Hello to all. This is Italian Heritage Month. I know it’s hard to not be heartbroken by all the division and recent violence in our world right now. Italians immigrating here had a lot of hatred, they were victims of the largest mass lynching in New Orleans. One of the ways America helped ease the tensions was by making Columbus Day a federal holiday. Seeing his statues being torn down are heartbreaking, we all have our own opinions about this great explorer. OSDIA recently sent guidelines dealing with how to address this, should you need to. I emailed the guidelines to our members, if you did not receive them, please contact me, or 1st Vice President Pauline Richmond.

On September 22, our Lodge would have celebrated our 98th Anniversary. We were very sad to have had to cancel our annual fundraiser to celebrate it, but felt it was necessary to keep our friends and family safe.

AND IN THE MEANWHILE....
Folks are hunkering down... keeping invisible and safe... looking strange...with a mask..., and hopefully staying well. (I wonder what affect it will have on young children to see masked parents)

NEWS FROM ON HIGH...
Our President Paul Grant says, “Stay home! Drink a lot of liquids, red or white. If you add ice cubes then that will be more H20.

Currently there are 47 of 58 counties in California that have qualified for limited reopening of non-essential businesses such as restaurants, barbershops, salons, bars and theaters as long as masks and social distancing are practiced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Roma Lodge is in the center of Tulare County which is one of the remaining counties which is still on lockdown.

Since the pandemic hit Tulare County in March, 15,270 people have been sickened and 253 people have died from COVID-19 complications

Going on six months now, I think it’s time to hurry and get to New Year’s Eve and welcome 2021 in. 2020 has been a very difficult year to say the least. The year started out well, then the pandemic, shelter in place, cancellations of many events, Conference call for March Grand Council (a first), things looking better, than a upswing on cases, no Convention and now we are fighting the heat and fires in the south, central, north and in Reno. Enough already. Maybe it’s a bad dream. This we will overcome and hopefully come out stronger on the other side. Let’s pray real hard for our firefighters, first responders and continued prayers for our hospital workers. Better days are ahead!

Many of you have heard that we have a new Office Manager, Rodelle Palce. She is a dynamic young lady, who has picked up the day to day items very quickly. I want to thank Head State Trustee Ray Bini and State Recording Secretary Lori Rossi for helping me go thru numerous resumes. Also an extra thank you to Lori for helping out keeping the office going until Rodelle came on board. Welcome Rodelle!!!

Sisters and Brothers:

I hope this edition of the “Il Leone” finds you all well and safe.

As we draw closer to Columbus Day, I think it is time to revisit what Columbus means to the Italian American community. Lets start with how the celebration began.

In 1892, the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in the New World, following a lynching on New Orleans where a mob murdered 11 Italian American Immigrants, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a onetime national celebration. The proclamation was part of a wider effort after the lynching to placate Italian Americans and ease diplomatic tensions with Italy.

Many Italian Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, and the first celebration had already been held in New York City on October 12, 1866. The day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian, in Denver. The first statewide holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907.

In1934, as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and New York City