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John Pica, a prominent lobbyist in Maryland and leader of the Italian American Organisations United, revealed that his group holds ownership of a significant statue and has agreed to loan it to the federal government. The statue is intended to be displayed at a prestigious location near the White House.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pica shared that he was approached around Columbus Day last year by a mediator who relayed that the White House was in search of a statue of the famed explorer. According to Pica, his organization conducted an informal vote, reaching a unanimous decision to send the statue to the White House. The official loan agreement was finalized on Wednesday.
When asked about his confidence in the statue’s relocation to the White House, Pica expressed, “Cautiously optimistic, yes.” While the exact date for the installation remains uncertain, he mentioned that it could happen “possibly within two weeks.”
Nino Mangione, a Maryland state delegate and Republican, has collaborated with the Italian American group in finding a new location for the statue after it was removed from the harbor. He confirmed these plans, which were initially reported by The Washington Post earlier that Wednesday.
The White House, while declining to provide specific remarks to the Associated Press regarding the statue’s plans, reiterated former President Trump’s admiration for Columbus. This comes amidst a growing historical reevaluation of Columbus’s legacy, as scholars highlight the complex interactions between European settlers and the indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans during the colonization of the New World.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero,” said Trump spokesman David Ingle.
“And he will continue to be honoured as such by President Trump.”
For Pica and his group, the statue’s Washington placement would celebrate a famous Italian who holds iconic status among Italian Americans. For Trump, it would be another move to reshape the telling of US history as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Trump endorses a traditional view of Columbus as the leader of the 1492 mission that marked the unofficial beginning of European colonisation in the Americas and the development of the modern economic and political order.
But in recent years, Columbus also been recognised as a primary example of Western Europe’s conquest of the New World, its resources and its native people.
The statue now headed to Washington is a replica of one toppled by protesters on July 4, 2020, and thrown into Baltimore’s Inner Harbour after anger boiled over following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. It was one of many statues of Columbus that were vandalised around the same time, with protesters saying the Italian explorer was responsible for the genocide and exploitation of native peoples in the Americas.
“I was there when we got it out of the harbour,” Mangione said, adding that artist Will Hemsley used parts of the old statue, first unveiled during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, “to build and restore a beautiful, brand new statue.”
In recent years, some individuals, institutions and government entities have displaced Columbus Day with recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day. President Joe Biden in 2021 became the first US president to mark Indigenous Peoples Day with a proclamation.
Statue may not be permanent
Pica emphasised that his group is lending the statue and would reclaim it if a future administration wanted it taken down.
Trump dismisses the shift on Columbus as “left-wing arsonists” bending history and twisting Americans’ collective memory. “I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes,” he declared last April.
Echoing his 2024 campaign rhetoric, he complained that “Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.”
Trump issued a Columbus Day proclamation last October and ignored Indigenous Peoples Day. He praised Columbus as “the original American hero, a giant of Western civilisation, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth”.
That tribute reflected Trump’s broader take on history. Last spring, he signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which bemoaned “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” in a way that misrepresents the US “as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed”.
Since the order, the administration has demanded a comprehensive review of exhibits across all Smithsonian museums and pushed Executive Branch agencies and state and local entities – especially colleges, universities and schools – that receive federal funding to roll back their diversity initiatives.
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