BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR SEPT. 11-17, 2020 13
community
Park Clean Up
BY JASON COHEN
Since July, the Friends
of Pelham Parkway has held
weekly cleanups on Mondays
at Pelham Parkway North
and Wallace Avenue near
Rose Garden.
The organization began
performing this weekly service
due to Parks budget cuts.
In October, it will revert to
doing monthly cleanups. All
ages are welcome and all
supplies provided.
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers. They should be addressed
care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter,
3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com.
All letters, including those submitted via e-mail, MUST be signed and with a
verifi able address and telephone number included.
Note that the address and telephone number will NOT be published and the
name will be published or withheld upon request.
No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves the
right to edit all submissions.
letters & comments
Dear editor,
Your Aug. 28 to Sept. 3 issue
published an article about
Mr. Felix Cepeda. Cepeda,
a resident of Castle Hill,
started a petition to remove
the statue of Christopher Columbus
which has proudly
stood at D’Auria-Murphy Triangle
Park in the Little Italy
section of the Bronx since
1992. The statue is a marble
bust of Columbus crafted by
the Bronx-based sculptor
and carver Attilio Piccirilli
(1866-1945). Cepeda’s reasons
for removing the bust are
that the explorer “…represents
oppression…” and “…
for many people was mostly a
horrible person.”
The reasons which Cepeda
provides are shallow at best
and lack any meaningful or
authoritative understanding
and appreciation of the incredible
achievements of the
Italian explorer Christopher
Columbus. Columbus is honored
as the greatest explorer
by having had the courage,
knowledge and skills to sail
across the then unknown Atlantic
Ocean and founded the
Americas (i.e. North America,
Central America and South
America, in other words, the
New World).
Cepeda’s contention that
Columbus was a “horrible
person” or “represents oppression”
is completely
wrong. It is both sad and stupid
that many people actually
believe these false notions
without double checking the
facts with actual and unadulterated
sources. The Revisionists
or Left Wing Radicals are
using the book titled “A Brief
History of the Destruction
of the Indies” by Las Casas
to make people who are defi -
cient in history believe this
nonsense.
The actual answer is that
all the oppression or horrible
acts occurred AFTER Columbus
was out of offi ce and no
longer in the new world. The
fact is that Columbus actually
protected the natives of the
new land from the abuses of
the Spaniards. Once Columbus
was gone and Queen Isabel,
who funded Columbus’
journey, was dead, it was the
corrupt Spaniards who later
on, took the opportunity to
infl ict genocide and oppression
upon the natives. This
shows why Cepeda and many
other ill-informed people who
wrongly call for the removal
and/or desecration of all Columbus
monuments need to
carefully examine the history
in context to fully understand
what the honored person
achieved before any decisions
or petitions are made about
the fate of any monument.
The root cause of this misguided
Cepeda petition is our
country’s suffering from a deferred
or neglected maintenance
of its own history. This
unfortunate development
wrongly questions the existence
of many of our monuments
such as this one. Monuments
are one of the last great
things that remind of us of
who we are and why we got
here in fi rst place. The modern
day revisionists, the internet
and politicians want us
to forget history (i.e. defer the
maintenance of history) and
be instead, politically correct.
This is unacceptable!
To address the meaning of
public monuments, context
is vital because many people
do not know or understand
our rich American history.
The use of critical contextualization
draws on the skills
and judgments of historians,
artists, urban planners and
a healthy cross section of informed
NYC residents. This
means that news media, politicians
and ill-conceived petitions
such as this one cannot
be used for deciding whether
to remove or relocate an important
monument. As part
of the maintenance of context,
laws which protect all
public monuments from desecration
and damage must be
continuously and vigorously
enforced. If it takes the presence
of the NYPD to protect
the statue of Columbus in Belmont,
then so be it.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph Madia
Dear editor,
Once again, Mayor Warren
Wilhelm de Blasio has proven
what a hypocrite he really is.
He is refusing to allow restaurants
to open for indoor dining
because of COVID-19, but
he was seen on Arthur Avenue
last week dining at Marlo’s
Restaurant INDOORS with his
entire entourage. He’s so busy
making rules and regulations
for everyone else and killing
the restaurant business but he
doesn’t follow his own rules.
We are the only city in the
tristate area not opening up to
indoor dining. Why? Because
this is what communists do.
They destroy the economy
and make everyone become
dependent on the government.
Another thing; he was on
Arthur Avenue with a full security
detail. For someone
who hates the police so much
he is still using our brave
men in blue to protect his
sorry self. I would like to see
how far he would get without
that security detail. Again,
he is a hypocrite. He is truly
the worst mayor this city has
ever had.
People, you need to wake
up!! We cannot let the Liberal
Socialist Progressive Communist
Democrats win in November
if you believe in America
and value your freedom and
safety. If they win, as a country,
we are all doomed. This
great country of ours will become
a communist country
and that which you have will
be taken away from you. Remember
the brave soldiers
who fought for our country in
the Korean and Vietnam Wars
to kick back against communism.
Let’s not make their
sacrifi ces be in vain. God
Bless America!
– Marian Parsons
Dear editor,
Tsk! Tsk! Mr. Pelosi, like
all Socialist Democrats misses
the point. He’s annoyed that a
local paper dares to have a conservative
slant while the overwhelming
majority of the media
spews his left wing “hate
Trump” views, because they
agree with his. If it was reversed
he would be complaining
for fairness in the media.
He did make me chuckle with
the moon remark even though
it was childish.
Democrats want to control
every part of the news so
that they can keep brainwashing
America with their radical
views. This is not a conspiracy
theory as Mr. Pelosi
rants and if he cannot see the
bias in the media, then there
is nothing I can say at this
point to change his narrow
minded views. However, come
election day President Trump
will win “BIG.” America is
not a “MARXIST” nation and
does not give in to anarchists,
rioters and looters like the
Democrats do.
Sincerely,
Ron Summers
P.S. Mr. Pelosi, does this
mean I can scratch your
name off President Trump’s
reelection celebration?
Friends of Pelham Parkway cleaning up a park.
Photos courtesy of Friends of Pelham Parkway
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