On March 22, 2026, President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Basil Russo, national president of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America. In this letter, Trump announced that a statue of Christopher Columbus, gifted by the organization, would be displayed at the White House. He referred to Columbus as “the original American hero” as well as “one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth.”
Trump has made no secret of his love for Columbus. He condemned former President Joe Biden’s decision to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, seeing it as an affront to Columbus Day (which Biden never stopped celebrating). Once Trump reentered office in 2025, he issued a proclamation recognizing only Columbus Day. The statue now displayed at the White House is a replica of a statue in Baltimore, which was toppled by protesters during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Trump called those who engaged in such actions “left-wing radicals,” suggesting that they fundamentally disrespect America. What might be surprising, though, is that most Americans echo similar sentiments. A 2024 survey shows that 52% of Americans view Columbus favorably, while 69% see him as an important part of American history.
To make it extremely clear, I do see Columbus as unalienable to American history. I also despise him. The fact is that Columbus was an active proponent of genocide, slavery and violence. As governor of Hispaniola, the island that now makes up modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Columbus enslaved Indigenous Taíno peoples, shipping them to Spain for the purpose of selling them into slavery. On Hispaniola, he murdered thousands of Indigenous people who fought against enslavement. He ordered that the dismembered bodies of those he killed be paraded around to dissuade others from rebellion. So well known was his cruelty that the Spanish crown arrested him and stripped him of his titles. When people celebrate Columbus, they’re celebrating not only a horrible person, but a legacy of violence and genocide within the United States.
While the story of Columbus should be straightforward and his name should be spoken with contempt, the story is not that simple. For Italian Americans, Christopher Columbus’ name was a way for them to legitimize their status as Americans. From 1880 to 1924, over four million Italians immigrated to the United States. These immigrants were believed to be not “white enough” and were discriminated against for their Catholic faith. In order to gain cultural legitimacy in the United States, Italian American communities sought to connect Italy to the legacy of the United States. As a Genoese explorer, Columbus was considered Italian, and thus early Italian Americans lobbied to make Columbus Day an official holiday. They finally succeeded in having the holiday federalized in 1937.
The ability of Italian Americans to ‘rise to full “whiteness”’ by using Columbus’ name does not erase his association with genocide. It only enforces how this country has refused to apologize, answer for or condemn its genocide against Indigenous peoples, which, ironically, was the inspiration for the definition of genocide in the first place. It is unbelievably ironic for Trump to claim that those who toppled the original Columbus statue were erasing history when he himself has never publicly recognized the genocide against Indigenous peoples. Displaying this statue does not restore history — it puts genocide on a pedestal. Just as destroying this statue did not erase history, but condemned celebrating it. It is time for Americans to choose, once and for all, to condemn Columbus’ actions. It is time for the United States to recognize its history of genocide and to teach the truth of our history.
