Latest / The Mark Simone Show / Ken interviews Andre Dimino, President of the Italian American One Voice Coalition.

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Ken interviews Andre Dimino, President of the Italian American One Voice Coalition. · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: This is the Mark Simone show on seven to ten
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  Speaker 1: WOI ben from Mark today. Here's Ken Rosado seven ten wore.
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  Speaker 1: You are listening to the Marx simonchio on a Friday morning.
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  Speaker 1: Good to be filling in for Mark, who is off
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  Speaker 1: today for long weekend. You know marriage Zorn Mamdani's administration
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  Speaker 1: is under fire because he recently released a map of
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  Speaker 1: New York City's ethnic neighborhoods and conspicuously left out the
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  Speaker 1: city's white ethnic neighborhoods, places like Woodlawn and the Bronx,
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  Speaker 1: famous for its Irish population. Borough Park, Brooklyn, famous as
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  Speaker 1: an enclay for the ultra Orthodox Jews, Historia Queens, populated
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  Speaker 1: by up to forty thousand Greek Americans, and one of
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  Speaker 1: the most famous and iconic ethnic neighborhoods in all of America,
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  Speaker 1: certainly of New York Little Italy, well over one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty years old. And Mam Donnie's response to the omissions, well,
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  Speaker 1: I'll let him speak for himself.
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  Speaker 2: So this map was initially created by the prior administration
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, and when we inherited, we added
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  Speaker 2: a few additional neighborhoods. It's clearly not an exhaustive list
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  Speaker 2: of the more than two hundred ethnic communities that call
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  Speaker 2: our city home. And we're going to be making additional
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  Speaker 2: changes in the future to reflect that, and that includes
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  Speaker 2: adding Little Italy to the map.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Little Italy's an afterthought. It's like, yeah, we
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  Speaker 1: so get this, get this. He added three China towns,
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  Speaker 1: he added two Little Guyanas, he added a little Bod Tibet.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know that Tibet was known as Bho d Bod,
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  Speaker 1: but I guess it is two little Mexicos. But he
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  Speaker 1: couldn't think about this place called Little Italy. Twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: of the thirty ethnic neighborhoods on that map, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: are listed that we're listed are non white, which is
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  Speaker 1: great and we should be celebrating it. But you don't
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  Speaker 1: eliminate certain cultures for others. So much for being mayor
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  Speaker 1: of all the people. So right now we go to
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  Speaker 1: our friend Andre Demino, president of the Italian American One
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  Speaker 1: Voice Coalition, to discuss why these omissions matter. Good morning
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  Speaker 1: to Andre.
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  Speaker 3: Morning ken, good to be with you, good to be
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  Speaker 3: have you.
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  Speaker 1: I should say, what was your reaction, Andre, when you
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  Speaker 1: first saw the map and you realized, of all places,
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  Speaker 1: Little Italy was nowhere to be found.
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  Speaker 3: It's just a disgrace. I mean, you know this, this
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  Speaker 3: is for me. This was absolutely a deliberate action. You've
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  Speaker 3: got to remember that Mayor Mondami, before he was mayor,
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  Speaker 3: he gave the finger to the Columbus statue and said
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  Speaker 3: take it down. So I think we know where he
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  Speaker 3: stands with respect to Italian Americans and Little Lily. It's
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  Speaker 3: such an important part of New York City history. The
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  Speaker 3: Italians helped built this country. Little Lily was the stepping
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  Speaker 3: stone for so many millions that came into here. Even
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  Speaker 3: my own family came through Mott Street in Little Italy.
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  Speaker 3: So leaving that out as well as leaving off the
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  Speaker 3: Jewish communities and the Irish communities, it's a parent what
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  Speaker 3: he's doing. He's reshaping New York.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and again everybody's well, I love the fact that
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  Speaker 1: we have so many cultures of New York.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you love going and trying the different food and
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  Speaker 1: China Town in middle of Mexico. I think that's wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: This is not about you don't deserve to be here,
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  Speaker 1: It's about we should. I mean, you just got to
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  Speaker 1: be careful. If you're going to start playing the game
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  Speaker 1: of putting certain cultures on, make sure you have all
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  Speaker 1: the cultures on. You can't just conveniently forget places like
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  Speaker 1: Little Italy and Little Greece. I mean, come on, And
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  Speaker 1: that's the feeling. It's like, well, you know what, you're yesterday,
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  Speaker 1: this is tomorrow. And that's definitely is the sense I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of people I've spoken to have had
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  Speaker 1: that you guys were here one hundred years ago, You're irrelevant.
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  Speaker 1: Now this is the direction we're headed. Am I wrong?
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  Speaker 3: No, You're a hundred percent right. In fact, you know
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  Speaker 3: where there's a big uproar from lots of Italian American
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  Speaker 3: organization and I'm pleased they did that. And his response
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  Speaker 3: that you played up front, you know, he said, oh, okay,
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  Speaker 3: now we're going to put Little Italy back, but that
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  Speaker 3: was after the tremendous response that was there. But candidly, Ken,
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  Speaker 3: this has been a number of days and he hasn't
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  Speaker 3: put it back yet, right, And he did say in
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  Speaker 3: the future, what future one hundred years from there?
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  Speaker 1: No, once he's out of office, it'll be his parting gift.
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  Speaker 1: And remember this map was released even though he says
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  Speaker 1: it was created under the previous administration. Notice, the previous
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  Speaker 1: administration did not release it. Maybe because they knew it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't complete, That's why they didn't release it. And before
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  Speaker 1: your people, your nine year olds that you have working
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  Speaker 1: for you, nine year old socialists that you have working
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  Speaker 1: for you, before you release a map like this, maybe
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  Speaker 1: have somebody check it over. It's like a four year
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  Speaker 1: old doing a color finger painting before you bring it
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  Speaker 1: to the art teacher. Maybe mommy and daddy will check
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  Speaker 1: it over. And that's what you need. An adult in
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  Speaker 1: the room in this administration, and it feels like there
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  Speaker 1: isn't one.
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  Speaker 3: Well, not just an adult, but I think you need
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  Speaker 3: an adult that doesn't want to change New York because
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  Speaker 3: that's really where he's heading, you know, to eliminate the
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  Speaker 3: really the heartbeat of what started this city, the Italian Americans,
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  Speaker 3: Irish Americans, the Jewish that have been here for so long.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's obvious what he's doing to me.
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  Speaker 3: As I said, it's deliberate.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is by the way, Andre Demino, the
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  Speaker 1: president of the Italian American One Voice Coalition. Their website
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  Speaker 1: is IAOV see dot Org if you want to check
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  Speaker 1: them out, and they get upset when things like the
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  Speaker 1: Columbus statues get torn down or lit itally gets forgotten
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  Speaker 1: from maps. It's to make sure that people realize the
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  Speaker 1: positive contributions of Italian Americans to our culture and not
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  Speaker 1: at the expense of other cultures. In fact, just the opposite.
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  Speaker 1: You have reached out to members and talked to members
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  Speaker 1: of the Irish and Jewish communities and Greek communities whose
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  Speaker 1: historic neighborhoods were not highlighted as well. Correct.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely correct, and we're looking for that outreach. We're
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  Speaker 3: looking to unify people. In fact, you didn't mention it,
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  Speaker 3: but we've actually formed an alliance with the Native American
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  Speaker 3: Guardians Association because they feel that they're being underpression now
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  Speaker 3: with removing names like the Redskins and the Chiefs, which
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  Speaker 3: they're proud of. So we've got a like feeling between
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  Speaker 3: US and Native Americans as well as the other groups
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  Speaker 3: that you mentioned. We should unify, even though they're trying
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  Speaker 3: to divide us and conquer us by dividing us, we've
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  Speaker 3: got to unify together. All groups should come together and
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  Speaker 3: be strong against these types of approaches.
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  Speaker 1: And That's what makes New York rate when we all
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  Speaker 1: do come together as opposed to battling one another. It's
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  Speaker 1: not about having distinct neighborhoods and you stay there and
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  Speaker 1: I stay here. It's about celebrating the differences. The differences
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  Speaker 1: are great, let's celebrate them. Let's go and you know, listen,
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  Speaker 1: I know so many Italians and I'm sure you do too,
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  Speaker 1: Italian Americans whose favorite food isn't Italian, and they'll go
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  Speaker 1: into the Thai neighborhood because they got great Thai food.
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  Speaker 1: To whatever. It's about celebrating the goodness of each other's
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  Speaker 1: culture and the richness while still coming together as Americans
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  Speaker 1: and being proud. I don't want to sound Pollyannish, but
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  Speaker 1: it is part of the joy of being in this country. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: you can go to any other country in the world
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  Speaker 1: if you want a monolithic field, But here it's about
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  Speaker 1: the melting pot and the joy of that. But when
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  Speaker 1: you leave out groups, you're basically saying you need not apply,
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  Speaker 1: you don't need to be here. And the whole purpose
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  Speaker 1: of this map being released when it was andre was
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  Speaker 1: for the FIFA World Cup visitors. So now for the
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  Speaker 1: mayor to very disingenuously say oh, well, we'll get to it,
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  Speaker 1: we'll release it with little Lily. When after all the
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  Speaker 1: FIFA people have gone. They're leaving on Sunday or Monday,
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  Speaker 1: so they won't be here anymore. So then you're going
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  Speaker 1: to tell them, oh, by the way, there was little
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  Speaker 1: Italy here.
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  Speaker 3: No, exactly as I said, his reaction really was because
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  Speaker 3: of the uproar that came up. But now maybe he
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  Speaker 3: thinks it's going to subside. But we're not going to
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  Speaker 3: let it go. We've got to continue to be vigilant
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  Speaker 3: because after all, with this now ken, are we looking
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  Speaker 3: at maybe the sand Gennaro Fest not getting a permit,
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  Speaker 3: are we looking at the Columbus Day Parade not being
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  Speaker 3: able to be taken? This to be had this year.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we've got to be vigilant and keep our
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  Speaker 3: eyes on it and make sure that these things don't
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  Speaker 3: change us.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you're absolutely right, and we are glad that your organization,
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  Speaker 1: our organization, I say our not out just mean Italian Americans.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you need organizations to be vigilant like this,
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  Speaker 1: whether you are of an Italian extraction or not. And
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  Speaker 1: we're happy and glad and proud that you are on it,
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  Speaker 1: so we appreciate Andre Domino, president of the Italian American
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  Speaker 1: One Voice Coalition, to discuss why it is so important
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  Speaker 1: not to omit groups from the ethnic map in New York. Andre,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for coming on today.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, Ken.
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  Speaker 1: Take care you two all right? Sunny, hot and humid
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  Speaker 1: again today. It's gonna be probably mid eighties, not as
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  Speaker 1: hot as it has been, but remember we still have
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  Speaker 1: a problem with the air. There's an air quality alert
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  Speaker 1: in effect, so if you have problems breathing, just kind
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  Speaker 1: of stay indoors as much as you can, or use
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  Speaker 1: a mask because it is not good if you have asthma.
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  Speaker 1: Phone lines are open. Eight hundred three two one zero
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  Speaker 1: seven ten. Eight hundred three two one zero seven ten.
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  Speaker 1: This is Ken Rosato in for Mark Simone on your
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  Speaker 1: Friday seven to ten. Wo are those phone calls next?
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  Speaker 1: We're coming right back.