At Thursday’s NYC mayoral debate, Andrew Cuomo repeatedly took aim at Zohran Mamdani over his stance on Christopher Columbus. Pointing to Mamdani’s widely reported middle-finger photo at the Columbus Circle statue, Cuomo quipped, “It’s a disgrazia–do you know what that means?”

You don’t have to speak Italian to guess what “disgrazia” means. The real question is whether, with twelve sexual-harassment allegations trailing him, Cuomo knows himself.

Curtis Sliwa piled on too, pressing Mamdani for refusing to talk about the Columbus Day parade. If you’re not an Italian American New Yorker, you might be forgiven for scratching your head. What exactly is going on here?

A little history: Columbus Day made its debut in 1937, “proclaimed” (but not yet an official holiday) by FDR. In political circles, it was seen as a concession to the Italian-American community, which over decades had grown into a sizable, politically influential diaspora in the U.S., and in particular, in New York. For decades prior, Italian-Americans had often been subjected to second-class status, much like the Irish before them and many other immigrant communities in America’s early days. “Deigo”, “Guinea”, “Guido”, “FOB”, and “WOP”, among other uniquely American pejoratives for Italians, all date back to the late 19th and early 20th century. The presidential proclamation of a day for Italian Americans was a progressive step forward, an implicit acknowledgment of the integration of Italian Americans into American society, and completely in line with FDR’s overall unifying message.

Of course, integration wasn’t seamless. Shortly after the proclamation, the U.S. declared war on the Axis powers, including fascist Italy. Naturally, many Italian Americans continued to experience discrimination, and a couple thousand Italians were incarcerated and held until the end of the war. Even so, many Italian-Americans—my grandfather included—joined the armed forces to fight Italian fascists.

So if Columbus Day is all about Italian heritage, why didn’t they call it “Italian Heritage Day” or something like that?

The short answer: lobbying. The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Italian-American fraternity, lobbied for the proclamation back in 1937, and Columbus was the figurehead they embraced.

I’d suggest a second factor: political savvy.

Consider the words of New York Senator James O’Gorman when Columbus Day was first proclaimed: “The day should be dedicated to the memory of Columbus, who was the first to bring civilization to the western hemisphere. It is a fitting tribute to a man who, by the way, has long been an inspiration to many of our fellow citizens, especially those of Italian birth or descent.”

Back then, most Americans–not just Italians–saw Columbus as a mythical, civilizing hero. Styling the holiday as a tribute to the discoverer of America who, “by the way,” happened to be Italian was a win-win, a political sleight of hand disguising a concession to Italian Americans behind a nod to the country’s founding. Italian or not, who back then would object? Compared to “Italian American Day”, “Columbus Day” would have been an easy sell.

Even so, Columbus Day wasn’t officially declared a federal holiday until 1971, more than 30 years after FDR’s initial proclamation. For many Italian Americans, it marked a political triumph they still remember. At the time, Italian heritage was gaining public profile, driven in large part by the media. Events like the formation of the Italian American Civil Rights League, Joe Columbo’s  Italian Unity rallies, and the immense success of the book and movie versions of The Godfather and other works delving into Italian American subculture all put a spotlight on Italian Americans, and we responded by expressing renewed pride in our heritage and identity. So, it’s no surprise that this issue particularly appeals to Italian American boomers like Cuomo. For them, it’s personal.

Of course today, Columbus’s legacy is more controversial. Many rightly point out that, like practically all 15th-century European explorers, he was complicit in the European slave trade and had little regard for—or concept of—human rights. That’s why some states have replaced Columbus Day with a holiday honoring indigenous peoples, starting with South Dakota’s 2004 adoption of “Native American Day.” The reaction is understandable. The problem is replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or anything less than a celebration of Italian heritage, effectively leaves Italian Americans, who have little if anything in common with Columbus the man, in the lurch. That opens ground for political misunderstanding and controversy.

Yesterday, Cuomo and Sliwa tried to take advantage of this old chestnut by branding Mamdani a woke liberal for rejecting Columbus Day celebrations. But Mamdani’s position is clear, simple, and reasonable: he has nothing against Italian Americans; he just doesn’t like or want to celebrate a man who sold slaves and killed Native Americans.

How do we bridge the gap? There’s an obvious answer few politicians are likely to embrace: find another way to celebrate Italian heritage on the second Monday of October every year. Why should we Italian Americans celebrate Columbus? His presence in our lexicon is a political coincidence, not a substantive symbol. The guy never set foot in the United States, but rather landed in the Bahamas and later settled in the Dominican Republic! The guy discovered the Caribbean, the West Indies, the Americas, not America!! And, to state the obvious, he wasn’t even Italian American!!!

We can pick a better figure to represent Italian American heritage. Or we could just short circuit the debate entirely and call it Italian Heritage Day. Personally, I’d find that more in line with my background. We can keep Indigenous Peoples’ Day too, perhaps on a date with special historical significance to indigenous peoples (I won’t presume to suggest one.) While we’re at it, why not add Immigrant Americans Day to the calendar, in recognition of the fact that nearly all Americans have at least partial immigrant heritage? We could make it a day when we all seriously consider how to improve the broken American immigration system–a real disgrazia.

Unfortunately, these kinds of reasonable changes are unlikely to materialize any time in the near future, making these points moot. Instead, expect politicians to keep making hay out of these non-issues–after all, what better way to build a straw man?