I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Now that we are in the new year we are approaching the busiest time period for our chapter. We have many important events scheduled during the next six months. You can read about some of them in this newsletter. To continue my comments on UNICO's anti bias work from the last newsletter I wanted to mention to you that last fall our Board of Directors voted to officially join the Italian American One Voice Coalition. This organization was founded a few years ago by our national anti bias committee chairman Dr. Manny Alfano and others to become the only organization in America whose mission is strictly to promote a positive image of Italian Americans in the media and to fight discrimination, bias, and slander against Italians and our culture whenever and wherever it appears. The cost of membership is $100 per year for an organization and $60 per year for an individual. By becoming a member as an organization we have joined other UNICO chapters from around the country as well as individuals in funding and supporting this important work. If you would like to learn more about the coalition and its work you can go to their website at IAOVC. org. I know you will find it interesting and informative. One of the things the coalition has been very concerned about is the increasing attacks against Columbus Day. Many municipalities and school systems have eliminated the Columbus Day holiday completely and/or have replaced it with "Indigenous Peoples Day" based on false narratives of Columbus such as claims that he enslaved the natives of the Americas. These claims are patently untrue but have gain traction in recent years. Indeed last fall the Board of Education in Bridgeport voted to eliminate the Columbus Day holiday. If anyone of you ever learns of attempts to downgrade or eliminate the Columbus Day holiday in our area please let me so I can get the word out to other organizations and activists around the state. We are not against a day being set aside to honor Indigenous People but we are against attacking and what he represents to us and all other immigrants who came to North America to start a new life. I hope to see you all at our next meeting this coming Tuesday. ~Frank LETTER FROM PRESIDENT FRANK TRAVISANO Waterbury Chapter of UNICO National BIRTHPLACE OF UNICO—OCTOBER 10, 1922 Chapter Newsletter January 2016 “Service Above Self” www.waterburyUNICO.com [email protected]www.facebook.com/WaterburyUNICO Don’t Forget….Our January Dinner Meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 26th in the Our Lady Lourdes Church Hall!!
Waterbury CT Chapter of Unico National's monthly newsletter. Unico National is the largest Italian American Service Organization. Waterbury is the birthplace of Unico National in 1922
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I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Now that we are in the new year we are
approaching the busiest time period for our chapter. We have many important events
scheduled during the next six months. You can read about some of them in this newsletter.
To continue my comments on UNICO's anti bias work from the last
newsletter I wanted to mention to you that last fall our Board of Directors
voted to officially join the Italian American One Voice Coalition. This
organization was founded a few years ago by our national anti bias
committee chairman Dr. Manny Alfano and others to become the only
organization in America whose mission is strictly to promote a positive
image of Italian Americans in the media and to fight discrimination, bias, and slander against
Italians and our culture whenever and wherever it appears. The cost of membership is $100
per year for an organization and $60 per year for an individual. By becoming a member as
an organization we have joined other UNICO chapters from around the country as well as
individuals in funding and supporting this important work. If you would like to learn more
about the coalition and its work you can go to their website at IAOVC. org. I know you will
find it interesting and informative.
One of the things the coalition has been very concerned about is the
increasing attacks against Columbus Day. Many municipalities and
school systems have eliminated the Columbus Day holiday completely
and/or have replaced it with "Indigenous Peoples Day" based on false
narratives of Columbus such as claims that he enslaved the natives of
the Americas. These claims are patently untrue but have gain traction
in recent years. Indeed last fall the Board of Education in Bridgeport
voted to eliminate the Columbus Day holiday. If anyone of you ever learns of attempts to
downgrade or eliminate the Columbus Day holiday in our area please let me so I can get
the word out to other organizations and activists around the state. We are not against a
day being set aside to honor Indigenous People but we are against attacking and what he
represents to us and all other immigrants who came to North America to start a new life.
I hope to see you all at our next meeting this coming Tuesday.