Community Organizations’ Legal Brief Supporting Columbus Monument Removal in Syracuse Will be Considered by NY Supreme Court

Women of Italian Heritage CNY (WISH CNY)and Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON) have filed a joint Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) Brief in the Columbus Monument lawsuit before the Appellate Court 4^th Division of the NYS Supreme Court. The 75-page document supports the decision of the City of Syracuse to remove the Columbus Statue and can be read here. The brief includes information which  explains the evolving truthful historical understanding of Columbus, and the progression of dedicated public engagement regarding the future of the Columbus monument in Syracuse which otherwise would not be available to the judges.

Members of both organizations are available for interviews upon request.

A panel of judges will hear oral arguments from the City of Syracuse and the Columbus Monument Corporation on Monday, April 3rd,  in Rochester. Their decisions will direct the future of the site where the Columbus Monument currently resides. The oral arguments will be filmed live and hosted on the NY Courts website here. The case docket begins at 10 am. 

“NOON has been involved with community efforts to remove the Columbus monument from the city center for over twenty years,” says Lee Cridland, a NOON steering committee member. “There is strong and widespread support from local citizens, and support from the Onondaga Nation, to remove the statue from public property. In contributing to this legal brief, we continue our efforts to support this long overdue change for our community.”

Across the country, community-led efforts to remove offensive monuments in public spaces have strengthened. WISH CNY member Stefania Ianno states, “Columbus was never a good person, but his image was used to help Italian immigrants in the US to gain some safety and respect. We don’t need him to represent our Italian heritage and we feel there are many others who are much better choices.  The use of Columbus has become a sad and tragic insult to many Italian-Americans like me, and perpetuates false claims that he was a hero.”

The joint Amicus curiae uses primary source documents of contemporaries which detail the violent treatment and atrocities committed by Columbus and those who followed his lead in to gain land and riches, and to convert Indigenous people to Christianity by force, as was encouraged by the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.