Dona De Sanctis, Deputy Director of the the Sons of Italy, reports that OSIA sent a Letter to the Hartford Courant Yesterday, anf they also sent a similar letter overnight Fed Ex to Mrs. Jane Shipp, headmistress of Renbrook.
OSIA, has asked for not only an "APOLOGY", and "sensitizing the FACULTY,but to also mount a long-term "EXHBIT" on Italian Americans and their contributions to the United States, for which OSIA offerred materials and assistance.
Dona. Excellent! As a result of your efforts OSIA has been dilgently
repsonding to each of the more grevious I-A Defamation Trannsgressions.
It's reassurring , and a moralr booster when we cknow we can depend on
you!!!!
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November 14, 2002
Letters to the Editor
Hartford Courant
Hartford, Connecticut
To the Editor:
I write on behalf of the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the
oldest
and largest national organization for men and women of Italian heritage
in
the United States.
Yesterday we learned of a school performance entitled "The Garden
Olive,"offered at Renbrook last October that portrayed an Italian American
family in an extremely unfavorable and tasteless light by ridiculing
their
mannerisms, language and customs.
For years, the media and the general public have dismissed the justified
complaints about such stereotyping made by organizations like OSIA
as well
as by concerned Italian American citizens. We are told repeatedly
to
"lighten up," that "it's only a movie," or "just a TV show."
Sadly, we now
can point to Renbrook and its painful skit as evidence of the long
and
insidious reach that the stereotyping of Italian Americans has attained
in
our country today. Other examples, unfortunately, abound.
Increasingly, we see public figures of Italian descent likened to fictional
characters on such television programs as "The Sopranos"
and movies like
"the Godfather." Newsweek, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal
recently
drew analogies between the characters on these films and Italian American
political figures including former Cabinet officer Andrew Cuomo,
U.S.
Congressman John Baldacci, and U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu and Robert
Torricelli.
Such stereotyping has little connection to fact. The U.S. Justice Department
reports that less than .0025 percent of the nation's estimated 26 million
Americans of Italian descent are in organized crime. Meanwhile,
according
to the U.S. Census Bureau, two-thirds of the Italian Americans in today's
work force are in white collar positions as managers, executives, attorneys,
physicians, teachers, etc. Yet these crude and inaccurate stereotypes
persist.
How unfortunate that a school of Renbrook's stature should perpetuate
such
bigotry. We are waiting to see what steps the school administration
will
take to repair the damage this skit has caused. Certainly the
first step
should be a written apology to the Italian American students and their
parents at Renbrook. A second step should be to instruct all
faculty to be
more sensitive about the manner in which they encourage students to
portray
people of different ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds.
And finally,
it seems fitting that the school mount a long-term exhibit on Italian
Americans and their contributions to the United States. The Sons
of Italy
has a wealth of information in the form of books, posters, book marks,
and
fact sheets that we would be happy to share with Renbrook for this
exhibit.
Yours truly,
Robert A. Messa
OSIA National President
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Dona De Sanctis, Ph.D.
Deputy Executive Director
Order Sons of Italy in America
219 E Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Tel: 202/547-2900
Fax: 202/547-1492
One Stop Italian America: OSIA.org
Web: www.osia.org
