Activists Threaten Legal Action Over Medford School Name Change

MEDFORD, MA — An Italian American advocacy group is slamming Medford's decision to change the name of Columbus Elementary School, going so far as to threaten legal action. The Italian American One Voice Coalition, which describes itself as an activist group combating discrimination and negative stereotyping, sent a letter to the mayor and City Council Thursday calling on them to overrule the School Committee vote or "run the risk of a lengthy and expensive legal battle."

The School Committee voted 6-1 in mid-June to rename the school by July 1, 2021. The plan is to form an advisory committee this fall to explore alternative names.

But the IAOVC argues that Christopher Columbus is a protected symbol for Italian Americans, who under federal law "are a recognized and distinct ethnicity deserving of all the proper protections, including symbols connected to our heritage and culture," its letter states.

"Columbus is an iconic symbol to Italian Americans because in the late parts of the 19th century there was significant discrimination and denigration of Italian Americans," Andre DiMino, executive board member of the IAOVC, told Patch. "Benjamin Harrison in 1892 declared that Columbus Day would be in essence an apology or atonement for how Italian Americans were treated."

DiMino pushed back against the modern conversation around Columbus, something that School Committee member Melanie McLaughlin cited in her decision to vote for the name change.

"I did not know that [Columbus] is considered the father of the Atlantic slave trade or that there are documentations in his own letters, his own writings, where he talks about the benefit of having 9- and 10-year-old slave children, girls," McLaughlin said at the June 15 meeting. "Or that 14-year-old slaves and above were mandated to bring him cups of gold, and if they didn't, he would cut their hands off and bring their dismembered hands among the community as a demonstration of what happened."

DiMino called these "false accusations" and said it is "unfortunate that children, specifically at these schools, have to see this occur."

"They shouldn't take away from Italian Americans an important symbol because of false facts," he said.

The organization does not have any members in Medford, but DiMino said it is planning similar action in other communities where discussions about monuments and buildings honoring Columbus are taking place. Citing two prior court cases, the IAOVC says "Italian Americans are purposeful protected from discrimination and are 'recognizable' and 'distinct,' and can not, and should not, be 'singled out for different treatment under the law, as written or applied.'"

"We have to stop this insanity that's going on around this country," DiMino said.

Medford Acting City Solicitor Kimberly Scanlon did not respond to a Patch request for comment.

Previously: School Committee Approves Columbus School Name Change