PragerU has published a video on the importance of Columbus Day featuring Breitbart News reporter Alana Mastrangelo, who has stern words for woke leftists attempting to erase the holiday. Mastrangelo explains, “Here’s what this is really about. This is cultural Marxism. And one of the central tenets is to erase our history, so that we lose sight, not only of where we came from, but of who we are as a people.
As woke leftists in government, media, academia, and corporations attempt to erase Columbus Day and replace it with “Indigenous Peoples’ Day, PragerU has published a video on the importance of Columbus Day, celebrated Monday October 9 this year, as well as exploring its surprising history. To bring the history of Columbus Day to life, the non-profit conservative education platform turned to Breitbart News reporter and proud Italian-American Alana Mastrangelo.
Watch Below:
Mastrangelo is an apt choice to narrate the PragerU video due to her experience in countering the woke attack on Columbus Day. In 2021 she wrote a column that served as a table setter on why leftists hate the holiday that also explains why it is important to defend it.
As Mastrangelo explains in both the video and her column, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus serves as the symbol of the holiday, not as its focus — which was originally to make America more accepting of Italian immigrants. These immigrants needed help due to the media bias of the day, including negative articles by the New York Times.
Mastrangelo explains:
Hatred against the Italian newcomers was openly espoused by the newspapers of the day. For example, in 1882 the New York Times ran an editorial with the headline, “Our Future Citizens,” in which the Times’ editorial board stated, “There has never been since New York was founded so low and ignorant a class among the immigrants who poured in here as the Southern Italians who have been crowding our docks during the past year.”
The Times editors went on to express their disgust that “utterly unfit — ragged, filthy, and verminous” Italian immigrant children would “be placed in the public primary schools among the decent children of American mechanics.”
Columbus Day and the history of Italian-Americans is particularly important to Mastrangelo due to her family’s relatively short history in the United States. She told Breitbart News, “Most Italians immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century or early 20th century, but my father immigrated to the U.S. in 1969, and my mother’s parents immigrated in 1957. I’ve been going back to Italy to visit family that still lives in the old country since I was a small child, which is the reason why I’m a proud conservative. When you spend a lot of time in another country, you learn to appreciate America more and more. And you start to notice all the things that you take for granted on a daily basis while living in the United States.”
In this context, Columbus Day presents itself to Italian-Americans as a way to share the culture their families came to America from. She continues, “While I love America and believe that it is the greatest country on earth, I also love my culture, food, traditions, and heritage. It’s something my family brought here with them when they came to America. Assimilation is very important, so being “Italian” is something that we usually just enjoy amongst ourselves, with our own families, at our own dinner tables. The Columbus Day celebration, however, is our moment to share our heritage with our fellow countrymen in this new place we call home. That’s why I, and so many other Italian-Americans, love Columbus Day. We love this country, but we also love our heritage, and this holiday is the one day where the two get to meet. Columbus Day is when we get to celebrate what makes us a part of the American story.”
A city worker measures the statue of Christopher Columbus at Marconi Plaza in Philadelphia, June 16, 2020. A judge ruled Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, that Philadelphia must remove the plywood box it placed over the statue after 2020 protests over racial injustice. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
At a time when the hatred of Christopher Columbus is a core component of mainstream leftist politics, Mastrangelo feels criticism of the great explorer is incredibly shortsighted. She told Breitbart News that, “It’s easy to feel like historical figures are inferior to you when you have the luxury of being born in a different era. Ironically, however, those very historical figures, and the decisions that they made, are why we get to enjoy the advanced, civilized society that we live in today. So I refuse to operate from the left’s premise, because while they scream about Christopher Columbus or George Washington’s moral faults, they themselves want abortion on demand, even up to moments before birth, and in some cases, after the baby is born. In 200 years, people might look back at year 2023 and judge us all as genocidal maniacs based on abortion.”
Mastrangelo believes the left’s attacks on Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day have a very specific goal in mind. She explains, “Here’s what this is really about. This is cultural Marxism. And one of the central tenets is to erase our history, so that we lose sight, not only of where we came from, but of who we are as a people. They want to take away our heroes, our understanding of our own history, our sense of identity as Americans, and so much more. Waste no time talking with a progressive leftist about Columbus’ faults. Point to theirs instead, and revel in the bravery of Christopher Columbus, who in looking for a route to China and India, found something far more special instead.”
Colin Madine is the Tech Editor for Breitbart News