Why Immigrants Should Love Columbus Day | 5-Minute Videos

as Columbus Day dies a slow woke death it might be a good idea to consider how this national holiday came about in the first place the answer might surprise you ready for it the purpose of Columbus Day was to encourage Americans to be more accepting of immigrants specifically Italian immigrants the Italian explorer once universally regarded as a Great Hero was the symbol of the holiday not the focus of it here's the historical context following a mass migration from Southern Italy beginning in the 1880s the status of italian-americans was at an alltime low how low was clearly illustrated by one of the single worst episodes of racial violence in American history the mass murder and lynching of 11 italian-americans in New Orleans in 1891 hatred against the Italian newcomers had been brewing for years and was openly encouraged by Leading newspapers of the day for example example in 1882 the New York Times ran an editorial under the headline our future citizens in which the times stated there has never been since New York was founded so low and ignorant a class among the immigrants as the southern Italians in 1887 the same New York Times wrote approvingly of the lynching in Mississippi of a man they referred to as Joe being an ethnic slur for Italians anti-immigrant sentiment was a especially intense in New Orleans where Italians were settling in large numbers local papers accused them of working for below Market wages engaging in all manner of crimes and being more loyal to the pope than the president these seething resentments broke to the surface when the city's police chief David Hennessy was assassinated in the fall of 1890 as the chief Lay Dying in the street a witness claimed to have heard him say that deos had shot him in a response authorities rounded up hundreds of ATT alens eventually charging nine of them with complicity in Hennessy's murder when their trial resulted in six not-guilty verdicts and three mistrials the public was outraged further inflamed by the local press some decided to take justice into their own hands according to journalist Aaron Blakemore here's what happened thousands of angry residents gathered near the jail impassioned speakers whipped the mob into a frenzy painting Italian immigrants as criminals who needed to be driven out of the city a group of Vigilantes stormed the prison grabbing not just the men who had been acquitted or given a mistrial but several who had not been tried or even accused in the crimes shots rang out when the shooting stopped 11 bodies were riddled with bullets and torn apart by the crowd outside the jail the mob cheered as the mutilated bodies were displayed some corpses were hung others were plundered for souvenirs the next day the New York Times celebrated the crime with a headline that read Chief Hennessy Avenged 11 of his Italian assassins lynched by a mob these descendants of Bandits and assassins are to us a pest without mitigations the times editors wrote in protest the Italian government broke off diplomatic relations with the United States tensions were seeded only after the US government paid an Indemnity to the Italians despite the New York Times incendiary rhetoric much of the country was outraged by the mass m in his 1891 State of the Union Address Republican president Benjamin Harrison pledged to protect foreign Nationals from mob violence then in July 1892 Harrison issued a proclamation celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the new world it was a timely pretext to a greater purpose to raise the status of a badly shaken Italian-American Community Harrison's Proclamation did more Italian Americans now had a way to include themselves in the American story and not surprisingly New York City figured prominently in that narrative in the late 19th century one could say that Italian immigrants essentially built the city's infrastructure according to the Library of Congress they went to work on the growing City's Municipal Works projects digging canals laying gas lines Building Bridges and tunneling out the New York Subway system in 1890 nearly 90% of the laborers in New York's Department of Public Works were Italian immigrants but of course Italian Americans have made countless and enormous contributions to every area of American Life over the nation's 250e history at least one signer of the Declaration of Independence was Italian-American many cabinet members and supreme court justices have been of Italian descent not to mention legendary athletes like Joe deago Nobel prizewinning scientists like enrio fairy and many prominent artists actors and actresses including the most beloved singer in American history Frank Sinatra in 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day an official US holiday but if a new mob has its way it may not be one for long I'm Alana mangelo reporter for Breitbart News for Prager University thank you for watching this video to keep prageru videos free please consider making a tax deductible donation