"I
Hate Italians" Finally, Expression of Regret and Remorse from Deputy Mayor
Roth of
The
ANNOTICO Report
Our
Congratulations to Steven Cataneo, President of
Italian-American Association of Monmouth County, and those who supported him,
and the Monmouth County Italian American Community in his campaign for a
satisfactory solution to the incredibly inappropriate, and supposedly sarcastic "I
hate Italian Americans" comment of the husband of Deputy Mayor
Michelle Roth of
Mrs
Roth, after a month of "stonewalling",
and incredulously continuing to refuse to "apologize" for her
husband's "hate" speech, allowed a matter that could have been
handled quickly and properly, to blossom into a full fledged imbroglio, that
resulted in a variety of people accusing each other of evil motives, and
attacking one anothers character.
Credit
also goes out to Committeeman Anthony Gennaro who resigned from the
Democratic party, when some leaders defended Michelle Roth, and kudos
to the Italian American community that construed Michelle Roth's silence
in the face of her husband's remarks, as condoning
them, in view of her not IMMEDIATELY apologizing for them, and
disassociating herself from them.
When Mrs Roth ignored those entreaties, The Italian American Community
called for her to resign. She continued to ignore.
Finally,
with the threat of Italian Americans marching on City Hall,
Michelle Roth, in a brief statement, said "Unfortunately, (Larry
Roth's) attempt at humor was in very poor taste, and inappropriate, (Larry)
has publicly stated his regret, and he has apologized. I share his regret, and
I share his remorse. . . ."
But as if
to excuse his behavior, Mrs Roth said,
"As Jews, they were both extremely sensitive to issues of discrimination
and bias and would never defame anyone". Yet, IF the Roths were BOTH SO Sensitive, Larry Roth would
NOT have made such a grossly INSENSITIVE remark in the FIRST place,
AND Michelle Roth would have expressed Regret
and Remorse IMMEDIATELY, not belatedly and reluctantly, After calls for her to
Resign !!!!!!
Additionally,
Mayor Drew Shapiro read a Proclamation reaffirming the township's rejection of
any form of bigotry and pride in the many ethnic groups within its borders.
[The proclamation will be permanently affixed at the entrance to the
The
committee also approved a resolution to offer a Sensitivity Seminar to anyone
wishing to attend that will be organized by the New Jersey Civil Rights
Commission. [The vote for a township wide sensitivity seminar passed unanimously. The
Seton Hall video on Anti Italianism will be shown at the seminar.]
With all
that said, I would disagree with Steven Cataneo's decision to "turn away 'busloads' of
supporters at the urging of both the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and the
Did Steve
inadvertently demean our community by agreeing with the inference of
authorities that large group of Italian Americans can not be trusted to conduct
themselves in a peaceful manner????
And
while I commend IAOV for their Email campaign, I also believe that in their
trying their "best to defuse the situation," they let the Roth's
"off the hook too easily".
The
remark, malicious or not, was Not IMMEDIATELY addressed by the self professed
"sensitive" Roths.
As an
Italian Jew, I ask you to imagine, were a person to have "sarcastically"
said "I Hate Jews", what would have been my reaction, and what would
have been the consequences??? We do Not Defuse. We Exact Retribution!!!!
The object
is NOT to Defuse or Excuse. It is to get an IMMEDIATE and MEANINGFUL
Retraction, and Repentance and Atonement !!!!!
If
Michelle Roth was REALLY sincere she would have volunteered to Chair the
upcoming Seminar, and promised that the seminar would be WELL attended by a spectrum of the Leaders of the Community!!!!!!!!
Thanks to
IAOV
Tensions
ease a bit over "hate" remark
By James
A. Quirk and Alesha Williams
Staff Writers
MANALAPAN — A group of about
50 Italian-Americans marched from the recreation complex to town hall last
night, converging on the steps of the municipal building to denounce what they
said were defamatory remarks made by the husband of Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth
at a public meeting last month.
The turnout could have
been much larger, but Italian-American Association of Monmouth County President
Steven Cataneo said he turned away
"busloads" of supporters at the urging of both the Monmouth County
Prosecutor's Office and the
Led by a cadre of little
girls who held up an association banner and sang "God Bless America,"
the protest march got under way just before the start of the Township
Committee's 8 p.m. meeting and culminated with several speeches from prominent
Italian-American leaders, including John Guagliardo,
president of the National Council of Columbia Associations.
"The central issue
here is you can't get up at a meeting and say that you hate anyone," Guagliardo said. "It's sad that we have to do this in
this day and age, but you have to let the township know it's unacceptable
what's happened."
In an effort to defuse the
controversy set into motion when Larry Roth made the sarcastic remark of
"Because I hate Italians" at a March 8 meeting, Mayor Drew Shapiro
read a proclamation reaffirming the township's rejection of any form of bigotry
and pride in the many ethnic groups within its borders. The committee also
approved a resolution to offer a sensitivity seminar to anyone wishing to
attend that will be organized by the New Jersey Civil Rights Commission.
Harsh exchanges
But the meeting was not
devoid of fireworks from both sides. A flier — distributed by the
Monmouth County Democrats and alleging a connection between Cataneo,
the association president, and the developer of the proposed Village at
Manalapan retail center — touched off a heated speech by Committeeman
Joseph Locricchio and a sharp rebuke from county
Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery.
Locricchio blasted the four-page, full-color
brochure as "propaganda that would make the
Scudiery opted not to speak during the
meeting, saying, "I do not wish to throw more fuel on the fire." Then
he criticized Locricchio for political grandstanding.
In a brief statement,
Michelle Roth again made it clear that her husband, Larry, does not harbor any
bias toward any group. As Jews, she said, they were both extremely sensitive to
issues of discrimination and bias and would never defame anyone.
"Unfortunately,
(Larry Roth's) attempt at humor was in very poor taste, and
inappropriate," Michelle Roth said. "He has publicly stated his
regret, and he has apologized. I share his regret, and I share his remorse. . .
. We will continue to work for a united community in Manalapan."
Larry Roth's statement was
an off-the-cuff quip intended to mock local GOP Chairman Steve McEnery's questioning of whether the deputy mayor dislikes
Italian-Americans. McEnery since has rejected
statements made by Michelle Roth that his questioning was a form of baiting. In
a previous interview, McEnery said committee
candidates five years ago attempted to drive a wedge between the Jewish and
Italian communities in Manalapan, and his questions were meant to ensure that
Roth was not using those tactics.
Efforts to ease
tensions
Earlier this week, the
Monmouth County Human Relations Commission extended an olive branch to Michelle
Roth and Cataneo and asked both to meet with
mediators in an attempt to resolve the situation before last night's rally.
The Italian-American One
Voice Coalition also stepped into the situation in Manalapan in an attempt to
ease tensions.
"We've tried our best
to defuse the situation," said Tom DeGenaro,
director of communications for the coalition. "We think we have. . . . Mr.
Roth made an unfortunate statement. We don't believe it was malicious. He's
apologized for it publicly and stated his regret."
Some residents and the
Monmouth County Democrats have accused Cataneo of
having a connection with Richard Brunelli, the
principal of Manalapan Retail Realty Partners, which is the developer of the
proposal.
Manalapan Retail Realty
Partners is an offshoot of the company that helped build
The brochure distributed
by the Democrats states: "Realtors and developers are leading the group
that falsely claims that there were biased remarks. The most vocal person —
a local Realtor — making the false claims has publicly advocated
construction of the MegaMall. Realtor Steve Cataneo calls the MegaMall a
"beautiful concept' and "a wonderful plan.' "
Before leaving last
night's meeting, Cataneo said he intends to work with
the
"We'll see what
happens," Cataneo said. "The future will
tell. I think we made our point. Overall I think tonight was a success for
Italian-Americans and the Italian-American Association."
Book:
Anti-Italianism: Discrimination and Defamation in the History of Italian
Americans
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/
The
ANNOTICO Reports are Archived at:
Italia
Mia: www.italiamia.com (Community)