Thursday, November 16,

Rotolo MS Stresses MultiCulturalism, Except for Italians- John Kass- Chicogo Tribune

The ANNOTICO Report

 

OK, John Kass  may be biased, since he is married to a self described "Sicilian", a beautiful collegian, when they first met, who initially rebuffed John because she was initially irritated by his "love at first sight" incessant staring. 

 

I'm sure she is glad she changed her mind, an we Italian Americans are grateful for his "I get it" attitude.

 

Kass unequivocally states that Rotollo MS "Fuggedaboudit" -- promotes hurtful anti-Italian stereotypes to children in a public school.

He was  appalled by a teacher's badly written play that makes fun of Italians. It offers an earthy "casta charactas"--several rude cartoon Italians juxtaposed against the clean-cut American FBI agents.

 

Kass notes that: "American public schools are zealously multicultural these days. Any image or word is examined lest it be considered even remotely offensive to some group. School textbooks across the country are subject to rigorous, almost Orwellian cultural censorship in this regard".

"So it is amazing that the school board in Batavia applauds stereotypes that can hurt its own students"

 

"Americans of Italian descent are rightfully exasperated by the constant film references to the Mafia at the EXCLUSION OF ALL ELSE (caps added), save Italian food. Yet the frequency of such references tells us more about the American culture than of the Italian".

"But none of that belongs in a school play financed by tax dollars. Being a kid is difficult enough without adding negative stereotypes to the mix. American public schools stress multiculturalism, and multiculturalism welcomes almost everyone".

Unless of course, you're ....Italian.

 

Kids and Italians Deserve Better Script

Chicago Tribune

By John Kass
November 16, 2006

When it comes to the national controversy over that offensive middle school play in Batavia, titled "Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy"--one that promotes hurtful anti-Italian stereotypes to children in a public school--I'm definitely biased.

Blame it all on what a beautiful young woman with long black hair and big brown eyes told me years ago in college. She was irritated because I spent the entire class staring at her from across the room. Afterward, when I approached, she gave me a special message.

She politely told me to get lost.

But I declined and clumsily tried to make conversation by asking her, quite foolishly: Hey, wait, so, you're Italian?

"No, I'm Sicilian," she said, walking away, curiously oblivious to something I knew about her future that she didn't know--that we'd get married and have kids and make a life. And so we did.

Our boys are in 5th grade now, and I might as well confess. My sons are not in the O u! tfit. Their mom isn't a "made" member. She just got her master's degree and hopes to teach elementary school.

And I am appalled by a teacher's badly written play produced at Rotolo Middle School that makes fun of Italians. It offers an earthy "casta charactas"--several rude cartoon Southern Europeans juxtaposed against the clean-cut American FBI agents.

The characters include "Don Vincenzo Medici" and his buddy "Don Salvatore Palazzo," the Outfit bosses with hearts of gold; and the matriarch, "Mama Mia Caprese," and her two sons, "Gino," who has a "shady background," and "Joey," described in the play as "kinda dim."

American public schools are zealously multicultural these days. Any image or word is examined lest it be considered even remotely offensive to some group. School textbooks across the country are subject to rigorous, almost Orwellian cultural censorship in this regard.

So it is amazing that the school board in Batavia applauds stereotype s! that can hurt its own students. School officials have become stubborn, pressured by the national Order Sons of Italy in America, my friends at the Italic Institute of America and at the Italian-American newspaper Fra Noi.

"That this stuff keeps being perpetuated in 2006 is very frustrating," said Bill Dal Cerro, himself a teacher, a Chicagoan and the national vice president of the Italic Institute. "We're trying to get beyond this point to show people we are good Americans. And that even in a middle school--a place you would think would be off-limits--this is being perpetuated. I thought we lived in enlightened times where we are supposedly teaching children to respect other cultures."

Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Order Sons of Italy in America, also is upset.

"We find it very disturbing when a school would put on a play stereotyping Italian-Americans when they wouldn't think of doing such a thing if it were stereotyping African-Amer i! cans or Jewish-Americans," she told us.

The Batavia school's "casta charactas" are officially called the "Bada Bing players," a reference to the Bada Bing strip club on the HBO series "The Sopranos." I'm a "Sopranos" fan, but my boys aren't allowed to watch. They get enough sex and violence on TV commercials during football games.

The Bada Bing is the strip-club hangout for Tony Soprano's gang. A few seasons ago, many of my colleagues were crazy about "The Sopranos." They loved it. Then, in one episode, a Bada Bing stripper made a terrible mistake. She questioned the sexuality of her boyfriend, one of the Soprano bosses.

He asked her to walk outside, to the parking lot, and there he beat her to death with his fists. Then they wrapped her in a carpet and dumped her somewhere in the marsh. This shocked and appalled more than a few viewers I know who, up until that point, were getting a vicarious thrill from the show.

But that's who they are. They're c! riminals. In real life, out in the Chicago suburbs, one Outfit boss ran an abortion clinic and made a fortune. The Outfit as abortionists doesn't fit the stereotype either, but criminals aren't interested in stereotype. They're interested in money.

Americans of Italian descent are rightfully exasperated by the constant film references to the Mafia at the exclusion of all else, save Italian food. Yet the frequency of such references tells us more about the American culture than of the Italian.

As the American culture becomes increasingly bureaucratic and timid, it is also desperate to transform fictionalized Italians into icons of unrepentant male power, as we watch cable TV from the safety of our living rooms, perhaps even wincing when the mobster beats the stripper to death.

So, are some Italians involved in organized crime? Is there an Outfit? Yes, of course. Every ethnic group has its criminals. But none of that belongs in a school play financed by tax ! dollars. Being a kid is difficult enough without adding negative stereotypes to the mix. American public schools stress multiculturalism, and multiculturalism welcomes almost everyone.

Unless of course, you're European, and particularly, Italian.
----------
jskass@tribune.com

 

 

JOHN KASS BIOGRAPHY  (Abbreviated)  from Chicago Tribune Web Site:


The son of a Greek immigrant grocer, Kass was born June 23, 1956, on Chicago's South Side and grew up there and in Oak Lawn. He held a number of jobs- merchant marine sailor, ditch digger, waiter- before becoming a film student at Columbia College in Chicago. There, he worked at the student newspaper and caught the attention of  the Daily Calumet in 1980, where Kass worked as a reporter until he left for the Tribune.

In 2004, Kass was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi national award for general column writing, the Scripps Howard Foundation's National Journalism Award for commentary, the Press Club of Atlantic City's National Headliner Award for local interest column writing on a variety of subjects, and the Chicago Headline Club's Lisagor Award for best daily newspaper columnist.  In 1992, Kass won the Chicago Tribune's Beck Award for writing.

Kass lives in the western suburbs with his wife and twin s o! ns. His column appears on Page A2 of the Chicago Tribune every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

The ANNOTICO Reports

Can be Viewed, and are Archived at:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com (Formerly Italy at St Louis)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net