of OSIA, gave to ABC's Sam Donaldson on the Sopranos, that was broadcast nationally.
Well done Dona!! You covered, the Constant and Consistent and almost
Exclusively Negative Portrayals of Italian Americans, The Lack of Balance
and Proportionate Portrayal, The Effect, the Reality, all in a neat synthesized
capsule.
=========================================================
SAM DONALDSON, (Host): Dona De Sanctis is Deputy Director of
the Sons of
Italy. Great organization. Welcome, Ms. De Sanctis.
DONA DE SANCTIS, (Sons of Italy): Hello, Mr. Donaldson.
DONALDSON: ... [ I understand you have objections to "The Sopranos"?]...
DE SANCTIS: I was listening to the remark by that editor from
TV Guide, and
I have to say that what I find so disturbing about the show, apart
from the
show itself, is this kind of media reception of the show. They're
hailing
it as the best show on television and this is high praise for a cast
of
characters who beat up women, who betray their wives, earn a living
through
prostitution and drug dealing and illegal gambling, and murder anyone
who
gets in their way.
What do you identify with there? I'll tell you what people identify with, with Tony Soprano: it's the same part of human nature that slows down to watch an automobile accident. I think that this series appeals to the basest instincts in human nature.
DONALDSON: OK, we could say that about a lot of television series.
But in
your case, one of your problems, I take it, is that these are all Italians.
DE SANCTIS: Part of it is that this show only presents organized crime in an Italian American context. And what's even more disturbing is they use aspects of authentic Italian American life and customs to make these characters more believable.
For example, they use our religion, they use our food, they use our family customs, all the aspects of our life that the woman who was on earlier said that people could "relate to". But it's put in this context of violence, mayhem and immorality.
DONALDSON: Do you fear that it we will all start beginning to
believe that
all Italians, somehow, are mobsters?
DE SANCTIS: We know that that's what's happening. I can
give you a couple
of examples. There was a Zogby poll about a year ago polling
teenagers of
all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. And most of the
teenagers
thought that an Italian American would be the ideal character to play
either
a gangster or a waiter on television. So, in other words, the
perception of
us by the youngest generation of Americans is that we're either
gangsters
or blue collar workers.
DE SANCTIS: Italian Americans in Pennsylvania a year or so ago
were kept
off a jury trial because it was a trial against a mobster, and the
prosecuting attorney assumed that most of these six Italian American
citizens probably had some Mafia ties so they couldn't be objective
jurors.
DONALDSON: What's the cure for this? What would the Sons
of Italy do?
Would they take it off the air? Is there some way that they can
make it
clear that this is not the typical Italian family?
DE SANCTIS: We've never said that programs like "The Sopranos"
or movies
like "The Godfather" should be taken off the air or banned, because
we
believe in free speech. What we've been asking the networks and
Hollywood
to do is to present a more balanced picture of Italian Americans.
You know, two-thirds of the Italian Americans in today's workforce are
in white collar
jobs as doctors, lawyers, teachers, but you never see us playing any
of those characters in television or in the movies. So that's what
we want.
Show us how we really are, as the people who make enormous contributions
to
this country.
DONALDSON: Dona De Sanctis, thanks for joining us today.
DE SANCTIS: Thank you.
(END)
========================================================
Sam Donaldson
Donaldson is the host of SamDonaldson@abcnews.com, a live Internet newscast broadcast at 12:30 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday. This is the first regularly scheduled newscast produced by a television network.
Anchor, SamDonaldson@ABCNEWS.com;
Co-Anchor, 20/20; Co-Anchor, This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie
Roberts
He served two appointments as chief White House correspondent for ABCNEWS
from January 1998 to August 1999 and from 1977-1989, covering Presidents
Carter, Reagan and Clinton. He covered the White House for World News Tonight
and other ABCNEWS programs.
Donaldson was co-anchor, with Diane Sawyer, of PrimeTime Live since
the program premiered in August 1989.
