“Comes the dawn!” exults Lou Rago, president of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, in his recent letter to the editor regarding the renewed effort to restore the Columbus statues to Chicago’s public spaces.
While an uncertain dawn possibly heralds the return of the controversial Columbus sculptures, a monument of at least equal importance languishes in perpetual dusk, and no fraternal organization, as far as I know, seems at all concerned.
I refer to the remains of the Giuseppe Garibaldi Monument in Lincoln Park, a tribute to a patriot and warrior who was key to the unification of Italy in the 19th century, and who is mostly unknown to contemporary Chicagoans. Garibaldi is a unifying figure, not a divisive one, and no one could object to honoring him in a prominent location.
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But the “Plaza General Giuseppe Garibaldi,” dedicated in 1934, is neglected and in a state of decay. (The statue itself was moved several times after its original dedication in 1901, according to the Chicago Park District.) The concrete plaza around the massive, rough-hewn memorial has crumbled and the inscription is wearing away. No explanatory plaque tells the story of this Italian hero who spent some months in New York in the 1850s, later offered to join the Union Army and returned to Italy and the struggle for a united, sovereign Italian nation.
While the statue of Garibaldi was moved to Garibaldi Park in Little Italy years back, the 63-ton stone base left behind in Lincoln Park remains without a sculpture.
The structure there bears the now-barely legible phrase in Italian, “Guerreggio per redimere e non per conquistare” — which means, loosely, “He fought wars for freedom, not for conquest.” Regrettably, the same cannot be said of Columbus, based on the well-documented brutality he unleashed upon the Indians he encountered when he landed in what is now the Bahamas.
Rather than focusing so exclusively on Columbus, a figure about whom rather too much is known, why don’t Italian American associations work to restore the Garibaldi plaza in Lincoln Park? Such an effort would show they are serious about educating Chicagoans about the full range of Italian American history, and are not just a single-issue pressure group.
Hugh Iglarsh, Old Town
Trump’s Rose-colored glasses
Rick Morrissey’s commentary (“Pete Rose doesn’t need Donald Trump’s help. The cheating Astros already opened the door to the Hall of Fame.”) concerning Pete Rose’s gambling and Donald Trump’s intent to pardon Rose should not cause an uproar.
As we all know, Trump and Rose’s credibility cannot be questioned. While Rose initially vehemently denied betting on any baseball games, we all suffer occasional slips of the mind.
Similarly, when Trump said that he was actually elected president in 2020, he may have been referring to some other election that was stolen from him.
Nevertheless, while the president is trying to negotiate peace in two wars, and his tariffs are upsetting some world leaders, Trump still recognizes the magnitude of getting the deceased Pete Rose pardoned.
Terry Takash, Western Springs
No thank you to Trump, Vance
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance recently demanded a “thank you” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to acknowledge the United States’ support of Ukraine, which they suggested was charity. The “thank you” demand was obviously for the sole benefit of Trump’s ego satisfaction.
To paraphrase the great Jewish rabbi and scholar Maimonides’ 12th-century classic “Eight Levels of Charity,” a charitable act is diminished to the extent that the donor benefits. Thus, Trump’s and Vance’s demand unwittingly diminished their own charitable efforts.
“Thank you,” of course, is a nice gesture, but no one with a true sense of charity demands a “thank you”
Further, as Trump and Vance seemed to demand that the recipient (metaphorically) kneel in obeisance, Maimonides probably would have taught that this was an exercise in power and self-aggrandizement, and not charity at all.
Sheldon Hirsch, Wilmette
Attacks on learning are rampant
Dear Department of Education:
Thank you for committing to ensure that all students have access to meaningful learning free of divisive ideologies and indoctrination. Thank you for setting up this web page, enddei.ed.gov, so that everyone can report illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning.
Divisive ideologies, indoctrination, and illegal discriminatory practices are interfering with access to meaningful learning in many parts of our great country. There are malign forces seeking to rewrite history by eliminating teaching about slavery, about genocide against indigenous peoples, about genocide against Jews, and about widespread discrimination against anyone who is not an English-speaking, white, Christian, heterosexual male. There is a push to indoctrinate school children into Christianity, despite the constitutional separation of church and state. There is a movement afoot to stop teaching about human reproduction, and to deny science, including, but not limited to, the changing climate of our entire planet.
The advocates of ignorance would have us believe that scientific research, such as studies of DNA methylation, which is important for cancer research, is neo-Marxist or worse. An extremist cult is replacing facts, evidence, and logic with disinformation and ideology. Discrimination against the intelligent and the curious is rampant. Books are being banned, while the main response to school shootings is “thoughts and prayers.”
No country can remain a world leader without excellent education. Please investigate and eliminate these threats to our institutions of learning. Thank you.
Steve Recchia, Reno, Nevada
Destroying democracy
I believe that if 9/11 were to happen today the rest of the world would turn their backs on the United States, shrug their collective shoulders and tell Donald Trump he had it coming. This man is single-handedly putting our nation in danger of losing our allies. The U.S. was once a staunch defender of democracy, now democracy is being destroyed within its borders.
Regina Gomory, Crystal Lake