“Cowardly acts of anti-Italian hate must stop now!” said Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition. “Five generations ago, impoverished Italian Americans built this statue in Columbus Circle and
symbolized exploration, discovery, and Italian American identity. This act of cowardice comes as radical groups have vowed to ‘eliminate’ all Columbus statues ‘by whatever way we have to do it.’ Italian Americans acknowledge
the true history of Columbus’s contribution to the world. It makes no sense to cancel our heritage rather than better educating all generations of the imperfect passage of the human race. The de Blasio administration was wrong to submit to the anti-Columbus demands to remove reasonable security measures that would have avoided this incident. We are grateful for the rapid NYPD response and demand that the de Blasio administration restore
security measures immediately.”