In this week’s episode of the Italian American Podcast, we’re setting out to tackle an issue that has been at the forefront of conversations surrounding the Italian American identity in the 21st Century. This issue is one that hits at the heart of our national mythology for Americans of all ethnicities — the life and legacy of Christopher Columbus.

Many of our listeners have called for us to weigh in on this highly-charged issue, and so we’ve set out to replace debate with dialogue and undertake a journey into the historical record of Columbus’ life, legacy, and relationship with the Italian American community.

Over the course of many upcoming episodes, we will address a number of topics around the evolving issue with experts from various fields and perspectives, both from within the Italian American community and from without.

In today’s introduction to that effort, moderator John Viola will take you through the way in which we developed our questions, some of the voices we are seeking to include in the conversation, and what we’d like to understand and share with our listeners at the end of this exercise.

With such an important discussion to be had, for our community and for the United States overall, this is an introduction you’ll need to hear at the very beginning.