Humor is a helpful defense mechanism to cope with adversity or trauma; however, it can also be a smoke screen for discrimination in the form of microaggression. The history of the Italian in American humor has from the beginning been a source of both solace and bigotry. Stereotypes were created allowing American humor to birth and foster a culture of discrimination against Italians. This panel will explore how the subtlety of humor continues to encourage prejudice against Italian Americans, whose place as an affirmative action group within CUNY remains fragile due to the widespread acceptance of such behavior. This presentation will include an overview of such humor in the media, a review of the history of humor from the perspective of Italian American studies, and conclude with an analysis of the meanings of humor from a psychological perspective and how humor contributes or detracts from diversity and inclusion.