Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Pols blasted the de Blasio administration this week for unceremoniously changing the Christopher Columbus Day school holiday to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on the official 2021-2022 academic calendar.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Several Italian-American lawmakers on Tuesday blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Department of Education for unceremoniously changing the Christopher Columbus Day school holiday to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on the official 2021-2022 academic calendar.
“As two past presidents of the Conference of Italian American Legislators, we are incredibly disappointed to see how the NYC Department of Education has failed an important teachable moment,” State Sens. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Diane Savino (D-Staten Island and Brooklyn) wrote in a joint statement. “Their insensitive decision to eliminate Columbus Day, which is a legal, federal holiday from their calendar and substitute it with ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’ does a terrible disservice to a difficult and complex conversation. In one block-headed decision, they have harmed both communities and fanned the flames of division. They should immediately rescind this idea, restore the calendar and initiate educational discussions on the history of Italian Americans and Indigenous People.”
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“In one block-headed decision, they have harmed both communities and fanned the flames of division,” Sen. Addabbo (second from l.) said of the City DOE.
City Councilman Bob Holden (D-Middle Village) called the move “a disgraceful insult to people of Italian American heritage,” while Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told the New York Post that the covert decision “only adds to the cowardice now regularly on display by the woke Left.”
“There is nothing wrong with celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but doing so at the expense of a day that celebrates Italian American culture and history is downright insulting,” Borelli added.
By Tuesday evening, DOE officials edited the Oct. 11 entry on the 2021-2022 academic calendar to read, “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day, schools closed.”
In additional DOE calendar news, public schools will be closed on June 20, 2022, in observance of Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
