As corporations and media organizations across the nation peer inward in order to carve a path forward on diversity and inclusivity, the question must be asked: why are Italian American stereotypes still so widely accepted in popular culture? For instance, the Buffalo Bills tout the “Bills Mafia” as a collection of players, fans and tailgaters who represent the face and spirit of the franchise.

The Bills organization recently gushed over the group on its website, where the word “community” was used repeatedly to prop up the controversial name and describe the sometimes heartful, sometimes irreverent group. Instead, what if the fanbase were called the Bills Taliban?