The Trump administration recently placed a one-ton statue of controversial Italian explorer Christopher Columbus on White House grounds in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
COPOMIAO — or the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations — gifted it to President Donald Trump. The towering 13-foot statue is actually a replica of one first presented by Ronald Reagan to Baltimore.
It was installed inside the city’s Inner Harbor.
During the 1984 dedication, Reagan noted how “Americans of Italian descent have given a great deal to this country,” all beginning with Columbus who “set forth on a voyage of discovery that changed the world.”
He referred to Columbus as someone who “challenged the unknown” by sailing westward in 1492 — also calling him “a man of vision who saw an opportunity, set down a plan, and then worked diligently to carry it forth.”
In 2020, the original statue was toppled by protesters, but never replaced.
Italian-born Massimo Sommacampagna is president of the AZ Italian American Chamber of Commerce. His group is among more than 70 COPOMIAO members nationwide.
He knew about plans to donate this replica monument, but admitted “we weren’t privy to the exact date, so it was a little bit of a surprise to us as well in terms of how quickly that came about.”
Sommacampagna says they still recognize Columbus Day — but as an American civic holiday celebrating immigrants, like himself, coming to Ellis Island and “not necessarily the individual and the atrocities that he’s been known for in the past.”
Especially against Native Americans.
“I mean he bragged about abusing Indigenous women in his diaries,” said David Martinez, who is Akimel O’odham and director of Arizona State University’s Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations. “To the victor, goes to spoils, right? That’s the way they were thinking.”
Erecting a statue of Columbus anywhere — like the White House — sends a strong message, with Martinez explaining “then you’re saying that all of the historical trauma that colonization inflicted on Indigenous people was worth it.”
In 1992, following an executive order issued by former Arizona Democratic Gov. Rose Mofford, a sculpture was dedicated at the Arizona American Italian Club in north Phoenix to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his voyage.
That memorial is still standing today.
Meanwhile, cities across the country are moving swiftly to erase markers of Cesar Chavez, following allegations of rape and sexual abuse. Martinez believes Americans would feel differently about the Yuma-born labor rights icon if he came to prominence centuries prior.
“If Chavez was 400 years ago, we'd probably be seeing a different reaction right now,” said Martinez. “More people would be inclined to preserve the historic symbolism of Chavez and ignore the criminal behavior.”
Parks and schools once bearing his name are now being rebranded.
A statue of his likeness — first raised in 2020 at the Five Points intersection near downtown Tucson — has since been taken down. The city is calling the March 31 observance Dolores Huerta Day — to honor the United Farm Workers co-founder who accused Chavez of raping her.
Phoenix has relabeled its Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day, while some state lawmakers at the Capitol are even looking to abolish the Arizona holiday altogether — without offering any replacement.
