Dona DeSanctis, Deputy Executive Director of the Sons of Italy, was interviewed on Rabbi Joseph Potasnik's Sunday August 15 th weekly show that is carried on  WABC - 770 AM in NYC at 8:05 A.M.. The radio show is heard in 38 states.

As Rabbi Potasnick says: "It's incumbent upon ALL of us...we should not be silent when ANY other people are being attacked, are being denigrated publicly".

The Rabbi also was familiar with the Zoby Poll that determined that: Of all young people ages 13 to 18 of all racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds, 78% said that if you were going to cast a role in television or in movies for a person who is either a gangster or a waiter, that role should go to a character that was Italian-American.

The Rabbi made a point that would be worth forwarding to the ADL."I would say it's incumbent upon Jews in particular, because we who know what it is to suffer from stereotypical prejudice should be outspoken here on behalf of others."

It is doubly true if it is Jews that are creating that Stereotype, as in the case of Steven Spielberg's "Shark's Tale".

Excerpted:

RABBI JOSEPH POTASNIK, Co-Host:  We are now speaking with Dona De Sanctis, Deputy Executive Director of the Order Sons of Italy...

POTASNIK: What about the daughters of Italy?  What happened to them?

De SANCTIS:  The Sons of Italy is made up of - about 51% of our membership are women and we have a number of women, also, in the leadership. But when the organization was founded nearly a hundred years ago - next year we celebrate our 100th anniversary - the original name was in Italian: Figli d'Italia.  And figli in Italian can be translated as either children or sons.

So at that time the organization preferred to have a more grown up look to it, so they took the English translation as Sons of Italy.  But the organization is definitely.. (women friendly)...and we're the oldest and largest Italian-American organization in the United States.

POTASNIK:  Well I was privileged to meet Tom De Napoli and Rich Haemmerle, Tina Haemmerle, a number of people from your organization at a breakfast.  We talked about, of course, stereotyping which continues to exist.  The problem is you don't expect it to come from people who should know better.

And I would think that a TV group like A&E that is giving us "Growing up Gotti" should know that this is going to offend people.   And I wonder sometimes if these decisions-and I think they are - they're made consciously because they know that even though it offends some people, that offense translates into better numbers.  And it think it's a price, unfortunately, that some of the TV executives are willing to pay to have the kinds of numbers that they want.

De SANCTIS:  Definitely, the U.S. entertainment industry during the 20th century has cultivated a taste and an appetite in the American public for Mafia-themed entertainment.  And what's particularly ironic is the Italian-Americans consider the Mafia, not only our black sheep, but they're urban terrorists.

There's nothing admirable about these thugs, and thank God, according to the Justice Department only .0025% of the country's estimated 16 to 26 million Italian-Americans have ever had anything to do crime.  But thanks to the entertainment industry, they've glamorized the Mafia.  They've turned it into a society, the honorable society, and made them into urban Robin Hoods.  And so the American public is enchanted by these mythical attributes of the Mafia.

De SANCTIS:  But the real Mafia, as you can see on "Growing up Gotti", crime definitely doesn't pay.  Look at the families that have come about as a result of Gotti Sr.'s life of crime.  You have children who don't obey their mother; a mother who's inarticulate and can't even speak English correctly.  Their lives are a mess; they have no moral structure.  This is what the Mafia really is.  But they're using it to enchant the American public and get, as you say, get their numbers up.

POTASNIK:  I know you protested.  What was the response to your concern?

De SANCTIS:  You know, I do have a sense of humor, so there was something even comical about the response of A&E.  Yes, we wrote to A&E back in March when we first heard that this series was on the board.  And we expressed our concerns about feeding this fervor for the Mafia and how insulting this program would be to millions of Italian-Americans.

And they wrote back and said, "you know, this isn't the story about the daughter of  Mafia don.  It's the story about a struggling single mother who's trying to balance raising her children with a career and a social life."  So, in other words, if her name were anything but Gotti, they would still do a series about her.

Now this is just disingenuous, to be kind.  We've even had HBO come and tell us that "The Sopranos" is not about Italian-Americans.

POTASNIK:  You know, it's insulting for people to say that because, obviously, if you want to do a story about single parents raising families, there are many out there who are doing a superb job.  This was selected for a particular reason; "Sopranos" for a particular reason.

And I just think, as I said last week, it's incumbent upon all of us whether we are Italian, not Italian, it's doesn't matter, because we should not be silent when any other people are being attacked, are being denigrated publicly.  So it's insulting to all people.  And I just wish there were a real loud outcry and it translates into lower ratings and lower support so that they can't get away with it.

De SANCTIS:  Yes, that's what we would be hoping, too.  And what you said earlier, Rabbi, about the people who should know better are pandering to this - it's not just A&E.

Several months ago, PBS television put on a documentary about the Medici family as everybody knows, they were the architects of the Renaissance, great patrons of the arts.  Michelangelo, DaVinci owed their start to the Medicis.

But they decided to cast the Medicis as - and I'm quoting exactly - "The Godfathers of the Renaissance."  They made them sound as if they were the antecedents to the Mafia chieftains of today.  And on the website that's devoted to the Medici documentary, they actually have the biographies of Cosimo de Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and all the other great Medici men as mug sheets, rap sheets, with the front and the profile and their nicknames.  They're treating them as if they were criminals.

De SANCTIS:  And just recently, the Folger Theatre, our Shakespeare theater here in Washington, D.C., put on a production of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors, but they didn't cast it in 16th century Italy the way the story was written.  They cast it in 20th century Brooklyn and made all of the characters Italian-Americans who were speaking with thick Brooklyn accents-speaking Shakespeare with Brooklyn accents.

POTASNIK:  And you know, young people who, unfortunately, get their primary information from television are influenced very much by this.  You sent me some material.  I think there was a poll taken, a Zogby poll, and young people identified to a large extent members of the Italian community as associated with the underworld.

De SANCTIS:  That's correct.  Seventy-eight percent of the young people ages 13 to 18 of all racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds in this poll, 78% of them said that if you were going to cast a role in television or in movies for a person who is either a gangster or a waiter, that role should go to a character that was Italian-American.

POTASNIK:  Dona, what can we do, whether we're Italian or it doesn't matter - what can we do, what should we do to really protest effectively here?

De SANCTIS:  Well, since money is the driving force behind these types of productions, our first suggestion is don't support them.  Don't support any of the sponsors that are sponsoring "Growing up Gotti", don't go to movies that present Italian-Americans or any ethnic group in a negative light. And write to the promoters and the creators of these productions and tell them that's what you're planning to do.

That's what the Sons of Italy does. That's what the other Italian-American organizations do.  But you know, we're only 6% of the population.  We need the help of other Americans who are concerned about this kind of stereotyping.

POTASNIK:  I would say it's incumbent upon Jews in particular, because we who know what it is to suffer from stereotypical prejudice should be outspoken here on behalf of others.

De SANCTIS: Yes, I mean, you have suffered the horrendous consequences of this kind of stereotyping of these kinds of lies that can lead to tragedy.  The situation in Italian-Americans has not been anywhere near as tragic. But Italian-Americans have suffered from this kind of stereotyping.  When they first came here, they were considered the missing link between the Black and the White races.  So they were lynched in the South, they were paid less that White and Black workers in the North.  And in World War II, Italian-Americans were interned and had their civil rights deprived.  Six hundred thousand Italian-Americans were declared enemy alien.

But the story of Italian-Americans in this country and what they suffered in Italy for centuries as serfs is not told.  And so we are considered part of the class that has "made it" in America.  And we did make it, thanks to the opportunities that were here.  But we paid our dues, as well, and we deserve the respect that's accorded to every other ethnic and racial group.  That's all we're asking.  Treat us the way you would treat any other ethnic group.

POTASNIK:  Dona De Sanctis, Deputy Executive Director of the Order Sons of Italy in America, thank you. And we will respond as you suggested.

De SANCTIS:  Thank you, Rabbi.