Latest / Wicked Radio with Bill Adams / 10-12: Is Columbus Day Back To Being Celebrated Again?

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10-12: Is Columbus Day Back To Being Celebrated Again? · Wicked Radio with Bill Adams

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Not only welcome to Monday, let me be the first,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I hope, to say to you, happy Columbus Day. You
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: may have the day off, but not a lot of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: states actually have at least state or federal workers off
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: for today. And you may be thinking, Columbus Day? We're
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: doing that? And some of you may be saying, of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: course it's Columbus Day. We've always celebrated that. I think
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it's a regional thing, and I got to tell you,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: as you know, I grew up in the Northeast. Don't
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: live there now. But in New York... Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Chicago,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: other cities throughout the country, Columbus Day is a massive,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: massive deal. But let's all remember, it was not too
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: long ago you couldn't even say out loud, Happy Columbus Day.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: You were bad. You were banned. It's a bad thing.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Here's the question. Is Columbus Day back? Not that it
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: ever went away, but are we back to recognizing and celebrating,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and that's the key word here, Columbus Day? I'm thinking yes,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: because of recent events. Because here's the thing. It was
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a big social movement to stop saying Columbus Day and
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, which many states have,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: of course. Many cities have, of course. Here's the thing
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: about social movements. You can recognize the horrors of the past,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and there were bad things in the past. There were
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: bad things not only in this country, they were at
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the entire world, of course. You can recognize that that
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: happened without taking away something very, very important to other people.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Because let me tell you, I'm not Italian myself, but
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I'm American like you are, and I'm a big fan
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of all things American. And the Italian-American contribution to make
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: this country what it is, which is the greatest country
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: on earth, was massive. And the importance of Christopher Columbus
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: and Columbus Day celebrations is incredibly important to Italian-Americans. We
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: don't need to take that away. It is something to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: be celebrated while recognizing the past. Anyway, we'll get to it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: But things are different these days, and it's very interesting.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So I'll ask it again. Is it back? Thanks for
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: finding me. We're back. Thanks for finding the Wicked Radio
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: live stream, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. Eastern Time on
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: X and YouTube and Facebook. Always the replay there. Audio podcast, though,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: uploaded shortly after the live stream every single day on
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: your favorite podcast platforms. Let's get right to it. A
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: little bit of history here and the controversy or non-troversy,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: depending on how you look at this entire thing. Commemorates,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: of course, the landing of the Italian-born navigator Christopher Columbus.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: New World, October 12th, 1492. Remember you used to? You
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: may be of my age group, and I'm Generation X,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: where it was always, you know, 1492, Columbus sailed the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: ocean blue and all that stuff. I'm pretty sure it's
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: been quite a while since kids were allowed to say
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that little nursery rhyme. But anyways, federal holiday in the
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: United States. Observed the second Monday in October, so here
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: we are. Parades, ceremonies, celebrations for those who observe. And
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, if you're from a different area or
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: if you're from the south, depending on the city, whatever
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: it is, or out west, you've got to understand how
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: massive this is. I grew up in an area where
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Columbus Day was just huge. Schools shut down, parades, festivals, feasts,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: a party. And keep that in mind as we go
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: along here. It's important to remember that, that this is
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a celebration for Italian-Americans. Now, the other side of things,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of course, to be recognized as well, generations of Native
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Americans have protested Columbus Day. We know that. The fact
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that the colonies and takeovers of Americans, of the Americas,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: starting with Columbus, deaths of millions of Native American people,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: forced assimilation of survivors. We had the tribes going to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: marches and things. Most of history can recognize that that
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: happened as well. Here's the thing with social movements, as
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I said there just a minute ago. It always seems
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: that the group that's pushing some sort of a cause
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: wants to completely disparage or erase the other side of things, right?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Without recognizing that both can happen. Can't we recognize that
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: bad things happened in that time because bad things were
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: happening in the world without taking away the celebration of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the proud Italian Americans who helped make this country what
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: it is? Of course we can. This is nothing new.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: This is nothing new here. Just things are changing recently.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: In fact... Do you remember this scene from The Sopranos
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: or that HBO show? Not that long ago, but it
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: was a few years ago. Remember the boys hanging outside
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the meat market? They were going to go down and
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: stop the protest of the Christopher Columbus statue in Newark.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: This is how long this has been going on.
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  Speaker 2: You know what it is? I'll tell you what it is.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: It's anti-Italian discrimination. Columbus Day is a day of Italian pride.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: It's our holiday, and they want it.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: And I got to take it away. Remember that famous scene?
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: That was like late 90s, mid 90s, I think. The
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: protest about this stuff has been going on a long time.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: A long time. And to give you the background of
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the situation here, just another little piece of an example
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: of how things are different. City of Boston, East Boston actually,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: held their first Columbus Day parade this past weekend in
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: six years. They didn't have it. They called it an
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Italian Heritage Parade. All right, baby steps, whatever. That's back.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: This is what I mean, how things are different now.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: And I think we're finally getting around to the fact
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that you can recognize that things weren't too nice for
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a certain group of people back then without having to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: take away a celebration in something obviously incredibly important, as
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: you heard Syl just say there from the Sopranos, incredibly
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: important to Italian Americans. This is a symbol of not
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: only national pride for them, but heritage pride, incredibly important.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: That's what matters. The perception matters for Italian Americans, and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: he is a hero to them. They're not thinking when
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  Speaker 1: they have a festival of a parade and a day
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: off and maybe even going to church or celebrating with
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: their friends and family in any of those cities or
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: areas in the country, they're not thinking about exactly what
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: happened then and the historical significance and debating the fact
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: of who was disparaged worse. No, they're thinking about somebody
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: that was so important to them, an entire group of
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: immigrants to this country. that really had no symbol of
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: an American hero that helped formulate it. And they were
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: looking for one, and they finally learned about Christopher Columbus,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and they knew that this guy was incredibly important to them.
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  Speaker 1: That's why Christopher Columbus matters, a symbol of national pride
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: for Italian Americans. That's why this is so important to them,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: so important to people who wanted to come to this
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  Speaker 1: country in different waves of different immigration, and they built
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: and they got right to work. They were dying to assimilate.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Many of them went into construction because they had the skills.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Couldn't wait to work. They congregated in little Italy sections
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: of different cities throughout the country. And they worked and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: they banded together, faced discrimination like every single immigrant group
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: has to this country, every single one of them. But
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: they got together and they built and they became a
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: huge part of American culture. That's why Columbus Day is
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: so important. But, as we all know in recent years,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: haven't had that. Well, this is something that's different. And
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: now you have President Trump Actually, saying something like this,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: this was just the other day. But I feel that I,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: with some of the people in this room, we resurrected
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus. I don't know about resurrected. I mean, you
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: couldn't even say his name.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: If you said his name, they'd start writing stories about
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: you like you said.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Well, that's important, though.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know about resurrected. That might be a little much.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: But still, it's very true. You couldn't even say the name.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: We went for a long time. I have the Sopranos
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: example for you from late 90s. But this is going
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: on way before that. I remember as a kid, they
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: were starting to do that. Can't say Columbus Day. It
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: was just so bad. Again, going back to that, you're
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: disparaging a whole group of people, proud Italian Americans, because
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you're trying to make a social cause. You can recognize both.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: You can do both. But now we've got this as well. Now,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: this was last year where all of this started. And
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: I do credit him and I credit the administration for
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: the turnaround. They were ready for it. People have had enough.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: of disparaging Christopher Columbus. Do you remember this statement from
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the White House just about a year ago? In other words,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: we're calling it Columbus Day. Yes. press that broke out
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: in the post. Sometimes you may not be a Trump fan.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I have no idea. I really don't. I suspect you are,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: but I don't know. But sometimes it does actually take that.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: That's why a president, anybody in that position is kind
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of like a cheerleader and should at least get the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: tone and the temperament for what's going on in society.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: And people were ready. People were ready. They had enough.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: They had enough time to look at this and look
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: at the issue and say, you know, I don't think
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  Speaker 1: we should completely remove and disparage Christopher Columbus and that
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: day and stop all these parades because of what happened
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: in the past. We can recognize both. People were ready
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: for that. And he sensed that. He got a feel
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: for it. And he actually said that. Now, not only that,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: but we've got this. The symbolism of what this means.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: It's not just parades and it's not just parties and
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: it's not just days off for federal workers or states
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is. We've got this going on, too.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Doug Burgum, recently this year, he's the Interior Secretary, the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: guy in charge of overseeing the restoration of all these
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: statues and all this other stuff. As part of the Washington, D.C.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: cleaning up effort of some of the statues there, a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: big part of that was the Christopher Columbus statue in Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 1: As you come into our nation's capital, this is what
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: he said at the time. Together, we're restoring a capital
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  Speaker 1: city that reflects the strength, the beauty, and most importantly,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: it represents the promise of the United States of America.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Pavarotti in the background. I love it. I think it
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: was Pavarotti. I'm not exactly an opera aficionado. All right,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: but he's right there, isn't he? Doesn't that matter? Doesn't
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the symbolism of it matter? and president trump said that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: at the time too decay is a choice it was
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: happening all over the world we all over the country
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: we had statues and symbols and federal buildings falling into
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: decay especially in our nation's capital of all things you
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: got visitors from all over the world seeing what america
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: is all about if you were a european you want
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to see you want to see new york you want
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: to see chicago you want to see the nation's capital
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: right And you go there and a Christopher Columbus statue
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: is falling apart and the fountains into Washington, D.C. are
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: just a mess full of algae. Do you want that?
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: It matters. Decay is a choice. It matters. And when
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: you let these things and you let your symbols of
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: American history decay, you're making a choice and you're making
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a statement to the rest of the world that says
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: we're falling apart too. It matters. It does. You may
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: look at that and say it's just a fountain. It's
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: just a statue. Who cares? Who cares about that stuff?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Perception cares. That's why it matters, because you don't want
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to fall into decay. That's a choice. But how about
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: those statues? Let's talk about this. This is still going on.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: It's not this debate in this raging debate and the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: people that just want to look at the negative all
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the time. They'll never let this go. Mayor Mamdani. Here's
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the update on this one. The mayor of New York City,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: our biggest talk about decay, our biggest city. Still, many
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: would argue our most important city financially. It's where the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: media is based. Everything happens in New York, whether we
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: want to admit it or not. Obviously, Columbus Day is
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: a massive thing for how many Italian-Americans are in New
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: York City. Well, they have Columbus Day parade here today.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Not here. I'm not there. They have a Columbus Day
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: parade in Manhattan, and he's not going. He refused to go.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: In fact, there were two Invitations that Mayor Mamdani, the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: mayor of New York City, not going to a Columbus
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Day Parade. OK, two invitations. Here's the background on this.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: So he skipped the Italian-American community twice in one Saturday.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Brooklyn's Federation of Italian-American Organizations said its office at least
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: declined their invitation to the parade. Queens organizers and Astoria
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: got nothing at all, not even a response. Hey, mayor
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of New York City, Mayor Mamdani, we'd like to have
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: you at our parade, as previous mayors have always done. No,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: wouldn't do it. All right, makes sense, I guess. You know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: this was a guy, do you remember that story we
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: had a few months ago where they had, I guess
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: they publish a map of all the immigrant neighborhoods of
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: New York for tourists, I guess, coming to the city,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and they left off Little Italy? Like, how is that
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: even possible? It's New York City and you leave off
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Little Italy. That's a choice. That's by design. But I suppose,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: despite all this progress of people wanting to celebrate Columbus
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Day once again, while recognizing the horrors of the past,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I guess it's not a surprise that it would happen
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: with that particular mayor in that particular city. Because before
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: he was politician Mamdani, this photo is still out there,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: one quick little Google search or look on Grok or
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: chat GPT, you can find it. Mamdani Raising the middle
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: finger at the Columbus statue in New York City saying,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: take it down. That's the guy that got elected in
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: New York City. So I guess it's not a surprise
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: that he's not going to the Columbus Day parades and
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: he didn't recognize it this weekend. I guess not a shock.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: But to answer our question there, there's a little Monday motivation.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Is Columbus Day back to being recognized and celebrated? I
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: think I got to say yes. I think so. I
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: think this is the first real year where we're really
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: feeling it because these parades through the other cities are back.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Even Boston bringing back a Columbus Day parade. They called
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: it Italian Heritage Parade, but that's okay, baby steps. I
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: think it is back. And here's why I think that is.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I think this is the overriding reason. I think we've
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: had enough time for enough people to look at all
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the evidence, like that Sopranos episode we played, to look
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: at all the evidence, you understand the protests, you listen
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to the Native Americans and you listen to their concerns
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: and you kind of recognize that and say, yeah, But
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: then you look back at what you were taught as
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: a kid about Columbus, and let's not forget about the
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: bravery it took to come here and explore and everything
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: he did. And you consider, if you're Italian or not,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: what he means to Italian Americans and their heritage and
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: their American history and their contribution to this society. And
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: you think about that. And I think most people looked,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and maybe you've been to a Columbus Day parade in
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the past and you realized how much fun you had,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: which is important to this conversation. I think you look
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: at both sides, and I think America said, You know what?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: We can recognize both, but more importantly, and this is
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the big takeaway, Americans will always, always choose a party
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and a celebration over a protest. Hands down, always. And
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: that's your Monday motivation for that, so I think Columbus
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Day is back. We can party and recognize and appreciate
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and thank Italian Americans for their contribution while still recognizing
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the past. It is possible. All right, thanks for hanging
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: out with me. I hope you enjoyed today. I hope
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: you have the day off. That would be awesome. Long
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: weekend for you. Maybe, maybe not. Less and less people
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: have that, actually, even though it's a federal holiday. Thanks
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: for finding me with Wicked Radio on the live stream
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: and the replay on X and YouTube and Facebook, and
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the audio podcast is always right there. Wherever you like
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to get them, upload it. It's Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Spreaker
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: is another one. Wherever you look for me, you can
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: find it, and I appreciate you so much for doing that. Enjoy.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Party over protest, always. Happy Columbus Day. I'll talk to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow.