On top of the monumentality of the blatant racist and bigoted stigmatizing of Italian American children, and the attack on their pysche by "SHARK TALE", it is the startling HYPOCRISY of Steven Spielberg that additionally INFURIATES me .

Steven Spielberg, is the Founder of the Shoah Foundation created  to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry.

The Foundation states: Hatred may begin with prejudiced thoughts or stereotypes about a certain group of people that can lead to acts of bigotry and discrimination, that can then escalate into acts of violence like vandalism, assault, or murder. The ADL describes this as the "pyramid of hate."

A Shoah project is aimed at embedding tolerance into the work of  SCHOOLS.
Spielberg defined tolerance as "imagining  to be in the shoes of the other person."

Mr. Spielberg, you are putting "cement shoes" on our Kids!!!! @#%&*

Corrierre della Sera
Alessandra Farkas
Correspondent

NEW YORK - Mafia Sharks?  The film hasn’t been seen yet, but 25 million Italian Americans are on the war path against "Shark Tale", guilty, so far as they are concerned, "of violating the sacred territory of childhood" by “perpetuating the worst stereotypes of Italian Americans, that of being criminals and mafiosi".

The most shocking thing is that this film is a product of Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studio, which has been tireless in its struggle against stereotypes and discrimination, points out Lawrence Auriana, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, the not for profit foundation that, since 1929, has organized all of New York City's annual Columbus Day parades.

Spielberg's offense?  "To have created the first openly racist children's film in over a quarter of century,” - answers Auriana - "a film that blackens the memory of our fathers, wounds us deeply and, above all, threatens to damage the psychological development and self esteem of millions of impressionable Italian American children".

Auriana has not yet seen the film, which will debut in Central Park on 24 September and in theaters evertwhere on 1 October.  However he has seen the collection of "Shark Tale" promo books already distributed to stores by Scholastic publishing house (as well as the DVDs, t-shirts and lunch boxes) and says "they left me disgusted!".

Auriana's  indignation is such that, together with some 20 Italian-American organizations (including such prominent ones as NIAF, UNICO, and the Order Sons of Italy) he founded the “Coalition Against Racial, Religious and Ethnic Stereotyping” (CARRES),  whose purpose is to persuade DreamWorks "to purge the film of all anti-Italian references" under pain of a boycott against DreamWorks itself by the influential Italian American community.

In a recent editorial written for the New York Times, the producer of Schindler' s List described the distress he suffered as a child because of antisemitic prejudices.

"Thanks to his film, yet another generation of Italian Americans will experience pain similar to his" - responds Auriana - "Spielberg is a hypocrite".

"In a certain sense the film has had a positive effect, because it has united us in a way that not even "The Sopranos" succeeded in doing", speculates NIAF president Joseph R. Cerrell.

"If  Shark Tale matches Shrek at the box office," echoes Rosario Iaconis, president of the Italic Institute of  America - "the domino effect against Italians will be devastating."

According to recent surveys, 74% of the Americans continue to believe that all Italian Americans either have mafia connections or own pizzarias, although the latest U.S. census indicates that 67% have white collar jobs or are professionals.

"Our willingness to stereotype Italians is like a drug" - admits film critic Gregory Kane - "we know that it's wrong but we can’t help ourselves".

And Ben Lawton, who is chair of Film/Video Studies at Purdue University observes that "In the politically correct climate of today's America, every ethnic group has succedeed in securing sensitive treatment from the Media. The sole exception are the Italo-Americans".

Corriere della Sera - Edicola
http://www.corriere.it/edicola/index.jsp?path=TUTTI_GLI_ARTICOLI&doc=CRO
PROTESTA DAGLI USA
Ma gli italoamericani: ci tratta da mafiosi