\u201cThe photo to my left says it all. Christopher Columbus is a symbol for the Italian American people in New York,\u201d said Cuomo, who is running as an Independent candidate after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, the gesture of that hand, gesture, let\u2019s call it, to anything, is reprehensible and immature. But to the statue of Christopher Columbus is truly disrespectful. Not just to that particular statue, but to the Italian American people who Christopher Columbus actually signifies a big part of their tradition,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
The Mamdani campaign did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n
Under the sponsorship of Spain, Columbus, an Italian explorer, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 in search of a new route to Asia. Instead, he landed in the Americas, which ignited centuries of colonization. Columbus Day commemorates his landing and has become a celebration of Italian American heritage.<\/p>\n However, Columbus has become a controversial figure due to his treatment of Indigenous peoples, including acts of violence, enslavement, and the spread of diseases that obliterated native populations. As a result, many communities forgo Columbus Day and observe Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Day to honor the cultures and histories of Native American peoples.<\/p>\n New York City\u2019s statues of Columbus have become an unexpected flashpoint<\/a> in the mayoral race<\/a>, with other candidates pledging their support for the statues while Mamdani has offered little public comment on the matter.<\/p>\n While Mayor Eric Adams has dropped out of the race, he has announced his desire to landmark two of the Italian explorer\u2019s monuments at Columbus Circle in Manhattan and Astoria\u2019s Columbus Square.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are calling for a full and fair review of the applications to preserve Columbus statues as scenic landmarks in Manhattan and Queens so that the public is given the opportunity to participate in the process. We also recognize the contributions of our indigenous community and are proud to establish a new special grant program for cultural programs and art projects representing that community,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Cuomo, who can trace his family\u2019s roots back to Southern Italy, on Columbus Day, reaffirmed his commitment<\/a> to protect the Columbus statue at Columbus Circle.<\/p>\n \u201cColumbus Day has always been about honoring the courage, sacrifice, and contribution of the Italian-American community to this city and this nation,\u201d Cuomo said at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cFor generations of Italian immigrants who came to New York with nothing but a dream, the statue of Christopher Columbus stood as a symbol that they belonged. It represented acceptance, dignity, and the belief that in America, hard work and family values could overcome prejudice and poverty. I fought to protect the Columbus statue when others wanted to tear it down \u2014 and as mayor, I will continue to defend it,\u201c he added.<\/p>\n And Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa has gone as far as committing to not only preserve the existing Columbus monuments, but to erect one on Staten Island.<\/p>\n At a rally last month,<\/a> Sliwa, who is of Italian and Polish descent, noted how other boroughs across New York City are home to various statues and parades celebrating Christopher Columbus. Yet Staten Island, \u201cthe most Italian of all the boroughs,\u201d does not have such a monument.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is it that Staten Island, the most Italian of boroughs, \u2018Staten Italy,\u2019 you don\u2019t have a parade? You don\u2019t have a statue? Well guess who\u2019s going to correct that?…\u201d Sliwa said.<\/p>\n There are more than 116,000 Italian-Americans living on Staten Island, representing roughly 23.6% of the borough\u2019s population, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.<\/a><\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is taking aim at Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-21799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent candidate, held a press conference at Casa Belvedere in Grymes Hill to criticize Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani for a 2020 social media post where he can be seen giving the middle finger to a Christopher Columbus statue. (Advance\/SILive.com | Erik Bascome)Advance\/SILive.com | Erik Bascome<\/p>\n