body

Thanks to Manny Alfano of IAOV

The Editor (Paul Rosetti), and Publisher (A.J. Buddy Fortunato) of The
Italian Tribune (New Jersey/New York) in today's issue, in an unprecedented
manner, both in a Cover Story, and an Editorial, issued "blistering
broadsides" against "The Sopranos", and "bountiful bouquets" for "First
Monday".
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COVER STORY - ITALIAN TRIBUNE 28 February 2002

CBS-TV’s ‘FIRST MONDAY’ BREAKING NEW GROUND
FOR ITALIAN AMERICANS
by Paul Rosetti

First Monday’s Joseph Novelli will not be visiting Bada Bing’s for a night
of illicit sex and binge drinking. Nor is he likely to physically abuse his
wife, verbally abuse his mother, or terrorize his children. I doubt highly
that Joseph Novelli will slander different segments of our society with a
never-ending stream of monosyllabic slurs. Nor are you likely to hear him
refer to his wife’s friends as “dem broads” or his work colleagues as “yous
guys.”

Instead, you will learn that Joseph Novelli is a United States Supreme Court
Justice. He speaks intelligently on a variety of subjects...with proper
enunciation...in complete sentences. When he talks of “family,” he is
referring to his wife and children. When he meets his friends and colleagues
in a social situation, he will leave the tip for the waitress on the table,
not in the silicone-enhanced cleavage of a “dancer” who is old enough to be
his daughter and wearing only a couple of strategically placed tassels.

You will learn that Joseph Novelli is an Italian American. More importantly,
you will learn that Joseph Novelli is an Italian American who, thanks to a
personal sense of morality and a work ethic instilled by his upbringing, has
risen to the top of his chosen profession. He is the embodiment of the
American ideology. While extraordinary in his accomplishments, his story is
not unusual, which, in the grand scheme of things, is really the point.

Italian Americans do not deny the existence of, nor our community’s
involvement with, organized crime. What we protest vehemently is the
widely-held perception that all Italian Americans are criminals or buffoons.
Anyone reading this paper should be well aware of the accomplishments of
Italian Americans; a recap is unnecessary. But there are many of our fellow
Americans who have been subconsciously programmed by a seemingly unending
barrage of negative stereotypes implicating Italian Americans.

Joseph Novelli may be a fictional character on a television show, but his
existence - even in an imaginary sense - will help undo some of the damage
done by equally fictitious characters such as Michael Corleone, Vincent
Gambino, and, more recently, Tony Soprano.

This ground-breaking character is the lead on First Monday, a legal drama
airing on CBS-TV’s Friday night lineup. Created and produced by Italian
American Donald P. Bellasario, the show stars another Italian American, Joe
Mantegna, as Justice Joseph Novelli.

While Mr. Mantegna has portrayed a variety of stereotypical Italian American
characters during the course of his career, he is the driving force behind
the creation of Joseph Novelli as a role model. The character was originally
written without any specific regard to ethnicity, but Mr. Mantegna,
recognizing the dearth of positive Italian American characters, insisted that
he be allowed to infuse Justice Novelli with his own Italian heritage.

Thanks to shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond, That’s Life, and First
Monday, CBS-TV provides its millions of viewers with a more accurate
cross-section of the Italian American community than has ever been offered by
major media. Whether the recent run of Italian-themed programming is
coincidental or motivated merely by profit, CBS has figured out what HBO and
the other networks have not. Namely, that there is more to “Italian” America
than gangsters and buffoons. There are teachers, contractors, college
professors, florists, bank presidents, newspaper editors, and United States
Supreme Court Justices.

Respond to comments@italiantribune.com
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MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER - ITALIAN TRIBUNE 28 February 2002
by A.J. Buddy Fortunato

As Italian Americans, especially as Italian Americans interested in our
shared heritage, we must accept certain responsibilities when it comes time
to promote, preserve, and protect our common interests.

First, and most importantly, we must present a united front. If we were
united in the same way as other ethnic groups, our goals would be much easier
to attain. Programs like The Sopranos and the countless “Mafioso-style”
advertisements would not exist.

There are some who feel we should not complain about these negative
stereotypes. These people are either seriously misinformed or simply naive.
Like some Pavlovian pooch trained by a Hollywood marketing agent, every time
the general public hears “Italian” they think “mob” or “buffoon.”

And now, even our children cannot escape the constant slander of the Italian
American community. Edie Falco, who has had an unremarkable career as an
actress, has been invited to appear on Sesame Street thanks to her role as
Tony Soprano’s wife. What could she possibly teach the children of America?
Perhaps she has tips on how to prepare dinner for her mobster husband.

Judging by her language as an Italian American wife on The Sopranos, she
could certainly teach our children some new vocabulary words. I wonder if we’
ll find any of her favorite words on our children’s spelling tests. I imagine
not.

We have a responsibility to re-condition and re-educate society as a whole,
but especially the younger generations. Bigotry and racism too easily become
habits. It is our responsibility as adults that our children recognize the
myriad contributions made to not only the American mosaic, but also to the
whole of Western Civilization.

Staying on the idea of responsibility, we must insist that members of the
press do not conduct witchhunts every time a person with a vowel in their
name is involved in some sort of incident.

We saw the result of the “guilty by innuendo” modus operandi when Senator
Torricelli was raked through the media on what turned out to be
unsubstantiated charges. His alleged guilt was front page news for weeks. His
absolvement earned a page 23 spot between the Rosary Society’s next luncheon
and an in-depth piece on navel lint.

To my delight, there are signs that our society is starting to “get it.”
Just the other day as I read a book about an Italian man who had dedicated
his life to fighting the Mafia in his hometown, I glanced at the television
and saw a new show - First Monday - on which lead actor Joe Mantegna,
speaking as an Italian American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, defended his
Italian heritage with a fervor and eloquence rarely, if ever, heard before on
network programming. Although fictional, he spoke of the only “family” that
mattered to him - his grandparents, parents, wife, and children. He spoke of
sacrifice and he spoke of responsibility.

Too often, members of our community express outrage only when the bigotry
directly affects them. Our Italian American community will reach its full
potential only when each of us follows a simple creed: As you do unto my
brother, so too do you do unto me. Let us, together, earn for our people the
respect we so richly deserve and leave for our children a legacy of which
they can be proud. Only then will we have repaid the sacrifices of our
ancestors and secured the future our Italian blood.

Respond to comments@italiantribune.com

_______________________________
Paul Rosetti
Editor
Italian Tribune

427 Bloomfield Avenue
Newark, New Jersey 07107

(973) 485-6000 phone
(973) 556-1492 fax