IAOVC Elects New Hampshire Governor & State Legislature to Hall of Fame for Preserving Columbus Day by State Law

Italian American One Voice Coalition commends New Hampshire for Leadership in Protecting Italian American’s Iconic Columbus Day Federal Holiday

NORTHVALE, NJ, UNITED STATES, September 24, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Northvale, NJ - The Italian American One Voice Coalition (“IAOVC”), America’s largest independent Italian American anti-bias organization, has elected the New Hampshire State Legislature and Governor Chris Sununu to its “IAOVC Hall of Fame” for passage of HB 1014, which mandates, by state law, that cities and towns are now required to recognize Columbus Day on the second Monday in October. A number of cities and towns that previously replaced the holiday’s name with Indigenous Peoples Day are now required to use the holiday’s official title of Columbus Day.

“We are extremely pleased and happy that Governor Sununu and the State Legislature took this critically important action to correctly recognize the single most iconic day for Italian Americans, and actually all Americans” stated Andre DiMino, IAOVC President. “We now urge the rest of the states to follow New Hampshire leadership and do the right thing by officially recognizing the Columbus Day Federal Holiday.”

There have been a number of locales across the country that have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day based on distorted facts about Columbus’ treatment of Native Americans, which have been roundly and soundly debunked by scholars and authors from primary facts and historical records. In addition, IAOVC has joined with other Italian Americans in a historic alliance with the Native American Guardian’s Association (“NAGA”) to oppose the cancel culture affecting all groups. IAOVC hosts a monthly virtual meeting titled “The Solidarity Sessions – Bridging Cultures Against Cancel Culture” with leaders of NAGA, Italian Americans and other groups to foster unity and not division.

Columbus Day, a US Federal holiday, is revered by generations of Italian Americans as an atonement and apology to Italian Americans who were subjected to abject discrimination, denigration and lynchings – the largest single-day lynching in America of 11 innocent Italian Americans occurred in New Orleans in 1891. In 1892, then President Benjamin Harrison declared that the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the new world be celebrated as Columbus Day to counter the negative treatment of Italian Americans so prevalent in those times. Later it was declared a Federal Holiday, as it remains today.

The Italian American One Voice Coalition is a nationwide coalition of Italian American organizations and individual members whose sole purpose is to defend Italian American heritage, culture and civil rights. In its 32-year history IAOVC has fought back and defeated repeated attempts to cancel Columbus Day and/or remove Columbus statues around the nation. IAOVC filed a landmark federal litigation against West Orange, NJ for its removal of the Columbus monument. The Federal Court last determined that IAOVC has standing and the suit continues. IAOVC is different from all other Italian American organizations in that its sole focus and objective is to foster education to fight bias, stereotyping and discrimination against Italian Americans. IAOVC is an IRS-Registered 501(c)3 non-profit.

To support IAOVC’s efforts at defending and educating about Columbus and Italian American civil rights visit iaovc.org/donate.

IAOVC membership is open to individuals and all Italian American organizations to join together as a coalition defending and celebrating Italian American heritage and culture. To join visit iaovc.org/membership.

IAOVC issues a regular free email newsletter, “The Alfano Digest,” to individuals and Italian American organizations nationwide. The Digest issues alerts on instances of bias, stereotyping, discrimination, and defamation and activates the IAOVC nationwide network of “Defenders” who respond through calls, emails, faxes, letters and demonstrations, where necessary. The Digest also contains informative Italian American cultural, educational and heritage information. To request the Digest at no charge, email your request to info@iaovc.org or fill out the form on iaovc.org.

Andre DiMino
Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition
andre@iaovc.org
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