State Appellate Court.

“Our community is composed of a wonderfully interwoven mosaic of rich and varied cultures and traditions,” said Heath. “The decision to remove the monument is in keeping with our community’s tradition of cultural diversity.”

Published on March 7, 2022 at 10:12 pm

Contact Grace: gdkatz@syr.edu