Friday, November 03, 2006

DeSanctis of Sons of Italy Responds to Latest Slander of Italian Americans in Florida

The ANNOTICO Report

 

A half dozen years ago, None of the Major Italian American Organizations, NIAF, OSIA, or UNICO were much interested in Italian American Defamation.

 

Dona DeSanctis was with NIAF at the time, and was finally able to nudge the NIAF to become more actively involved. NIAF began to do a commendable job, for being a newbie.

 

Then DeSanctis moved to the Sons of Italy (OSIA) as Deputy Director, and she was able to ultimately persuade the Sons of Italy to take a more active and aggressive role, and the efforts have been admirable.

 

Dr. Manny Alfano has attempted to make UNICO more conscious of Italian American Defamation, Slander, and Bigotry, with some success, but moreso with his group IAOV (Italian American One Voice).

 

Meanwhile NIAF seems to have gone back to their self congratulatory "networking" black tie dinners, and too infrequently weigh in on Italian American Anti Defamation.

 

Below is the third effort by OSIA's DeSanctis within the last two weeks to make their Disapproval known, almost immediately, in the strongest terms. This latest Objection is against a Florida group, ironically named "Protect Our Constitution" a business backed group, who in their dedication to protecting their Profits are not above engaging in Bigotry.

 

The other two events are the Italian slander vs Celeste in the Ohio political race, and McKean supporters in a NJ race using

Negative Italian Stereotypes.

 

AMENDMENT 3

Italians Protest Snide TV Ads

An ad paid for by a business-backed group pushing for Amendment 3 has riled a national group that says the ad demeans Italian Americans.

Miami Herald
By Gary Fineout
Friday. November. 3, 2006

The television ad shows a group of older men with slick hair sitting around a poker table, smoking cigars and toasting one another for persuading voters to allow more gambling, tax increases and the protection of pregnant pigs. The Godfather- style music plays in the background as the men laugh.

The group paying for this ad, which supports passage of Amendment 3 on Tuesday, says it is intended to warn voters that Florida's Constitution can be changed too easily by special-interest groups. If passed by voters, Amendment 3 would require 60 percent approval -- rather than a simple majority -- before future constitutional amendments can pass.

But the nation's oldest and largest Italian-American organization, the Order of Sons of Italy, says the ad draws on recurring TV and movie images that portray Italian Americans as mobsters. The group has demanded that the organization that paid for the ad, Protect Our Constitution, which is run by an executive with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, pull the ad and apologize publicly.

Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Order of Sons of Italy, blasted the Florida group for using a ``demeaning stereotype of Italian Americans to pander to the public's fascination with pop mafia.''

De Sanctis said the ad shows that television and film depictions of Italian Americans is bleeding into other aspects of culture. She added that Protect Our Constitution should publicly apologize to the more than one million Italian Americans in Florida and the more than 16 million in the United States.

Mark Wilson, chairman of Protect Our Constitution, said the ad has already stopped running in major media markets in Florida and will likely be off the air by today.

But Wilson was puzzled by the criticism. He said that the group used volunteers from the Tampa Bay area for the ad.

''We have had nothing but positive reaction from a lot of folks, including some Italians,'' said Wilson.

 

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