(Published Dec. 9, 2022) – On Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, the Clinton Township Board of Trustees voted to rename all references to the Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Clerk Kim Melzer requested an amendment to have both Indigenous People’s Day along with Columbus Day. Township Supervisor Bob Cannon voted against the measure. He said it was unfair to take away a day for honoring the culture of the Italian people. This item was a surprise at the end of the meeting. Supervisor Canon said he did not like the way they decided to place this at the end of the meeting.
On Monday Nov. 28, at 4:30 p.m. approximately 30 Italian Americans met at Fern Hill in Clinton Twp. to discuss the matter and decide how to enlighten the board on what Columbus Day actually means to Italian Americans. The delegation then caravanned over to the Clinton Twp. Offices on Romeo Plank where approximately 10 more Italian Americans gathered.
At 6:30 p.m., there was a Board Meeting in which there was a line item to rescind in part and amend the previous motion from the Nov. 14 Board meeting item #22 to include Columbus Day.
It was scheduled to be line item #5 on the agenda with two items scheduled for deletion. When the agenda was to be approved, Trustee Mike Keys asked to remove line item #5 referring to the Columbus Day issue.
Supervisor Cannon was against deleting the line item and had separated the items to the ones set for deletion from the Columbus Day issue. The board had to vote. All of the board voted to delete except for Supervisor Cannon and Clerk Meltzer. This meant there would be no vote that evening and any public comments had to be held over until the end of the meeting.
There were 16 delegates that talked in favor of keeping Columbus Day. They were Chief Deputy Treasurer of Macomb County Joe Biondo, Treasurer of Macomb County Larry Rocca, President of the Italian American Council of Presidents Enzo Paglia, President of the Columbus Day Celebration Committee Mark Papale, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido, Clinton Twp. property owner Benny Sorrentino, attorney Anthony Urbani, State Rep. Joseph Aragona, Columbus Day Man of the Year Tony Corsetti, Colum-bus Day Celebration Committee President-elect Lisa Valerio Nowk, member of the Italian American Cultural Society Michaek Gervonic, Co-publisher of the Italian Tribune Pam White, Pastor of Pontiac Baptist Church Rodney Tober, builder Dominic Moceri, Democratic Black Caucus Leader for Warren Joel Rutherford and Irish-American Joel Hayes.
Many good points were made, including that by resolution 49/214 of Dec. 23, 1994, the UN General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples shall be observed on Aug. 9 every year. The 34th Congress passed a joint resolution requesting every Oct. 12 to be declared “Columbus Day” under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.
On Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, Italian Americans again gathered at Fern Hill to discuss the upcoming meeting at 6 p.m. at the Clinton Twp. offices, to see if they could get a rescindment of the resolution to take away Columbus Day and “update all references to the Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
There were approximately 40 people that showed up at the gathering to discuss what was going to be said and who was going to talk.
When the meeting started at 6:30 Board Member Paul Gieleghem asked that the “Add-On” item be moved up to be the third item on the agenda, which was to make a resolution to declare October as Italian American Heritage Month in Clinton Twp. It was submitted by Trustees Julie Matuzak, Tammy Patton and Treasurer Paul Gieleghem. This was not well received from the now over 100 Italian Americans in the audience. They wanted Columbus Day to be put back in its place and International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples to be observed on Aug. 9 every year as the UN General Assembly decided on Dec. 23.,1994.
After many people spoke, a vote was taken. Trustee Joie West asked that it not be voted on until Trustee Mike Keys could be in attendance. He was unable to attend in person but was available through Zoom. But it was decided the vote would proceed. The vote for the Resolution to declare October as Italian American Month in Clinton Twp. was turned down due to votes by Robert Cannon, Kim Meltzer and Joie West.
The Resolution to rescind in part and amend the previous motion from the Nov. 14, 2022 Board of Trustees Meeting item #22 to reinstate Columbus Day and move Indigenous People’s Day to Aug. 9 passed unanimously.