Restaurant Owner Told to Remove Name of Sandwich from Menu
The Name of the Sandwich, "Hot Dago," is Said to Be Offensive to People of Italian Descent
A local attorney, Earl P. Gray, who claims to have some Italian blood in him, responded to Terrill, telling him, according to the Pioneer Press, that the phrase that offended Terrill refers to a sandwich, not a person or an ethnic group. "The people in this town and surrounding area know the ingredients of a 'hot dago' sandwich by the name 'hot dago,'" Gray wrote to Terrill.
Terrill, in his action against DeGidio's, is attempting to enforce Section 183.07 of the St. Paul Human rights Ordinance. The Pioneer Press says that the Ordinance "provides that it is illegal to discriminate with respect to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations of a place of public accommodation."
Gray, according to the article, wondered, "Doesn't this guy [Terrill] have anything to do?" He added, "If the sandwich is consumed by people of Italian descent, it doesn't stand to reason that they are being denied anything." The restaurant's website describes the "hot dago" as a half pound spicy patty of Italian sausage served with Vienna bread, spaghetti sauce and baked with mozzarella.
According to the Pioneer Press, a similar ethnic situation happened in 1991 when George Latimer was installed as the dean of the Hamline Law School. A friend, Dominic A Villoni of New York, came to St. Paul for the installation. During a conversation, Latimer told Villoni that in the Twin Cities area, "dago" was used to refer to a sandwich. Villoni was offended and complained to Josephier Brown, who was then the director of the Human Rights Department. Brown promised Villoni that that kind of thing would never happen again, according to the Pioneer Press.
In the current situation, Gray is quoted by the Pioneer Press as saying that the "hot dago" sandwich would remain on the menu.
Sources:
www.twincities.com/soucheray
www.freerepublic.com/
http://www.twincities.com/soucheray
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