What’s on my mind? Keeping our holiday, even if we have to change its name.
It looks like Christopher Columbus Day will be a thing of the past. Their are too few in America that will stand up to these fascists, Marxist and Extremists. So......if we are going to lose a day that many Italian Americans and others have known, I shall put forward, have it go before the state legislatures, put it to a vote and hopefully Italian Americans will not be forgotten for the contributions to our country and throughout the world 🌎.
I shall write letters to our state legislators. We are fighting a battle two few of us are willing to go up against those who want to destroy a part of our history. So if history is going to be erased and re-written, let’s put forward a holiday that shall never be erased so long the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Milite Ignoto, located in Rome under the statue of the goddess Roma at the Altare della Patria. It is a sacellum dedicated to the Italian soldiers killed and missing during war.
A day few Italian Americans can remember. It started in NYC 50 years ago. It only lasted two years. But....it has forever remained in my memory. It was called “Italian Unity Day”. It was started by a man named Joe Columbo
June 29, 1970, 50,000 people attended the first Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle in New York City. In February 1971, Colombo Jr. was acquitted of the charge after the chief witness in the trial had been arrested on perjury charges.
On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot three times by Jerome A. Johnson, one being in the head, at the second Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle sponsored by the Italian-American Civil Rights League; Johnson was immediately killed by Colombo's bodyguards. Colombo was paralyzed from the shooting.
Why is November 4th a holiday in Italy?
National Unity Day, or to give it its full title, the Giornata dell'Unità Nazionale e delle Forze Armate ('Day of National Unity and the Armed Forces'), commemorates the end of World War I for Italy.
It's celebrated on November 4th, the day an armistice ended the fighting between Italian forces and the battered Austro-Hungarian Army in 1918.
The so-called Armistice of Villa Giusti, named for the estate in Veneto where it was signed the day before, ended hostilities in north-east Italy and paved the way for Italian soldiers to occupy border regions in the Dolomites and on the Adriatic (current day Alto Adige/South Tyrol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) that had previously belonged to Austria-Hungary's empire.
Italy declared the anniversary a holiday in 1919, dedicating it to its troops and the new territories for which they had fought. The incorporation of these areas, home to many ethnic Italians and Italian speakers, was seen by nationalists as completing the unification of Italy – hence the celebration of 'national unity'.
The occasion has been celebrated for 100 years since, making it one of Italy's oldest national holidays and one of the few to be observed before, during and after the Fascist era. While protesters of the 1960s and '70s objected to what they saw as the glorification of militarism and nationalism, the holiday survived, though celebrations became progressively smaller.
In 1977 National Unity Day – which comes hot on the heels of the All Saints' Day holiday on November 1st – went from a public holiday to being marked on the first Sunday of November, thus abolishing the day off.
How does Italy celebrate November 4th now?
These days celebrations take place on November 4th itself. The main event is a military display at the Altare della Patria in Rome's Piazza Venezia, attended by the Italian president and minister of defence.
The head of state lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Milite Ignoto, who was buried at the monument on November 4th, 1921.
Most Italian Americans have become Americans. Most know nothing of their culture. At least let’s speak for those who have given their lives for our county, one, being my dad, and all those who gave their blood 🩸 sweat and tears building it.
It’s a legislation worthy of fighting for. It may be best to remove the statue. It may be time for a new day.
“Italian Unity Day”
On that day, everyone is Italian.
Frank J Spotorno
New York, NY
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