Its out of control that they want to get rid of Columbus Day
Summary
An anonymous rider launches into a passionate defense of Columbus Day, insisting Italian Americans aren't advocating for the explorer himself but simply want to keep their holiday. He explains the day's origins: it was given to Italians after a lynching in Louisiana to "shut us up." His solution? Rename it after a beloved Italian American like Sinatra or Joe DiMaggio. "Call it Frank Sinatra Day," he suggests. Kareem floats "Italian American Day" as an alternative, but the rider has a better idea. Mozzarella Day. The conversation captures the cultural identity wrapped up in a controversial holiday, with the rider making clear that Italian American culture is its own distinct thing, a "dying breed" that deserves recognition regardless of what it's called.
Full Transcript
So what's your take? I think it's out of control. They want to get rid of Columbus Day 100%.
Don't know. I think all Italian Americans think he was probably a scum. Big do they? Yeah, I think Italian-Americans love Columbus. No, we just like to have a holiday. Just give us a holiday. We didn't do nothing to nobody, bro. They love Christopher Columbus. I saw it on The Sopranos, dude. I Googled it. He was a scumbag. Look at Wikipedia. But don't take the whole day from us.
What did he do? He like pillaged and all that stuff? You just want a holiday? I think that that's all we want. That's all that. Because if you know the story behind it, they gave us that holiday because they hung an Italian in Louisiana.
They did? Yes. So they gave us a holiday to like shut us up. So now you take the holiday from us, so Italians got all crazy. But what I'm trying to say is why not just pick another Italian-American that's everybody likes, like Sinatra, and call it Frank Sinatra? That's not a bad idea. Like, it's not like we're advocating for what he did.
No, you just want a day. We just want a day. You can't take out day. I don't care. You could call it Tommy Lort day, call it Joe D'Agio, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra. You know what I'm saying? So it doesn't, uh, Joe Tory day? I'll take anything. You don't take out day, Mo.
That's also a good point because Christopher Columbus was not Italian-American. He was just Italian, right? We need to celebrate Italian-Americans. Italian-American culture is not Italian culture.
No, no, it's his own thing. It's his own thing. And we're a dying breed. There's nobody left. And we need a holiday to celebrate them.
That's right. You know what? I think just call it Italian American Day. I think they might be working towards that. I think you should call it Mozzarella Day.
How you doing? [Laughter]