THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2022 Page 13 ~ GUEST COMMENTARY ~ The Cancel Culture Has Lynched Columbus Day By Sal Giarratani A sk me how I feel as a secondgeneration American with grandparents from Sicily about the woke mob that has now hijacked Columbus Day from the millions upon millions of Italian Americans living in this nation today. Columbus Day was born in a great tragedy. It was conceived following a horrifying and brutal mass lynching in New Orleans in Louisiana. Eleven innocent Sicilian fi shermen were broken out of their jail cells while law enforcement looked on. They were dragged to a public square in what is still the largest mass lynching in this country’s history. The Republic of Italy was furious and President Benjamin Harrison made a public apology for what had transpired. Since the following year was 1892, which would be the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering the Americas, Harrison created Columbus Day for Italian Americans. In recent years with the cancel culture at work, woke mobs have been fi guratively and physically attacking historical accounts, documents and statues in the name of wiping everything they found to be bad to the bone. Funny thing, even though America has grown during its history and is improving, that appears not good enough for the cancel culture fascists. No one, not Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln or even Columbus were perfect people. Like our nation, all of us come with our warts. The most important thing is to keep moving forward and getting better. We cannot erase history. Get used to it and learn from it. Become better. However, most of our political class, our politicians have gone off the deep edge. In Boston, they cancelled Columbus Day last year RevereTV Spotlight W hat is fall without football? Well, RevereTV has you covered for the entire Revere High School Football season. Every game this year, home or away, is playing live on the Community Channel. Most games are at 6 p.m. on Friday, and, of course, one is on Thanksgiving morning. The latest game was against Somerville last week, and the Patriots take on Lynn Classical at home tonight. The team’s home fi eld is Harry Della Russo Stadium, but if you can’t make it, watch on Facebook, YouTube or RevereTV. The community events continued last weekend, starting with the celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month at the Revere Farmers’ Market last Friday. Concilio Latino celebrated with music, food and dancing while dressed in several traditional clothing representations from diff erent Latin American countries. All were welcome to join. RevereTV was able to catch the sights and sounds of this celebration, and it is now airing in between programming on the Community Channel. Revere Parks and Recreation hosted Revere’s Annual Fright Night event last Saturday to get the city into the Halloween spirit. This took place outside the Rumney Marsh Academy. Revere Rec made sure to have their decorated Trunk-Or-Treat Lane, where residents and their and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples Day. Makes no sense to pit two communities against each other. I say create a day for indigenous people without abolishing a long-established holiday for Italian Americans. Here is a chance for the Revere Human Rights Commission to do the right thing. I oppose any eff ort to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. The second Monday of October must remain a day of pride to all who share my Italian heritage. If you want to create a new city holiday that’s fi ne with me but pick another Monday. friends and families got to preview their Halloween costumes for some early trick-or-treating. There was plenty of candy, food, music and activities for all to enjoy. Watch coverage of this seasonal event on RevereTV’s Community Channel and on YouTube. This month’s special program, “Indigenous People’s Day: A Conversation,” and the Italian Flag Raising Ceremony are still playing on RevereTV over the next few weeks. You can also watch the short video clips of earlier events, such as Barktober Fest, the Shirley Avenue Cultural Festival and the Rossetti-Cowan Senior Center Fall Party, playing at various times throughout the week. Note that all RevereTV–produced videos and event coverage is posted to YouTube to be watched at your convenience. Now playing on RTV GOV: replays of the Conservation Commission, Human Rights Commission, Commission on Disabilities, Cultural Council and this week’s City Council meeting. Government meetings in the City Council Chambers at City Hall air live on RTV GOV, Facebook and YouTube and then replay on television. This channel is 9 for Comcast subscribers and 13/613 on RCN. Spanish translation of City Council and Human Rights Commission meetings is provided on YouTube. Like us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/Advocate.news.ma
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