(WASHINGTON, DC -- May 29, 2001) The National Italian American
Foundation (NIAF) mourns the loss of U.S. Representative Joe Moakley (D-MA).
He died May 28 at Bethesda Naval Hospital of complications from leukemia.
He was 74 years old.

    "Rep. Joe Moakley was not only an outstanding legislator, but a true
friend of everyone whose lives he touched.  He was proud of his heritage.
We at the NIAF lost a great humane friend, " said Frank J. Guarini, NIAF
chairman.

    "He was a class act.  The NIAF was pleased to honor Rep. Moakley
last August in Los Angeles," said Joseph R. Cerrell, NIAF president. 

    In 1952, when Rep. Moakley was 25, he was elected to the
Massachusetts State Legislature where he served both in the House and
Senate.  In 1971, he won a seat on the Boston City Council and one year
later, Moakley was elected to represent the 9th district of Massachusetts in
the U.S. House of Representatives. He served 15 terms in Congress and was
the former chairman of the  powerful House Rules Committee, serving from
1989 until 1995. 

    Rep. Moakley also became a major force concerning Latin America
policy, especially in El Salvador.  He instigated investigations that
exposed the involvement of the army of El Salvador in the slaying of the
nuns and Jesuit priests in that country in 1989.  Rep. Moakley led
congressional battles to cut off aid to El Salvador and was credited as a
major influence in pushing El Salvador toward democracy.

    Rep. Moakley was born, raised and lived his entire life in South
Boston's Ward 7.  His mother, Mary was of Italian descent.  At age
15, Moakley enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the South Pacific during
World War II.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Elissa Ruffino at 202/387-0600     elissa@ niaf.org

    The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is a non-profit,
non-partisan foundation dedicated to promoting the contributions of Italian
Americans.  The Foundation has a wide-range of programs that provide
scholarships and grants, legislative internships in Congress, conferences
and cultural seminars. Visit our web site at : www.niaf.org
 

If you choose not to participate in this program , the books would 
nevertheless make excellent additions to your Organizations, or your own
personal library. I have about a dozen myself, that I value highly. 

The authors and editors include the current leading lights in the field like:
Professors Rudolph Vecoli, Fred Gardaphe, Richard N. Juliani, Anthony J.
Tamburri, Ed. J Scelsa, S J. LaGumina, L F. Tomasi, , Frances X.
Femminella, & many others. 

AMERICAN ITALIAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 
OFFERS BOOKS-FOR-LIBRARIES TO ALL 
ITALIAN AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS

Dominic Candeloro, Executive Director
D-Candeloro@govst.edu       708 756-5359
ITAM@H-NET.MSU.EDU

The American Italian Historical Association has announced a new program 
to make authentic and authoritative information about Italian Americans 
available to the public.  According to President Mario Aste, professor and 
Chair of the Italian Department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, 
AIHA will offer Italian American and other organizations the opportunity to 
purchase the full set of 22 AIHA books at a deep discount if the organization 
agrees to donate the set of books to a public or college library in their 
region.

"We will send your organization 22 books, many of them hardcover, for a 
$100 donation; and that includes shipping," said Aste.

AIHA's thirty five year record of scholarship and research is one of the
major sources to which Italian Americans and the general public can turn
to find an authentic alternative to the bizarre image that the mass media 
has carved out for Italian Americans.  In an era of social mobility and family
change, the work of the AIHA is one of the most important ways that the 
traditions, history, and literature by and about Italian Americans can be 
passed from one generation to the next.  Our authors and editors include 
names like Professors Rudolph Vecoli, Fred Gardaphe, Anthony Tamburri
and others who are among the leading scholars in their fields.  Taken 
together the AIHA books include more than 200 studies of important issues.
Order a set for your local college and public library and order a set for 
your organization.  The following 22 titlesare available for $100 including 
postage only while supplies last.

POWER AND CLASS: THE ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE TODAY
Ed. Frances X. Femminella (1971) pp. 58.
ITALIAN AMERICAN RADICALISM: Old World Origins and New World Developments
Ed. Rudolph J. Vecoli (1972) pp. 80.
THE ITALIAN IMMIGRANT WOMAN IN N. AMERICA 
Ed. Betty Boyd Caroli, Robert F.Harney, and Lydio F. Tomasi (1977) pp. 386
ITALIAN AMERICAND IN THE PROFESSIONS
Ed. Remigio U. Pane, with an Introduction by Giovanni Schiavo (1983) pp. 290.
THE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY LIFE OF ITALIAN AMERICANS
Ed. Richard N. Juliani(1983) pp. 191.
ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN RURAL AND SMALL TOWN AMERICA 
Ed. Rudolph J. Vecoli (1987) pp. 204.
THE ITALIAN AMERICANS THROUGH THE GENERATIONS: THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS
Ed. Rocco Caporale (1986) pp. 263.
THE INTERACTION OF ITALIANS AND IRISH IN THE UNITED STATES
Ed. Francis X.Femminella, with an Introduction by Geno Baroni (1985) pp. 308.
ITALIAN AMERICANS : STRUGGLE AND SUPPORT 
Ed. Joseph L. Tropea, James E. Miller, and Cheryl Beattie Repetti (1986) pp. 312.
THE MELTING POT AND BEYOND:ITALIAN AMERICANS IN THE YEAR 2000 
Ed. J Krase & Wm. Egelman (1987) pp. 318
ITALIAN AMERICANS: THE SEARCH FOR A USABLE PAST 
Ed. R. Juliani and P . Cannistraro (1989) pp. 304.
ITALIAN ETHNICS: THEIR LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND LIFE
Ed. D Candeloro, F Gardaphe, & P Giordano (1990) pp. 478.
ITALIAN AMERICANS IN TRANSITION
Ed. J Scelsa, S J. LaGumina, and L F. Tomasi (1990)
ITALIAN AMERICANS CELEBRATE LIFE
Ed. Paola A. Sensi Isolani and Anthony J.Tamburri (1990) pp. 180.
A CENTURY OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION, 1890*1990 
Ed. Harral Landry (1994) pp. 250.
ITALIAN AMERICANS AND THEIR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE 
Ed. Cavaioli, A. Danzi, and S J. LaGumina (1993) pp. 240.
NEW EXPLORATIONS IN ITALIAN AMERICAN STUDIES 
Ed. Richard N. Juliani and Sandra P. (1994) pp. 246.
ITALIAN AMERICANS IN A MULTI CULTURAL SOCIETY
Ed. Jerome Krase and Judith N. DeSena (1994) pp. 302.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: THE ITALIAN AMERICAN IMAGE
Ed. Mary Jo Bona and Anthony J. Tamburri (1996) pp. 344.
INDUSTRY, TECHNOLOGY, LABOR :THE ITALIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
Ed. Mario Aste, J. Krase, L. Napolitano-Carman, and Janet E. Worrall (1997) pp. 94.
A TAVOLA: FOOD TRADITION AND COMMUNITY AMONG ITALIAN AMERICANS 
Ed. E Giunta and S. J. Patti (1998) pp. 140.
SHADES OF BLACK AND WHITE: ITALIAN AND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Ed. Dan Ashyk, Fred Gardaphe & Anthony J. Tamburri (1999) pp. 350.

Complete set for $100 includes shipping. 
Make checks payable to American Italian Historical Association. 
Order from Dominic Candeloro, AIHA Exec. Dir. D-Candeloro@govst.edu 
169 Country Club Road, Chicago Heights, IL 60411  708-756-7168   http://www.mobilito.com/aiha/

Thanks to Italian_American_One_Voice@yahoogroups.com

Bill Dal Cerro, among who among other important positions in the I-A 
battle against Defamation, is an officer of AIDA, and reports that:

Last week, HBO's lawyers filed a Motion to Dismiss; (I'm assuming that 
the Motion is based on an accompanying Motion for Summary Judgment) 

However, AIDA is now compiling an Answer, stating why the case should 
go to trail (using statistics, poll results, media and court examples of
defamation, etc.)  May take another month. Stay tuned!)

"This is a problem for Italian-Americans, not for us."

This quote was attributed to Andrea Quinzi of Italy's Channel 5, which is 
broadcasting "The Sopranos." in Italy, in response to a statement that, 
"Some Italian-Americans have complained that the HBO series stereotypes them."

My response to Mike is: I was immediately struck by that phrase when I 
saw that statement in the original article, but I "skipped" over it.

Now that you have pointed out that the Boston Globe thought it meaningful 
enough to single that statement out, it caused me to "think on it" more. 

I pondered, and couldn't decide which of the following explained Andrea's 
rather cavalier comment. 

1. Andrea would say that because it justifies his station broadcasting that 
garbage.
2. An extremely "unbrotherly" utterance, like: 
    Are we Italians supposed to have some "simpatico" for Italian Americans??
    Certainly not typical I hope.
3. He is denying the existence of the Mafia in Italy?
4. We are ALL Italians here in Italy, so The 'Sopranos' wouldn't cause us to 
be looking down upon other Italians because of the Mafia's Italian origins or 
association with Italians or Italian Americans. 
5. It's their problem in America, that they live in a polyglot nation of 
"mutts"?

Did I miss one or more possible explanations, or am I thinking too hard on it?
 
 

For the Language Impaired (like myself) there is a Systran Translation that 
follows.
Franco Giannotti  of "St Louis in Italy" will be in despair of the English 
version [;-). (I guess it's good enough to get the jest of it.... FG)
The "Infamia" wording is my own "literary license" regarding the "Day of 
Infamy".

http://www.repubblica.it/quotidiano/repubblica/20010525/esteri/2221totale.html

QUANDO ROOSEVELT DEPORTAVA 
GLI ITALIANI DELLA WEST COAST

Dopo Pearl Harbor si scatenò la persecuzione contro gli "stranieri nemici". 
Anche 600 mila italoamericani furono sottoposti a "sorveglianza speciale"

FEDERICO RAMPINI 
LA REPUBBLICA
May, 25 2001

SAN FRANCISCO - Mario Valdastri, immigrato alle Hawaii, aveva ormai la 
nazionalità americana. Ma il mattino del 7 dicembre 1941, l'attacco a 
tradimento dell'aviazione giapponese contro la flotta americana a Pearl 
Harbor lo doveva inchiodare per sempre al suo cognome italiano. L'8 dicembre, 
con l'entrata in guerra degli Stati Uniti, solo a causa delle sue origini 
Valdagno fu arrestato come enemy alien, deportato in California, detenuto per 
un anno nel carcere militare di Angel Island (San Francisco). A pochi giorni 
dall'uscita sugli schermi americani del filmkolossal «Pearl Harbor», uno 
storico italoamericano squarcia il velo dell'omertà su uno dei segreti meglio 
custoditi della seconda guerra mondiale: le persecuzioni che 
l'Amministrazione Roosevelt scatenò contro gli oriundi italiani sulla West 
Coast.
Seicentomila immigrati italiani classificati come «stranieri nemici», 
sottoposti a vigilanza speciale, coprifuoco ed espropri.
Diecimila espulsi dalle loro case. 3.500 detenuti in carcere o deportati in 
campi di isolamento. Tutti accusati di appoggiare l'Italia fascista, 
nonostante le prove di fedeltà agli Stati Uniti (molti degli internati 
avevano i figli al fronte, che combattevano nell'esercito americano). «Pearl 
Harbor», megaproduzione della Walt Disney che punta a battere i record di 
incassi, ha già riacceso antiche ferite. Le prime accuse sono partite dalla
comunità dei giapponesiamericani, in rivolta contro i toni razzisti del film. 
Ma sulla sorte degli immigrati giapponesi deportati in massa durante la 
seconda guerra mondiale si sa già tutto, e perfino Hollywood se n'è 
impadronita con vari film «riparatori».
Invece il dramma degli italoamericani è stato coperto da un imbarazzato 
silenzio per cinquant'anni. Il ministero di Giustizia e l'Fbi si erano 
rifiutati di aprire i loro archivi, fino a un decreto di Bill Clinton firmato 
solo nel novembre scorso: atto legislativo numero 2442, «Legge sulle 
violazioni dei diritti civili degli italoamericani in tempo di guerra».
Rovistando negli archivi di Stato e raccogliendo le rivelazioni dei 
superstiti Lawrence Di Stasi, docente all'università di Berkeley e presidente 
della American Italian Historical Association, ha finalmente riportato alla 
luce una vicenda che perfino molti immigrati italiani avevano scelto di 
dimenticare per decenni, per l'ansia di cancellare ogni diversità e di 
integrarsi nella società americana.
Le scoperte di Di Stasi sono contenute nel libro «Una Storia Segreta» (The 
secret history of Italian American evacuation and internment during World War 
II) che sarà pubblicato dall'editore Heyday di Berkeley a fine giugno.
Prima ancora, una mostra di fotografie e di testimonianze su questa ricerca è 
in corso a Sacramento, capitale della California. Il «caso» ha attirato 
l'attenzione del network televisivo Fox News: domenica prossima in occasione 
dell'uscita del film manderà in onda un documentario - inchiesta sui 
retroscena di Pearl Harbor, con un'intervista a Di Stasi.
Lo storico ha ricostruito vicende personali tragiche. Rosina Trovato, di 
Monterey, nell'attacco di Pearl Harbor perse figlio e nipote, marinai 
imbarcati sulla nave Arizona affondata dalle bombe giapponesi. Il giorno dopo 
Rosina fu espulsa da casa sua, nell'evacuazione di massa degli italoamericani 
dalle «aree strategiche» (tutto il litorale e le zone industriali) della West 
Coast. Nick Buccellato, anche lui arruolato nella Us Navy, al primo permesso 
tornò nella casa di Pittsburgh (California) e la trovò vuota: mentre lui 
combatteva per gli Stati Uniti, i suoi genitori erano stati deportati come 
enemy aliens. Esempi analoghi abbondano, anche perché, spiega Di Stasi «gli 
italoamericani a quell'epoca erano il più grande nucleo di recente 
immigrazione e quindi anche il più numeroso contingente di immigrati nelle 
forze armate».
«Velio Bronzini, che vive a Oakland nella Baia di San Francisco, non 
dimentica l'umiliazione morale e i terribili traumi subìti: «Una sera tutta 
la famiglia era riunita a cena quando bussarono alla porta. Andò ad aprire 
mia madre, tornò in cucina e disse a papà che era la polizia, dovevano 
sequestrarci la radio. Il nostro negozio di frutta e verdura fu dichiarato in 
zona militare e chiuso. Mio padre era rovinato, mia madre finì in ospedale 
impazzita». A San Francisco la più grossa retata catturò i membri 
dell'associazione reduci della prima guerra mondiale.
Avevano combattuto nel 191418 per un'Italia alleata degli Stati Uniti, ma 
l'Fbi li aveva messi tra le organizzazioni sospette di simpatie fasciste. Gli 
arresti avvenivano sempre così: gli uomini dell'Fbi piombavano di notte a 
perquisire le case degli italoamericani, li portavano nel carcere 
dell'Immigration Service di San Francisco sulla Yale Avenue.
Nessuna informazione ai familiari, il «processo» avveniva senza difesa 
davanti a un tribunale militare, la prima destinazione era un campo nel 
Montana. La maggior parte passarono due anni in detenzione, spostati da un 
campo all'altro ogni due o tre mesi.
Le deportazioni avvennero quasi solo sulla West Coast. Gli italoamericani di 
New York o Chicago furono colpiti molto meno.
«Fu l'effetto Pearl Harbor - spiega Di Stasi - che sulla costa del Pacifico 
aveva creato la psicosi dell'assalto giapponese». Altre spiegazioni chiamano 
in causa il ruolo della mafia nella East Coast, con cui il governo federale 
avrebbe negoziato aiuti per lo sbarco in Sicilia. Sta di fatto che le misure 
antiitaliane in California ebbero una escalation nel febbraio 1942, dopo che 
un sottomarino nipponico riuscì a lanciare alcuni siluri contro Santa Barbara.
Anche per coloro che non vennero deportati, la vita era dura: gli 
italoamericani dovevano esibire sempre le carte d'identità col marchio 
infamante enemy alien, non potevano allontanarsi da casa per più di cinque 
miglia senza permesso, non potevano possedere radio o apparecchi fotografici 
e neppure torce elettriche, erano sottoposti a coprifuoco dalle otto di sera.
«Risale a quell'epoca - dice Di Stasi - anche l'abbandono generalizzato della 
lingua italiana. I manifesti di propaganda bellica diffidavano dal parlare 
come il nemico: tedesco, giapponese, italiano. I nostri smisero di insegnare 
la lingua materna ai figli».
L'emigrazione italiana verso la West Coast, iniziata con la febbre dell'oro, 
era esplosa ai primi del Novecento e già nel 1930 gli italoamericani del 
quartiere di North Beach erano il più grande gruppo etnico a San Francisco. 
Avevano un'importanza enorme nell'economia locale, con personaggi celebri 
come i liguri Amedeo Giannini fondatore della Bank of America e l'industriale 
dolciario Domenico Ghirardelli. Ma una delle attività in mano ai nostri 
emigrati, la pesca, fu devastata dalle misure antiitaliane.
Centinaia di navipeschereccio furono sequestrate agli italo - americani di 
San Francisco, Monterrey, San Diego, gettandoli sul lastrico. La motivazione: 
impedire che al largo potessero trasmettere informazioni alle flotte nemiche.
Tra i pescatori colpiti ci fu il padre di Joe Di Maggio, il leggendario 
campione di baseball.
La guerra è la guerra, i suoi costi umani sono sempre insopportabili. In loro 
difesa va ricordato che gli americani non commisero atrocità nei confronti 
degli enemy aliens. I loro erano campi di detenzione, non di sterminio. Non 
erano neppure lontanamente paragonabili ai lager nazisti. Resta tuttavia 
un'ingiustizia compiuta ai danni di tanti italoamericani «che dopo l'entrata 
in guerra di Mussolini si erano affrettati a dimostrare la propria lealtà 
alla patria di adozione - dice Di Stasi - ma pagarono la colpa di essere nati 
in Italia». Una pagina oscura, non a caso censurata fino a pochi mesi fa con 
il divieto di rendere noti i nomi dei deportati. Del resto già 
nell'Amministrazione Roosevelt qualcuno capì la gravità delle persecuzioni 
antiitaliane. Negli archivi dell'Fbi Di Stasi ha riesumato un parere negativo 
del ministro di Giustizia del 1943 che dichiarava «illegittimi» gli arresti e 
definiva quelle operazioni «un errore che andrà riparato in futuro». 

========================================================
Translation:

When Roosevelt deported  the Italians of the West Coast 

After Pearl Harbor the persecution against the "enemy aliens" was instigated.
600 mila Italo-Americans were also subordinated to "special surveillance" 

SAINT FRANCISCO - Mario Valdastri, immigrant to the Hawaii, had the 
nationality by now American. But the mattino of 7 December 1941, the attack 
traitorously of Japanese aviation against the fleet American to Pearl Harbor 
had to always nail in order to its Italian last name. 8 Decembers, with the 
entrance in war of the United States, solo because of its Valdagno origins 
were arrested like enemy alien, deported in California, stopped for a year in 
the military jail of Angel Island (Saint Francisco). To little days from the 
escape on the screen Americans of filmkolossal " the Pearl Harbor ", one 
historical italoamericano rips the veil of the cospiracy of silence on one of 
the secrets better guarded of the second world war: the persecutions that the 
Roosevelt Administration triggered against the oriundi Italian on the West 
Coast. 
Seicentomila it immigrates to you Italian classifies to you like " enemy 
aliens ", subordinates to special vigilance, curfew and expropriations. 
Diecimila expelled from their houses. 3.500 stopped in jail or deport to you 
in isolation fields. All accused to support fascist Italy, in spite of the 
tests of fidelity to the United States (many of intern to you had the sons to 
the forehead, that they fought in the army American). " Pearl Harbor ", 
megaproduzione of the Walt Disney who heads to strike the records of 
proceeds, has already relit ancient hurt. The first accusations have left 
from the community of the giapponesiamericani, in revolt against the racist 
tones of the film. But on the fate of it immigrates to you Japanese deports 
to you in mass during the second world war is known already all, and even 
Hollywood if n' it is gotten hold with several " repairing " film. 
Instead the drama of the italoamericani it has been covered from imbarazzato 
Hush for cinquant' years. The ministry of Justice and the Fbi were refuse you 
to open theirs arch to you, until a decree of Bill Clinton only signed in the 
past November: legislative action number 2442, " Law on the violations of the 
civil rights of the italoamericani in time of war ". 
Rovistando in arches you of State and collecting the detections of the 
survivors Lawrence Di Stasi, teacher to the university of Berkeley and 
president of the American Italian Historical Association, has finally brought 
back to the light a vicissitude that many even immigrates Italian had chosen 
to forget to you for decades, for the anxiety to cancel every diversity and 
to integrate in the society American. 
The discoveries of Of Stasis are contained in the book " a Secret History " 
(The secret history of Italian American evacuation and internment during 
World War II) that it will be published from Heyday publisher of Berkeley to 
fine june. 
Before still, an extension of photographies and testimonies on this search is 
in course to Sacramento, understood them of California. The " case " has 
attracted the attention of network the television Fox News: next Sunday in 
occasion of the escape of the film inquiry will send in wave a documentary - 
on the backstage of Pearl Harbor, with an interview to Of Stasis. 
The historian has reconstructed tragic personal vicissitudes. Found Rosina, 
Monterey, in the attack of Pearl Harbor son and grandson lost, sailors embark 
to you on the Arizona ship sunk from the Japanese bombs. The day after Rosina 
was expelled from house its, in the evacuation of mass of the italoamericani 
from the " strategic areas " (all the shoreline and the industrial zones) of 
the West Coast. Nick Buccellato, also enlisted it in the Us Navy, to the 
first permission returned in the house of Pittsburgh (California) and he 
found it empty: while it fought for the United States, its parents had been 
deport to you like enemy aliens. Analogous examples abound, also because, it 
explains Of Stasis " the italoamericani to that age were the greatest nucleus 
than recent immigration and therefore also the most numerous contingent than 
it immigrates to you in the Armed Forces ". 
" Velio Bronzini, than alive to Oakland in the Bay of Saint Francisco, does 
not forget the moral umiliazione and the terrible ones traumi it endured to 
you: " an evening all the family was re-united to supper when they knocked to 
the door. It went to open my mother, it returned in kitchen and it said to 
papà that she was the police, had to seize the radio to us. Our store of 
fruit and verdura was declared in military and closed zone. My father was 
ruined, my mother ended in driven crazy hospital ". To Saint Francisco the 
most large raid captured the members of the association veterans of the first 
world war. 
They had fought in the 191418 for an ally Italy of the United States, but the 
Fbi had them puttinges between the organizations sospette of fascist 
sympathies. The arrests always happened therefore: the men of the Fbi 
piombavano of night to perquisire the houses of the italoamericani, carried 
them in the jail of the Immigration Service di San Francisco on the Yale 
Avenue. 
Nobody information to the relatives, the " process " happened without defense 
in front of a military court, the first destination was a field in the 
Montana. The greater part passed two years in detainment, moves you from a 
field to the other every two or three months. 
The deportations happened nearly only on the West Coast. The italoamericani 
of New York or Chicago were hit much less. 
" It was the effect Pearl Harbor - it explains Of Stasis - than on the coast 
of the Pacific had created the psychosis of the Japanese onslaught ". Other 
explanations call in cause the role of the Mafia in the East Coast, with 
which the federal government it would have it negotiate aids for the 
disembarkation in Sicily. It is of fact that the antiItalian measures in 
California had a escalation in February 1942, after that a Japanese submarine 
succeeded launch some torpedo against Barbara Saint. 
Also for those who they did not come deports to you, the life was hard: the 
italoamericani had to always exhibit the identitys card with the infamante 
brand enemy alien, could not go away more from house in order than five miles 
without permission, could not possess radio or photographic apparatuses and 
not even torchs electrical workers, were subordinates to curfew from the 
eight of evening. 
" Laughed them to that age - it says Of Stasis - also the generalized 
abandonment of the Italian language. The Manifest of diffidavano war 
propaganda speaking like the enemy: German, Japanese, Italian. Ours stopped 
to teach the maternal language to the sons ". 
The Italian emigration towards the West Coast, begun with the fever of the 
gold, was exploded to first of the 1900's and in the 1930 the italoamericani 
of the quarter of North Beach were already the greatest ethnic group to Saint 
Francisco. They had an enormous importance in the local economy, with 
personages it celebrates like from Liguria the Amedeo founding Giannini of 
the Bank of America and the confectionery manufacturer Domenico Ghirardelli. 
But one of the activities in hand to our e'migre's, the peach, had from the 
antiItalian measures. 
Hundreds of navipeschereccio were seized to the Italian one - Americans of 
Saint Francisco, Monterrey, Saint Diego, throwing them on lastrico. The 
motivation: to prevent that to the wide one they could transmit information 
to the enemy fleets. 
Between the fishermen hit there was the father of Joe Of May, the leggendario 
champion of baseball. 
The war is the war, its costs human is always insopportabili. In they 
defended it goes remembered that the Americans did not commit atrociousness 
in the comparisons of the enemy aliens. Theirs were detainment fields, not of 
extermination. They were not not even far comparable to the lager nazi. A 
ingiustizia remains however completed to the damages of many italoamericani " 
that after the entrance in war of Mussolini were hurry to demonstrate the own 
loyalty to you to the adoption native land - it says Of Stasis - but paid the 
guilt of being been born in Italy ". A dark page, not to case censured until 
little months ago with the prohibition rendering you notice the names of 
deports to you. Of the rest already in the Roosevelt Administration someone 
understood the gravity of the antiItalian persecutions. In it arches you of 
the Fbi Di Stasi has riesumato a opinion negative of the minister of Justice 
of 1943 that declared " illegittimi " the arrests and defined those 
operations " an error that will go repaired in future ". 
 

Thanks to: Italian_American_One_Voice@yahoogroups.com

'SOPRANOS' UNDER FIRE ON THE HILL, 
ROUKEMA RESOLUTION GAINS

05/24/2001, Laurence Arnold, The Associated Press 
The Record, Bergen County, NJ

Backed by 16 colleagues, Rep. Marge S. Roukema, R-Ridgwood, proposed
Wednesday that the House chastise producers of television shows like "The
Sopranos " for depicting Italian-Americans as criminals.

A resolution introduced by Roukema urges the entertainment industry to "stop
the negative and unfair stereotyping of Italian- Americans, particularly as
profane criminals as portrayed in the television show The Sopranos ." 

"This show is an insult to my grandmother and my grandfather, may they rest in
peace," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, one of the 16 House members
and the only one from New Jersey who immediately signed on to Roukema's
measure. Pascrell said he has a message for the producers of the show: 
"I hope you choke on your money." 

Congressional resolutions are statements of opinion and, even if passed, do
not carry the weight of law.

Roukema is the granddaughter of Italian immigrants. She said in the past
that she has never seen "The Sopranos ." But she said Wednesday that she 
had "watched it once or twice and decided to boycott it." Pascrell said he has
seen one episode...

Joining Roukema and Pascrell at the press conference was Rep. 
Constance Morella, R-Md., and representatives of the National Italian
American Foundation, the Sons of Italy Foundation, and the Italian American
Democratic Leadership Council.

Roukema said their support for her measure shows "there was never any truth
to the misinformation out there that Italian-Americans love The Sopranos ."...

Philip Piccigallo, executive director of the Sons of Italy, said Roukema's
resolution does not call for censorship, just a more balanced portrayal of
Italian-Americans.

"Every depiction from the children to the wives to the priests to the
restaurant owners to Tony and his gang of dysfunctional, murdering,
misogynistic thugs is negative," Piccigallo said.
 
 

NIAF SUPPORTS  ROUKEMA RESOLUTION ON THE 
STEREOTYPING OF ITALIAN AMERICANS 

    (WASHINGTON, DC -- May 24, 2001) The National Italian American
Foundation (NIAF) has formally endorsed a Concurrent Resolution in the
United States House of Representatives, introduced May 23 by Rep. Marge
Roukema ( R-NJ) on the stereotyping of Italian Americans. 

    The resolution expresses the Sense of the U.S. Congress that the
entertainment industry should stop "the negative and unfair stereotyping
of Italian Americans and present Italian Americans in a more balanced and
positive manner."

    "It is time that the United States Congress went on record
condemning the constant demeaning and demoralizing stereotyping of Italian
Americans by the media," said Frank J. Guarini, NIAF chairman and former
U.S. Congressman from New Jersey. [Official NIAF statement on resolution
attached.] 

    Hollywood has typecast Italian Americans for more than 70 years,
according to a recent study by the Italic Studies Institute in New York.
In reviewing all Hollywood films from 1928 to 2000 that featured Italian
or Italian American characters, the study found an overwhelming 73 percent
portrayed these characters negatively.

    A coalition of groups including the NIAF, the Order Sons of Italy in
America (OSIA), the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American
Organizations, the Italian American One Voice Committee, and the Italian
American Task Force on Defamation have endorsed the resolution and are
urging their members to ask their U.S. Representatives and Senators to
co-sponsor the resolution.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

RE:  Sense of Congress Resolution on Italian American Stereotyping
        introduced by U.S. Congresswoman Marge Roukema 

Attribute to: Frank J. Guarini, Chairman, National Italian American
Foundation

Date:       May 24, 2001

    The National Italian American Foundation strongly supports U.S.
Congresswoman Marge Roukema's Sense of Congress Resolution concerning the
stereotyping of Italian Americans by American television and movies.

    We live in an age of great political correctness.  "Little Black
Sambo" is banned from the nursery;  "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Merchant
of Venice" are no longer required reading in many high schools, and the
Cartoon Network is dropping a dozen Bugs Bunny cartoons from its
programming because they make fun of African Americans and Eskimos.

    Yet the nation's estimated 20 million Italian Americans and their
children continue to see themselves relentlessly stereotyped by the U.S.
entertainment industry as gangsters and buffoons while their very
legitimate protests are dismissed by the news media.

    In the name of fairness and truth, we urge the television networks
and movie studios to present a more balanced portrayal of Italian
Americans, whose long history of patriotism, industry, and decency have
earned them the same respect and dignity accorded other ethnic, religious,
and racial groups.

                                                     ###

    The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is a non-profit
organization based in Washington, DC and dedicated to preserving the
heritage of an estimated 20 million Americans of Italian descent, the
nation's fifth largest ethnic group. 

Contact: Elissa Ruffino at 202/387-0600
 

Thanks to <<ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com >>

Disapointing and Incredible Contorted Reasoning.

"http://www.cbsc.ca/english/home.htm">Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
Click on Hot Topic 'The Sopranos'.

Thanks to:Dominic Tassone at massimo@mobilito.com 

From MediaLife Magazine - The Sopranos

If "The Sopranos" offended some U.S. viewers for its depiction of organized
crime within the Italian community, what kind of reception could it possibly
expect back in the Old Country itself? A warm one, it turns out. 

Though it was stuck with a midnight time slot on a Wednesday night and 
very little publicity, "The Sopranos" still pulled in big numbers for its series 
debut in Italy. A quarter of the late-night viewing audience--about a million
people--tuned in to the mob drama, waiting up until 12:30 a.m. for it after
the preceding program ran late. The success has spurred Italy's Canale 5 to
move the show to Saturday nights at 11:30. 

The New Jersey accents and mob-speak are gone in the Italian version 
though, as all the voices are dubbed, into a Neapolitan dialect for older 
characters and standard Italian with Neapolitan flourishes for younger 
characters. 

A spokesman for Canale 5 told the Associated Press that 
Italians aren't likely to reject the show for being politically incorrect. 
"Italians know who they are. This is a problem for Italian-Americans, not 
for us." All 13 episodes of the first season have been purchased.
 

Larry DiStasi, Tony LaPiana, and John Calvelli to receive justly deserved 
awards.

The tenacity and perseverance of these individuals resulting in the 
"The Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act", deserves our 
most ardent appreciation, and is an example of what a few dedicated people 
can accomplish, in the face of huge obstacles, and despite much community 
apathy.

Forum sponsored by Anti  Bias Committee of UNICO National 
at Bloomfield College June 20

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. -- The first annual Mille Grazie Awards Program recognizing 
efforts to unveil the secret story of Italian Americans interned during World 
War II will be sponsored by the Anti-Bias Committee of UNICO National and
Bloomfield College on Wednesday, June 20 at 7 p.m. at Bloomfield College, 
Bloomfield, N.J.

This inaugural event will recognize individuals who promoted national 
awareness of The Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties during 
W.W.II. 

The ABC UNICO program will feature the Una Storia Segreta - The Secret Story 
video. The viewing will be hosted by Frank Cipolla, who helped publicized the 
Secret Story of Italian Americans Interned during W.W.II. Cipolla, currently 
a reporter for WCBS All-News Radio 88, got his big break in his broadcast 
career at the centennial celebration for the Statue of Liberty. He has since 
joined others in promoting the secret story.

In addition, UNICO National - the largest Italian American service 
organization in the United States -will honor Cipolla and other individuals 
that helped produce the video.  John Calvelli, Larry DiStasi and Tony 
LaPiana were key in enlightening the American people of this forgotten 
history and will be honored off campus. The video and cross-country tour of 
the Segreta display were instrumental in encouraging Congress to formulate 
legislation and President Clinton to sign the Wartime Violation act in 
November. The law directs the U.S. Justice Department to conduct a review of 
the government's treatment of Italian Americans during World War II.

The Mille Grazie Awards Program is free and open to the public, however, 
seating is limited, and reservations are required. For reservations and/or 
information, call ABC Chairman Dr. Emanuele Alfano (973) 429-2818. 
 

I admire Professor Viscusi's writing talent, his leadership of I-A writers, 
the respect he has among his peers, and his passion for wanting to define 
Italian-Americans in other ways outside the crime matrix. 

However, while at one time Prof. Viscusi feels a temptation to respond to the 
Soprano's Negative Stereotyping as "I-A Activists" do, at other times he 
appears to view the I-A problem as "one-track", that of only  "Accentuating 
the Positive".
He would apparently ignore the "second track" of "Eliminating the Negative", 
and thereby minimizes the importance of the role of  "I-A Activists".

Coincidentally, in today's Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, " Have 
Networks Diversified", a Multi Ethnic "activist" coalition, having made great
progress in eliminating negative stereotypes, and achieving greater 
representation of  actors, 
are NOW demanding greater representation of writers. I quote from one of the 
their "activists". " It wasn't just about (images and) actors, it was about 
writers. Writers are very important. Without writers you retain stereotypical 
characters."

That Multi Ethnic "activist" coalition, did not "beg" their fellow Ethnics to 
buy their writers. These "activists" instead having more political finesse, 
have attacked the Hollywood/Mass Media over a prolonged period, and have 
"exacted" concessions 
to the enormous benefit of their communities, regarding their images, and 
actors. They are now ready to "address" the problem of writers. 

If the I-A Writers could view the "I-A Activist" as their MOST important 
ally, rather 
than "misguided, distracters", together we could make great progress to the 
benefit of the Italian American Community and Culture, AND I-A Writers.

Negative Stereotyping is a Media problem, that has been best resolved by 
other communities with Political Action, ie "activists". 

"I-A Activists want "I-A Writers" as their allies. You do the creative work, 
We will do the "dirty work" of politicking, and together, much is possible. 
Without each other, 
so much less will be possible.
==============================================

COPING: ITALIAN STORIES, WITHOUT BULLETS

By Felicia R. Lee
New York Times, City Section,
April 22, 2001, Sunday

THE real problem is not ''The Sopranos,'' the television mob opera, or all
those movies and books showing vulgar Italian-Americans wolfing down pasta
and working for the Mafia. The problem is that popular culture makes little
room for defining Italian-Americans in other ways. And the best solution for
Italian-Americans troubled by stereotypes is to passionately support
Italian-American writers creating different kinds of characters and
exploring issues outside the crime matrix.

That message, communicated with not a little anger, comes from Robert
Viscusi, a writer and a professor of English at Brooklyn College, who heads
the Italian American Writers Association. In the April newsletter of the
group, Mr. Viscusi thundered, ''The debate over who shall represent
Italian-American culture has reached a crisis.''

It is a crisis, he said, because ''The Sopranos,'' while critically
acclaimed, is just a more sophisticated take on the same old
spaghetti-and-bullets formula and has revived old stereotypes. Meanwhile,
Italian-American writers dealing with issues other than the mob or
working-class life fail to win similar recognition. People know Mario Puzo.
But do they know Carole Maso, Diane di Prima, Dana Gioia or Anthony Valerio?

The stereotype debate speaks to the way any identifiable group struggles
with the issue of identity politics. What makes us a group? Who can
represent the group? What do those images means when it comes to
discrimination or assimilation?

The idea for the writers association was formed shortly after after the
terror in Bensonhurst, the Brooklyn neighborhood where in 1989 a gang of
Italian-American boys murdered Yusuf K. Hawkins, a black 16-year-old,
because of his race. The neighborhood's name became shorthand for a widely
presumed Italian-American insularity, violence and racism. At the time, Mr.
Viscusi wondered about the absence of voices to counter those notions.
More recently, he fired off comments on the subject when a ''Sopranos''
character took on the stereotype question. Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Tony
Soprano's therapist, said Italian-Americans wouldn't be so sensitive about
stereotypes ''if they felt better about themselves.''

Mr. Viscusi said he would have told Dr. Melfi that the struggle is not about
feelings but about helping the larger culture understand Italian-Americans
in a way that has ''nothing to do with a social club on Mott Street.''
Many people writing in this way can be found in New York. As the epicenter
of publishing and theater, the port of entry for millions of
Italian-Americans at the turn of the century and the home of an unsurpassed
network of cultural institutions, New York is where writers will broaden the
range of what is considered Italian, Mr. Viscusi said.
Writers like Steven Varni, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and wrote
''The Inland Sea,'' a novel about 25 years in the life of an
Italian-American family in California. Or Maria Laurino, who lives in
Greenwich Village and wrote a series of essays called ''Were You Always
Italian?,'' which looks at issues like education, dialect and class. Or even
Mr. Viscusi, who lives in Midwood, Brooklyn, and whose novel ''Astoria,''
about Italians coming to America, won the American Book Award in 1996.
And no mob in sight.

Italian-American poets, essayists and playwrights whose works represent a
range of ideas appear at the monthly readings the writers' group holds at
the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village. The group has produced a
2,500-title bibliography of Italian writers, 80 percent of whom are
Italian-American. Like other writers, they tell tales of love, family and
identity, but many claim their work does not find a ready market.
''It seems to me that if I want to get recognized as an Italian-American
writer, there is a narrow criteria one has to meet: urban, Eastern or
Chicago, and write about the mob,'' Mr. Varni said. ''It's also nice to
throw in references to food or opera.''

Mr. Varni said a big part of the problem was that popular culture is built
on easily recognizable types. Blacks are urban, and Asian-Americans do not
look like Tiger Woods. Ms. Laurino said that when it came to books, the old
belief that Italian-Americans are not avid readers limited what is published
and showcased.

''But when we complain, it does not have the same moral urgency of other
groups,'' Mr. Viscusi said. ''We don't have slavery. We don't have the
Holocaust.''

What is at stake is not just selling books or screenplays, but self-image
and respect. Mr. Viscusi believes too many young Italian-Americans get their
ideas about who they are solely from shows like ''The Sopranos.''
Take that, Dr. Melfi.
 
 

Dr Carmine Colacino, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy, 
offers his perspective of  the broadcasting of 'The Sopranos' in Italy. 
================================================

I was finally able to watch a part of the Sopranos, dubbed in Italian, 
and shown on Canale 5, it will continue around 23:30 each Saturday.
Well, as an Italian I do not feel very involved, emotionally, as a
southerner it is a whole different thing, though.

The characters are clearly southerners (they have been dubbed 
with southern accents), the dialogues sound very out-of-date, I mean,
I would find them more appropriate if the series was located in the 30s.

The feeling is of a community with very little values, a lot of ignorance,
and bigotry, and a nostalgia for the "good old times", which, probably,
never were good anyway...

As a southerner I would have hoped for a more balanced view of our 
brothers who had to emigrate to the USA, after all they cannot be all 
"mafiosi"... but we are already used to serials, here in Italy, where 
southerners are mostly mafiosi (see the "Piovra" for instance), so it 
will not surprise anybody that southerners in the USA act the "usual way".

This won't be a problem for northern Italians, as they already share 
with the people of the USA (except the IAs, of course) the understanding
that people in the South are all mafiosi, just a mere confirmation of a
fact-of-life, for them.

On State TV, nowadays, a series dealing with Italian emigration is
broadcast, I only watched the first part. All major characters are... 
Romans (from Rome), with millions of people coming from the South 
it is difficult to understand why the main characters (and many secondary
ones) must be from Rome, one explanation is that, maybe, Ferilli can
only speak with that accent, another, more sinister one, is that emigration
is taken out from the southerners to be "nationalized". Which is true 
mistification.

Rome, a relatively small town in 1860, become the beautiful and important
town it is now thanks not to the ability of its inhabitants, but because it 
became the capital of Italy (this is not against the Romans, but rather 
a fact).

Romans probably also had to emigrate, but their numbers have to be very
insignificant, compared to the masses from the South (and from NE Italy
too). Why a series on emigration has to focus on Roman characters  is a
mistery to me (or maybe not).

All the best. Stateve buono
Carmine Colacino

--
Dr Carmine Colacino - colacino@unibas.it
Herbarium Lucanum [HLUC] & Dept. of Biology
University of Basilicata - Campus C/da Macchia Romana
85100 Potenza, southern Italy
Tel. +39 0971205743; Lab +39 0971205732; Fax +39 0971205742
http://www.unibas.it/utenti/colacino/mediterraneo.html

U.S. officials visited Phila. to document civil-rights breaches during 
World War II. Residents told of relatives' ordeals. 

By Rita Giordano 
Philadelphia Inquirer, Staff Writer 
Wednesday, May 23, 2001

Before an audience of U.S. Justice Department officials and prominent local 
Italian Americans yesterday, a retired Philadelphia schools administrator 
told a not-so-simple story of a simple South Philadelphia tailor: his mother.

"My mother came to this country when she was 6 months old," said Rocco 
Gigante, 73, now a resident of Runnemede, Camden County. "All at once, she 
found she was an enemy alien."

The time was during World War II. His mother's only crime? She was Italian.

For that, the family's possessions - a shortwave radio, his father's beloved 
cameras, the binoculars Gigante used to view school football games - were 
confiscated, never to be returned. To make even as minor a sojourn as a trip 
to Atlantic City, Gigante's mother had to notify her local post office.

"She couldn't go more than 10 miles," he said, emotion rattling his words.

The Justice officials listened and took notes. Gigante's story was one of the 
reasons they had come to town.

Through painful but necessary memories such as these, history is being 
rewritten. As mandated by a federal law signed by President Bill Clinton in 
November, the Justice Department is preparing a report that will document and 
acknowledge civil-rights violations against Italian Americans by the U.S. 
government during World War II.

Authorities believe more than 600,000 Italian immigrants were branded as 
"enemy aliens" during the war. They were made to carry identification cards, 
were limited in their travel, and had such possessions as radios, cameras and 
guns taken from them in the name of national security. Fishermen such as 
Giuseppe Di Maggio, father of baseball's Joe and Dominic, had boats 
confiscated. Some Italian Americans were even sent to internment camps, such 
as Fort Missoula, Montana, and detention areas at Ellis Island.

"The irony is they were looking, from behind bars, at the Statue of Liberty," 
said Joanne Chiedi, deputy executive officer for the Department of Justice's 
Civil Rights Division.

Chiedi, the daughter of Sicilian immigrants, has been charged with producing
the report, which is supposed to be presented to Congress Nov. 7. In addition 
to research through FBI records and other government documents, Chiedi and 
her colleagues are enlisting the help of community groups and visiting such 
places as Oakland, Calif.; Boston; and Philadelphia to gather personal 
accounts.

Chiedi's credentials fit her assignment. In 1988, she was named deputy 
administrator of the Justice Department's redress effort that made 
reparations to thousands of Japanese Americans detained during World War II.

The current bill does not call for monetary reparations, but Chiedi said 
Congress indicated it wanted the White House to issue a formal apology, and 
she is encouraging community groups to write to President Bush.

The National Italian American Foundation, which led the call for the 
legislation signed in November, was the sponsor of yesterday's forum, held at 
the Center City law office of Pepper Hamilton LLP.

The foundation - and the fight for the law - has strong local ties. Joseph V. 
Del Raso, a Pepper Hamilton partner, is general counsel for the foundation, 
and Matthew J. DiDomenico Sr., a Devon real estate agent, is the 
organization's executive vice president. DiDomenico, a Philadelphia native, 
noted that his grandfather's radio was confiscated during the war. DiDomenico 
was one of several leading local Italian Americans expressing their concerns 
and hopes before the Justice panel.

After the forum, Rocco Gigante's wife, Anna Marie, 70, said she remembered 
accompanying her grandparents to their local post office in Newark, N.J., 
when the grandparents registered as enemy aliens.

She was only 10, but she could speak English and they could not. Not until 
she was an adult, she said, did she learn that her mother's U.S. citizenship 
was temporarily revoked because she was married to an Italian.

Rocco Gigante said that his mother's father, a South Philadelphia barber, was 
also declared an enemy alien. At the time, Gigante was in junior high school, 
making scale models of enemy planes to help in training U.S. pilots.

What was done to people like his family and in-laws still bothers him.

"I'm angry about it. They were hardworking people, and to think they were 
treated like this," Gigante said.

He said he had a simple request for writers of the final report.

"Just acknowledge that the injustice was done," he said, "so that no other 
group has to go through it."

[[Rocco and Anna Marie Gigante of Runnemede testify about violations of their 
relatives' civil rights, as Rocco Gigante holds up his maternal grandfather's 
identification papers, before U.S. officials at the Pepper Hamilton law 
offices in Center City. (April Saul/Inquirer)]]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/05/23/local_news/PITALIAN23.htm"
Rita Giordano's e-mail address is rgiordano@phillynews.com.

Thanks to ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com

RENATO CAROSONE, SINGER, DIES AT 81

By The Associated Press

ROME, May 21 - Renato Carosone, who revolutionized traditional
Neapolitan song, died on Sunday at his home here. He was 81.

Mr. Carosone was best known for his 1956 hit about postwar Italy, 
"Tu vuò fa' l'americano," or "You want to play the American." 
But he was also known for songs like "Maruzzella" and "O sarracino,"
and for having influenced a new generation of singers by bringing 
jazz and swing into the Italian songbook.

Known as the father of Neapolitan singing, Mr. Carosone is credited 
with having internationalized Italian song while revolutionizing it at home.
"Tu vuò fa' l'americano," for instance, was included in the soundtrack of
the 1999 film "The Talented Mr. Ripley," and other Carosone tunes were
used in Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets."

He is survived by his wife, Lita, and a son, Pino.
 

Jim relates three experiences to show how people are effected by how Italian 
Americans are represented on TV, and that the public gets "brainwashed" by 
the constant depictions, and that fiction and reality "morph." 
 

SCENARIO ONE: On the first evening, attending a dinner arranged by the tour 
company, I sat next to a man (not from an Italian-American background) who 
introduced himself to me.

"I'm Vito XVXVXXX.  That makes me 'Vito the Criminal."
I replied, "What do you mean by 'Vito the Criminal."
He responded, "Vito Genovese, and all that."
I replied, "Oh, I didn't know that people named their children Vito 
in order to name them after people like Vito Genovese - whoever he is. 

I had assumed that the people in my family who were named Vito were
named after Saint Vitus (of Saint Vitus Dance fame - Vito being the Italian
version of his Latin name).  According to tradition, he was martyed in the 
region of Italy from which my grandparents had emigrated. That, I believe, 
is the chain that explains why my grandmother, who had a brother named 
for the saint, named one of her sons Vito."

SCENARIO TWO:
I was at the lunch table with a man from a Polish background.  The man,
throughout the tour, had been doing his best to let us know that he knew a
great deal - especially about Poland, his country of birth -- which he was
visiting the first time since he had left that country as a young child.
I said, "I do wish that when these tour guides know that they have a group
of people who descended from the emigration from the country that they
would do more to tell about the immigration - the number to people who left,
the conditions that they left, etc."

We went into the conversation further, and at one point, I said "After
all, the emigration must have meant a great deal to the people who were
left behind." I then gave a quick example, taken from Paul Paolicelli's book 
(DANCES WITH LUIGI, reviewed in the essay found at the URL
http://www.capital.net/~soialban/venturfr.html )
"In a book I recently read, the author describes his grandfather's family
and their immigration to The USA from Italy.  Three brother's and a sister
immigrated.  Within ten years, the three brothers were dead - two killed
and a third died in an epidemic. Imagine how the family members who were
left behind were affected!!"

To which the gentleman responded, "Oh yes, a lot of the Italian immigrants
were killed in the gang wars. They were into the rackets and bootlegging."
(Being totally ignorant of the fact that the overwhelming number of immigrants
died of desease, starvation, job related (coal mines, and other dangerous 
jobs, indentured servants,etc). 

SCENARIO 3, ETC.
My wife, speaking Polish, engaged in frequent conversations with people
we met along the route of our tour - including cousins (offspring of her
father 's brothers) she had never met.  Inevitably they asked, "And your 
husband?Does he come from a Polish background?"
"No, he's comes from an Italian immigrant family."
You all can guess the next line from many, many of the people with whom
she was conversing.

Can I really just say"Oh, those are stupid people who can't tell the
difference between a media portrayal and the facts of history. And,
besides, it was just a joke." Right????

NO!

First, is the URL for the original article
Second, The article in Italian
Third, The article translated by Franco Giannotti

http://www.repubblica.it/online/spettacoli/soprano/soprano/soprano.html 

In Italia il serial "mafioso" più amato dal pubblico Usa
Il programma è tra i più grandi successi della televisione
statunitense. Malgrado le proteste degli italo-americani
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--
 ROMA - Nella "Notte dei Telegatti", domani sera, la serata di Canale 5 
prevede un altro evento importante. Subito dopo la cerimonia di consegna dei 
ambiti premi televisivi andrà in onda infatti la prima puntata de "I 
soprano", la serie televisiva che ha ottenuto un enorme successo negli Usa. 
Scatenando, però, le ire degli italo-americani. Ideata e scritta da David 
Chase, "The Sopranos" ha avuto negli Stati Uniti un'audience da 11 milioni di 
telespettatori a puntata, ottenendo ben 34 nominations agli Emmy Awards (gli 
Oscar della tv americana), in tre anni, e vincendone una dozzina. Giunta 
oltreoceano alla quarta stagione, la serie racconta le avventure di un boss 
mafioso italo-americano del New Jersey, Anthony Soprano (interpretato da 
James Gandolfini, co-protagonista di "The Mexican" accanto a Julia Roberts e 
Brad Pitt) e della sua "famiglia".

Lodata dai critici e dal pubblico della Hbo, la rete televisiva che la 
trasmette, "I Soprano" ha però scatenato la decisa reazione di molti 
esponenti della comunità italo-americana, stanchi di essere rappresentati 
dallo stereotipo mafioso. Una polemica proseguita con la netta presa di 
posizione di associazioni come la Niaf (National Italian American 
Foundation), che ha invitato il pubblico a boicottare la serie, e la Iada 
(Italian American Defence Association), che si è rivolta alla magistratura di 
Chicago. Ma, almeno a guardare i dati di ascolto, queste prese di posizione 
hanno avuto come unico risultato di dare alla serie una grande puubblicità 
gratuita. 

E sono andati a vuoto anche gli interventi di uomini politici. Dopo Andrew 
Cuomo (figlio dell'ex governatore dello Stato di New York, Mario Cuomo), è 
stata la senatrice del New Jersey, Marge Roukema, di origine italiana, a 
scagliarsi contro il programma, chiedendo al Congresso di approvare una 
mozione anti-Soprano. 

Ma nulla ha scalfito il gradimento della famiglia mafiosa più celebre della 
tv, diventata uno stereotipo quasi quanto i Corleone cinematografici, 
protagonisti della saga "Il padrino". E infatti il successo della serie 
prosegue implacabile, dando vita anche a un giro d'affari miliardario di 
merchandising legato: dalle t-shirt alla tazze di caffè, dalla cravatte agli 
accendini, dai Dvd alla videocassette. Ed esistono perfino tour turistici nei 
luoghi in cui la serie è stata girata.
========================================================== 
Keep in mind that this article is through the eyes of an Italian, 6000 miles 
from the battle, who is not fully aware of the terrific battle that many 
organizations and individuals are conducting not only against the Sopranos, 
but the LARGER issue of long time and continuum of I-A Stereotyping. 
======================================================
La Republica:

One of the greatest successes of American television and its 
viewers' most loved 'mafia' serial is now in Italy, in spite of 
serious objections by Italo-Americans.
------------------------------------------------------------------

ROMA - Channel 5 plans another important event to take place tomorrow night
immediately after the "Notte dei Telegatti" (television's coveted awards
ceremony) by airing the premiere episode of the "Sopranos", the much
successful American TV series which has raised the fury of
Italian-Americans.

Created and written by David Chase the "Sopranos" has an audience of 11
million viewers per episode, gaining in the past three years 34 Emmy
(American TV's Oscars) Awards Nominations and winning about a dozen of them.

Reaching now its fourth season overseas, the series narrates the adventures
of New Jersey Italian-American mafia boss Anthony Soprano (played by James
Gandolfini, who co-starred with Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in "The
Mexican") and his "family".

While praised by critics and HBO viewers the "Soprano" has generated strong
reaction by many of the Italian American community leaders who are tired of
being represented by mafia stereotypes.  A decisive stand by the NIAF
(National Italian American Foundation) urging the public to boycott the
series, and AIDA's legal action in Chicago have only generated much free
publicity for the series.

Equally unsuccessful were the interventions by political figures.  After
Andrew Cuomo (son of the ex governor of New York State, Mario Cuomo), it was
New Jersey's Senator Marge Roukema, of Italian origin, to turn against the
series asking Congress to pass an anti-Soprano motion.

Nothing has ended the viewers enjoyment brought by the most famous mafia
family who itself has created a stereotype analogous to the Corleone's
characters in the movies saga "The Godfather".  As a matter of fact, the
series' success goes on generating millions of merchandising dollars from
T-shirts to coffee mugs, ties, cigarette lighters, DVD and Videos.  They
even have guided tours of the sites in which the series is taped.
 
 

Please notice that he further astutely points out that, this is not merely a 
"Soprano" problem,  but has been "the entertainment industry's in general - 
depiction of (the I-A) ethnic group as uncouth, murdering mobsters"..

Barry Saunders
05/19/2001 
The News & Observer Raleigh, NC 

My favorite television show, now that "Sanford & Son" reruns are no longer
on, is "The Sopranos." 

I doubt if I'd feel that way if my last name ended in a vowel.

Because I have no dog in this particular fight, I've watched with bemused
detachment as some Italian-Americans, fed up with that show's - and the
entertainment industry's in general - depiction of their ethnic group as
uncouth, murdering mobsters, have duly protested.

All I can say is "right on, paisan. Now y'all know what we've been
complaining about all these years." 

The Italian-Americans who protest the stereotypical depiction of their
culture have a legitimate beef. 

I, as a lifelong member of a racial group that has lived through "Beulah,"
"Amos & Andy," and "The Jeffersons," among others, know the damage 
televised stereotypes can do - both to your own psyche and to the way 
others view you. 

Think about it: When you see one race or group in the media always 
portrayed in a single way - positive or negative - it influences the way you
view that group.

People ridiculed the NAACP and other black groups as whiners when,
during the 1970s, they protested a whole genre of "Superfly"-type movies 
that presented black pimps, hustlers and drug dealers as heroic figures. 
Now, not for the first time, Italian - American groups and politicians are
fighting the same battle.

I had a friend in college, Vito from New Jersey, whose father was rumored 
by other students to be mobbed up. To Vito, whose last name indeed ended
in a vowel and whose sole passion was a then-unknown Asbury Park singer 
named Bruce Springsteen, the whispers were an insult and a nuisance, until 
someone- ME! - pointed out that if he played it right, he'd never again have 
to wait in line in the campus cafeteria.

But such stereotypes can be more hurtful than helpful. 

In a newspaper story earlier this year, Joseph Scelsa, a vice president of
Queens College in New York, lamented the cultural impact of "The Sopranos"
and said "There are people who judge you by the vowel at the end of your
name." Cultural critic Camille Paglia called the show "vile, crude, disgusting
and nauseating, sort of a minstrel- show version of working-class types." 

Gee, I think I said the same thing about "Good Times" 25 years ago.

Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., spurred by complaints from her constituents,
called "The Sopranos" an affront to all Italian- Americans...

Even "The Sopranos'" star, James Gandolfini, is also disturbed. He hinted 
he may soon quit because of the show's violence. He was dismayed, as well,
that he has been invited to speak to first-grade classes - remember, he 
portrays a murderous mob boss - and is being touted as a fashion plate. 
(Given his ample girth, I'd be more inclined to call him - although not to
his face - a hot plate.)

Editors at the Charlotte Observer, when the series' new season started,
must have considered it a public service when they printed a glossary on 
how to talk like a "made man." (That, for the uninitiated, is a mobster who
has made his bones - climbed the corporate ladder - usually by killing
enough rivals to earn a promotion.)

Of course, those same editors would feign shock if some 12-year- old kid
was suspended for threatening to "whack" a teacher for giving him too much
homework.

I was tempted to excise the drivel of Chase, and his "hand maiden" Tonelli,
but instead I decided to allow it to be shown for it's shallowness in 
comparison to the words of  Manny Alfano, Dean Scelsa, & Professor Altschuler.

Please note of the hyperbolic hypocrisy of Tonelli who chastises Alfano for 
" bad-mouth(ing so) many Italian- Americans", and "At no point does he spend 
10 minutes saying these are the great things Italian- Americans are doing".

YET, it is Tonelli who is the one who not only ceaselessly castigates Italian 
American activists, and to such a degree, that he apparently has not had, or 
taken the time or effort, although he calls himself a writer, to write a 
book, an article, or even a paragraph extolling "the great things Italian- 
Americans are doing." (The self indulgent, self absorbed, egoistic book about 
his "assimilated" extended family does not count!)

That has to make Tonelli very stupid, or very dishonest, or a paid "lap dog" .
What other explanation can there be? 

ITALIAN-AMERICAN GROUP LEADER 
TARGETS STEREOTYPES IN MEDIA 

05/20/01 
By Jeffery C. Mays
Star-Ledger Staff

After talking to a mostly Italian- American crowd at Belleville's Public 
Library about how the ethnic group is portrayed in the media, Emanuel "Manny" 
Alfano, chairman of the Italian-American One Voice Committee, pops a tape in 
the VCR. Immediately, Alfano's message, titled "Beyond the 'The Sopranos,'" 
gets legs. The five-minute tape shows clips from '80s and '90s television 
sitcoms, like "Wings" and "Who's the Boss" and "The Nanny" -- shows that are 
run hundreds of times a week on local and cable stations nationally. In each 
instance, Italian-Americans are portrayed as loud, stupid, overly amorous or 
-- the holy grail of stereotypes about Italian-Americans -- Mafia gangsters.

As the images appear on the screen the crowd at first laughs at the gags, but 
the laughter trails off by the 50th example. Through it all, a silver-haired 
Alfano stands stoned-faced, staring at the screen. "Can we laugh at 
ourselves?" Alfano asks when the lights come on. "Of course we can. Maybe 
once, twice, 50 or even 100 times. But when it's for the one thousandth time, 
there's a problem." That problem, the overly negative portrayal of 
Italian-Americans in the media, is widespread, not acknowledged and 
perpetuated by Italian-Americans themselves, says Alfano, 65, also chairman 
of the anti-bias committee of the Italian- American activist group UNICO 
National. 

"We have Italian-Americans who think 'The Sopranos' is the best thing since 
sliced bread. But being Italian, we don't much go for sliced  bread," Alfano 
said to chuckles from the crowd. 

"We have a serious problem and the problem is us." Alfano is sometimes 
laughed at when he spreads that message. Lighten up is a common refrain, 
he said. But Alfano, a Bloomfield resident for 40 years, sees himself and his 
group as an army aimed at killing what they see as a negative media image 
of Italians. 

Formed in 1994, the Italian- American One Voice Committee doesn't give out 
scholarships. They do hand out a "Pasta-tute" of the year award to the 
Italian-American who they believe has sold out the Italian culture the most. 
Not surprisingly, last year's winner was David Chase, creator of the HBO smash 
mob drama "The Sopranos." This year's winner was New York City Mayor 
Rudolph Giuliani for his frequent "Godfather" impersonations and 
fraternization and fascination with the "The Sopranos," Alfano said. 
The list doesn't stop there.

In the last year or so, Alfano has taken Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) to task for 
stereotypical comments he allegedly made about Italian-Americans during his 
campaign, defended the role Italian-Americans played during the Holocaust and 
advocated for a stamp for an Italian World War II notable. The highly visible 
and popular show has served as a springboard to talk about larger issues, 
Alfano said, but for all his zeal, Alfano is quick to admit that had "The 
Sopranos" debuted several years earlier, he might have been a fan himself. 
"Ten years ago, I wouldn't have been saying anything, but I got educated and 
asked 'Why is this happening?' It really started to bother me," Alfano said. 

Chase calls the accusations against him ridiculous. He says most people 
realize that the show reflects "a kind of reality," a tiny subculture and is 
not meant to stereotype all Italian-Americans. "All of us, whether we're 
Italian- American, Portuguese-American, German-American . . . we came to 
this country because it's the kind of place where the police or sheriff cannot 
tell you what to say," Chase said during a premier for the show's third 
season on HBO. 

Bill Tonelli, an author and editor at Rolling Stone magazine who has written 
about "The Sopranos," said its guys like Alfano that do Italian-Americans 
more harm than good. "There's nobody in America who bad-mouths as many 
Italian- Americans as Alfano. At no point does he spend 10 minutes saying 
these are the great things Italian- Americans are doing," Tonelli said. 
"For the most part, Americans have accepted the fact that Italian- Americans
do all things. . .These guys don't realize the war is over and 
Italian-Americans actually won." 

But sociologists say Alfano is striking a familiar cord in American culture and
digging around an issue that immigrants from the last century and well into 
the future will continue to face: Is it possible to truly assimilate into 
American society? 

"The generations of Italian- Americans in this country have bought into the 
myth of American assimilation," said Joseph Scelsa, dean of the 
Calandra Italian American Institute in New York City. "The country says we 
are white, but 100 years ago we were not seen as being white." And that's why 
it's fairly simple for Italian-Americans to be separated and stereotyped. 

Many academics who study the media agree that Italian-Americans do suffer 
from media stereotyping. "The stigma remains of Italians being associated with
crime and the Mafia," said Glenn Altschuler, professor of American studies at
Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "My fellow academics talk about how 
sophisticated the 'The Sopranos' is but it still may be a contributor to that 
negative image." But how serious is the damage caused by this stereotyping?

Alfano says more Italian-Americans aren't outraged because they are accepted
on their jobs and don't usually face the blatant prejudice and discrimination 
that Latinos, for example, are still subjected to on a daily basis. But 
comparing troubles is not an accurate way to gauge the scope of the problems 
caused by stereotyping, Altschuler said. "Are there examples of Italian- 
Americans being stereotyped? Yes. Is it a significant cause of socioeconomic, 
cultural and political problems? That's a matter of debate," Altschuler said. 
"But if you tell someone who is getting one arm amputated about people who've 
gotten both their arms amputated, that's not much of a comfort." And Alfano 
can rattle off examples of cases where Italian-Americans allege they were 
discriminated against because others assumed they fit into some Mafia 
stereotype. But the real issue here is one of class structure, Tonelli said. 
Many Italian-American activists just don't want to accept the reality that 
Italians have a blue-collar, working-class history that is depicted in 
television and film. The same thing happens to African-Americans and Jews 
who try to depict an accurate, but not necessarily flattering, cultural 
history, Tonelli said. 

Alfano maintains that if the images of Italian-Americans were more accurate 
and not stereotyped, he'd have nothing to talk about. It was the struggle of 
another group of people against stereotyping and racism that helped open his 
eyes to the problem facing Italian-Americans. As an elementary school and 
middle school teacher in Newark's public schools during the riots and 
subsequently teaching more about black history in the late '60s and early 
'70s, he had an awakening, Alfano said. "I thought the way that blacks were 
organizing and teaching each other about their history was something that all
groups should be doing," he said. 

After walking out of a meeting last year with HBO officials about positive 
programming, a colleague from one of the Italian-American organizations 
pointed out that "The Sopranos" may have actually helped Alfano's cause. 
"My friend said, 'Maybe the Sopranos should go on for another 18 years,' 
and I looked at him like he was crazy," Alfano said. "But then he said, 
'We've never been able to garner this much attention to talk about the issues
we are bringing up.'" That's why this battle is bigger than "The Sopranos." 
"Let's put 'The Sopranos' aside.

I'd like to see positive Italian- American images on television because that 
directly affects our young people. I want to see Italian- Americans educated 
about their history," Alfano said. "We can enjoy 'The Sopranos' when there's 
more of a balance."

Jeffery C. Mays covers Belleville, Bloomfield and Nutley. 
He can be reached at jmays@starledger.com or (973) 392-4149. 

After her father died when she was 1, she was supported by her mother, who 
was office manager for the Italian newspaper Il Progresso. 

ANNE ANASTASI; AUTHOR SPOKE OF CULTURAL , 
RACIAL FAIRNESS IN TESTING

Los Angeles Times 
Friday, May 18, 2001 
By Elaine Woo, Times Staff Writer

    Anne Anastasi, who influenced generations of psychologists through a 
classic 1954 text on measuring differences in intelligence, achievement and 
personality, died May 4 in New York City. She was 92. 

     A longtime professor at New York's Fordham University, Anastasi was 
sometimes called the "test guru" in professional circles. Her book, 
"Psychological Testing," is still in print after 47 years and remains 
standard reading for college freshmen and graduate students in the field. 

     She was the third woman to serve as president of the American 
Psychological Assn. when she was elected to a one-year term in 1971. In 1987, 
she received from President Reagan a National Medal of Science for playing a 
major role in the development of differential psychology as a behavioral 
science. That year, the honor also went to B.F. Skinner, the noted behavioral 
psychologist, and Dr. Michael DeBakey, the pioneering heart surgeon. 

     "She was an enormously central figure in the whole area of the 
measurement of human abilities," said Eva Baker, director of the UCLA Center 
for the Study of Evaluation. "Her contribution is all the more astounding 
given that she was working in a field that is quantitatively oriented and not 
well-populated by women." 

     Her success was owed, in part, to her ability to write lucidly about 
complex topics. Colleagues said her forthright approach to sensitive issues 
also contributed to her authority in the testing world. 

     She was one of the first experts in her field to draw attention to 
cultural fairness in testing. In a 1937 text, "Differential Psychology: 
Individual and Group Differences in Behavior," she presented "some of the 
early conceptualizations of how to think about cultural bias," said Robert 
Linn, a nationally known University of Colorado testing expert. 

     In the 1970s, the notion that a culture-free test of intelligence, 
aptitude or achievement could be devised gained popularity, but Anastasi 
argued that such measurements could not avoid gender or ethnic and racial 
bias. 

     "She would come in very early in the conversation. She was not one to 
wait for the conversation to happen," said professor Mary Procidano, who was 
a student of Anastasi in the 1970s and now chairs Fordham's psychology 
department. "People ultimately said she was right, that there was no such 
thing as a culture-free test. She said the question was, if [intelligence] is 
50% inheritance and 50% experience, what do we do about it, what do educators 
do about it?" 

     Born in New York City, Anastasi was educated at home by her grandmother 
until she was 9. After her father died when she was 1, she was supported by 
her mother, who was office manager for the Italian newspaper Il Progresso. 

     An avid learner, Anastasi was particularly drawn to mathematics and 
taught herself spherical trigonometry when she was a teenager. Her precocity 
led her to study for two years at Rhodes Preparatory School, a New York 
school that mainly served adults interested in pursuing college degrees. At 
15, she entered Barnard College, where she majored in psychology and 
graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1928. 

     In 1930, Anastasi earned a doctorate from Columbia University, where she 
met her future husband, industrial psychologist John Porter Foley Jr. 

     She held teaching positions at Barnard and Queens College, where she 
also chaired the psychology department, before joining the faculty of Fordham 
as an assistant professor in 1947. She became a full professor in 1951. 

     Three years later, her opus, "Psychological Testing," was published. The 
book offers an encyclopedic introduction to psychological assessment that 
familiarizes students with the fundamentals of test design, selection and 
interpretation. 

     Anastasi, who became an emeritus professor at Fordham after her 
retirement in 1979, worked on updates of the tome well into her 80s. The 
seventh edition was published in 1996. 

     "It is simply the best and most readable text of its kind," said Neal 
Schmitt, a Michigan State University professor and authority on testing for 
the American Psychological Assn., who has used several editions of the book 
to teach undergraduates. 

http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20010518/t000041832.html 

Los Angeles Times
Thursday, May 17, 2001

     Mauro Bolognini, 78, a prolific Italian director admired for his skill 
at adapting works by such writers as Alberto Moravia and Pier Paolo Pasolini, 
died Monday in Rome. 
     A familiar figure at international film festivals, Bolognini won the top 
prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in 1966 for his film 
"Mademoiselle de Maupin," based on a work by the French novelist Theophile 
Gautier. The director also won best director at the Montreal World Film 
Festival in 1987 for "Farewell Moscow," and was twice nominated for directing 
honors at Cannes. 
     One of the best-known of Bolognini's 41 films is the 1960 "Beautiful 
Anthony," a biting commentary on the role of women in Sicily, starring 
Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale. 
     When his 1961 film "Senilita" ("Careless") was screened in Los Angeles 
at the Tiffany's Neglected Foreign Classics series in 1981, Times reviewer 
Kevin Thomas pronounced it "gravely beautiful" and said it was "so carefully 
modulated and textured . . . that it has the exquisite look of steel 
engravings." 
http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20010517/t000041508.html
=======================================================
Bruno Ducati; Family Founded Motorcycle Company 

     Bruno Cavalieri Ducati, 96, the last surviving founder of the motorcycle 
company that bears the family name, died Monday at a residence for the 
elderly in Ispra, Italy. 
     He was the author of the 1991 "History of Ducati," about the company 
known for its sleek, stylish bikes. 
     An architect, Bruno Ducati designed the factory where he and brothers 
Adriano and Marcello started building condensers and radio equipment in 1935. 
     After Allied bombs destroyed the plant in World War II, they switched to 
motorcycles. The company enjoyed both commercial and sporting success in the 
1950s and '60s. 
     A group of American investors bought the company in 1996, and after 
Ducati won a string of Superbike world championships, sold an entire year's 
production of the MH900 "evoluzione" bike online in a few hours last year. 
http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20010517/t000041509.html

Someone really needs to give Rudy Giuliani an "Education".

Tabloid assistant Bill Tonelli, was his habitual "retardee" self, who 
never capable of giving logical reasoning, could only as usual, resort
to whining "name calling."

There is indication that substantial meaningful comments were made
by participants, but Newsday, being a typical newspaper, dwelled on 
the colorful and contrary. Hopefully NIAF will be able to issue a Report
or Edited Transcript, or even put it on their Web Site.) 
=================================================
'SOPRANOS HITS SOUR NOTE 
AT ITALIAN-AMERICAN FORUM
Herbert Lowe and Curtis L. Taylor. Staff Writers

NEWSDAY, 05/16/2001, Queens

Even after Mayor Rudolph Giuliani-Gotham's mob-movie fan No. 1- 
suggested they lighten up, an Italian-American activist group yesterday
took aim at "The Sopranos," saying the cable-TV hit unfairly stereotypes
their culture.

Most of the speakers at a National Italian-American Foundation (NIAF)
panel blasted the show during a discussion on the harm done by 
Hollywood's mob depictions.

"I find that the violence really became gratuitous," said Vanity Fair
columnist James Wolcott, a former fan of the show. "I virtually cannot
watch the show now." 

The mayor, however, said the issue isn't worth going to the mattresses. 
"I'd get a little looser," Giuliani, offering his best "Godfather"
imitation, told reporters when asked about the panel's agenda. 
"The fact is, it's a reality of our history," Giuliani, a former federal
prosecutor, said of the show. " ... Some of it is enormously realistic
to me, having listened to cases in which men would talk about 
buying clothes for their children and then in the next breath they 
would discuss how they could do the next murder."

Told of the mayor's comments toward the end of the panel 
discussion, the foundation's president, Joseph Cerrell of Los Angeles,
shrugged. "Everyone's entitled to his opinion," he said.

Bill Tonelli, an assistant managing editor at Rolling Stone, was 
seemingly alone among the 200 people on hand when he said only
"crybabies" bemoan the show.

But Joseph Scelsa, a Queens College vice president, said "The 
Sopranos" helps keep Italian-Americans out of the best colleges and
jobs. "There are people who sit around tables and judge you by the 
vowel at the end of your name," said Scelsa. "And you can believe 
they are thinking about Tony Soprano."

Camille Paglia, the scholar and culture critic, said the show is among
many in Hollywood in which Italian-Americans are inaccurately portrayed. 
"I still can't watch 'Prizzi's Honor,'" Paglia said, adding that Jack
Nicholson's accent could not have been more off.
 

He of course is in a good position to recognize that submissions that are 
succinct, rich, and pointed, have a greater chance of being selected. 

Bob's letter ran under a large, three-column headline:

"HBO's 'SOPRANOS' SHOWCASES BIGOTRY"

The letter, in the version printed in the paper, follows:

It's important to underscore the differences between Cartoon Network's Bugs 
Bunny cartoons and HBO's TV drama series, "The Sopranos," both the topics of 
discussion in a recent USA TODA editorial ("Bugs in blackface," Friday).

First, Cartoon Network decided not to show the the Bugs Bunny cartoons in 
which the character was allegedly ethnically offensive. HBO, however, 
continues to show the anti-Italian "Sopranos," despite protests from major 
Italian-American organizations and thousands of individuals.

Secondly, Italian-Americans are not calling for censorship -- neither is Rep. 
Marge Roukema, R-NJ. In fact, I don't know of anyone calling to censor "The 
Sopranos." That, however, doesn't mean the show's anti-Italian racism should 
not be pointed out for what it is. And it is bigotry in its ugliest form.

Thirdly, the Bugs Bunny cartoons, in my view, are not mean-spirited. "The 
Sopranos," however, is. Furthermore, the cartoons were made at a time when 
society was largely blind to ethnic concerns. "The Sopranos" is being made 
now, when sensitivity for all ethnic groups is the desired norm -- except for 
Italians.

Bob Masullo
Sacramento, Calif.

English as "New Latin"

==============================
514 million English speakers
62 million Italian speakers
50,000 (circa) students of Italian worldwide
93 Italian cultural institutes, worldwide
===============================

"English, one of the most widely-spoken languages, will form the 
building blocks for a universal idiom," was the hypothesis made 
recently by Peter Schneider in daily Corriere della Sera 
commenting on "European Year of Languages"  conferences 
held by the EU.

Italy's Accademia della Crusca, Europe's oldest linguistic 
watchdog, not only agreed with the "English as the New Latin" 
concept but may add to the Italian vocabulary with words derived 
from English. 

President Francesco Sabatini, at work revising the Academy's 
prestigious dictionary of the Italian language, told the newspaper 
linguists are considering adding "Italianized" words to keep up 
with commonly-used English terms like "devolution" and 
"performance." 

An odd undertaking for the Academy, founded in 1583, whose 
name ("crusca" means chaff),  implies keeping the Italian 
language pure. 

http://ovisun199.csovi.fi.cnr.it/crusca/
Official site of the Accademia—unfortunately, they're too
busy deciding the fate of the Italian language to update it .
*Source A d n-Kronos http://www.adnkronos.it

Pat Buchanan and the Host Mc Laughlin give good arguments based on material 
supplied by Bill Del Cerro.

Tittering Ms. Clift who is PC about Everyone and Everything  else, is amused. 
Mr. Blankley & Mr O'Donnell are clueless.

Wish to make a comment go to the web site.
www.mclaughlin.com

Issue Three:  'The Sopranos'- You got a problem with that?
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Violent. Compelling. Provocative. Controversial. "The 
Sopranos," HBO's prime-time mobster melodrama. A ratings blockbuster now 
three seasons strong. Well, box office bonanza or not, Italian Americans hate 
it; most of them, anyway. Negative stereotyping, creating the impression that
15 million Americans of Italian descent are all mobbed up, even crime bosses.
Chicago's American Italian Defense Association filed a suit condemning the 
show. Italians as mobsters, declares the association, that's what's projected 
into the American psyche every week throughout the year, in reruns.
Former New Jersey Congressman Frank Guarini, now chairman of the prestigious 
National Italian American Foundation, says this: Quote, "Our research clearly 
proves that programs like 'The Sopranos,' which present Italian Americans as 
undereducated people who are either criminals or in blue-collar jobs, bears 
no resemblance to the average Italian American, who is a law-abiding citizen 
working in a white- collar position," unquote.
Is Guarini correct? The FBI says yes. Of 458 criminals on its "Most Wanted" 
list over the last 50 years, 26 have been Italian Americans, barely 5 
percent. The U.S. Census says 4 million of the 6 million Italian Americans in 
the workforce are white-collar -- two- thirds.
Now here is the truly troubling statistic. This is a question put to teens in 
a teen survey: "What is the typical job for Italian Americans in movies or 
TV?" Answer: crime boss or gang member, 44 percent. Almost one-half of 
American teens think that a typical role for an Italian American is crime 
boss or gang member.
Question: Are Italian Americans justified in feeling angry and maligned by 
the ethnic stereotyping they see in "The Sopranos," Eleanor Clift?
MS. CLIFT: I don't think that's a widespread view, and I don't think most 
people look at the characters in "The Sopranos" as typical of all Italians 
any more than they would look at the characters in Frank McCourt's books as 
typical of all Irish people. So --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: So you don't think that they are justified?
MR. BLANKLEY: Look --
MS. CLIFT: I think some people might want to take offense, but I think it's 
such a minor issue that it barely merits discussion.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: What do you think about this?
MR. BLANKLEY: Look, look, they are justified. On the other hand, Hollywood 
always does this about -- if there's a stereotype that an audience believes 
in, they're going to feed into it, whatever the ethnicity is, whatever the 
job type is. This is simply the way Hollywood makes its money. And Italians 
no more than Jews or Irishmen or anybody else have any particular complaint.
MR. BUCHANAN: I dissent, John. I strongly dissent. Look, they would not do 
this to black folks. They won't even put "Amos and Andy" on. They wouldn't do 
it to gay folks today.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: You couldn't use the word "Smith" to describe that family.
MR. BUCHANAN: Well --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: If they were the Smiths, it would get nowhere.
MR. BUCHANAN: Well, look, what the problem with this -- unlike "The 
Godfather," which was a great movie, great two or three movies, this is on 
week after week. It is lewd, crude, and it's contemptuous of Italian 
Americans, in my judgment. And they would not -- Hollywood would not do it to 
other groups. But whites and Catholics --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: All right --
MS. CLIFT: And Pat, you said that you watch it every week! You love it! 
(Laughs.)
MR. BUCHANAN: I watch it every week. I take notes --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Why? Why? Why do you watch it every week, Pat?
MR. BUCHANAN: Because it -- there's no doubt it's well-acted, it's 
entertaining, but it's other things, too --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: You like the writing?
MR. BUCHANAN: The writing is pretty good.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: You like the directing?
MR. BUCHANAN: Pretty good. Aaron Sorkin does it --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: All right. Now I have a letter here, a sensitive letter 
written by Bill Dal Cerro, from Chicago.
MR. BUCHANAN: Right.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: And he is working with the Italian Americans out there --
MR. BUCHANAN: Right.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: -- with that -- those professional lawyers suing "The 
Sopranos." And he says this: "Please don't let your panelists ramble on about 
the superb artistry of the writing, acting, directing, et cetera."
MR. BUCHANAN: See?
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: "One could make an equally strong case for the artistry of 
D.W. Griffiths's 'Birth of a Nation'" --
MR. BUCHANAN: Right.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: -- "or Hitler's anti-Jewish movies by Lena (sic) Riefenstahl."
MR. BUCHANAN: Leni --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: What do you think about that?
MR. BUCHANAN: That's exactly right. Leni Riefenstahl. He's -- and he's got a 
good point. "Birth of a Nation" was a great movie in 1915, but it had the Ku 
Klux Klan favorably portrayed in that. You could never do that today.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you think --
MR. O'DONNELL: The real model of "The Sopranos" --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you think -- do you think that the artistry has produced --
MR. O'DONNELL: The real model of "The Sopranos" is Shakespeare.
MR. BUCHANAN: (Laughing) Shakespeare?
MR. O'DONNELL: The real model of "The Sopranos" is Shakespeare. If any 
reading Shakespeare thinks that all of the English are homicidal lusters of 
power, then they're crazy --
(Cross talk.)
MR. O'DONNELL: (Inaudible) -- about a tiny subset of the English called the 
aristocracy. Sopranos is about a very tiny subset. It is beautifully written.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Okay, Congress gets in the act. The longest- serving woman in 
the U.S. Congress, Republican Marge Roukema, maiden name Scafati, will 
introduce a Sense of the Congress Resolution decrying the Sopranos as a 
negative stereotyping maligning Italian Americans.
Now, here's what McLaughlin.commers think about Congress getting in the act: 
92 percent say no, and 8 percent say yes.
So I ask you, will Marge Roukema's resolution get anywhere in the Congress, 
do you think?
MR. O'DONNELL: The great thing to know about her is she proudly proclaims she 
has not watched one minute of "The Sopranos." (Laughter.)
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: (Laughs.) Oh, you are cruel! You are cruel!
MR. O'DONNELL: I, on the other hand, have never missed a minute of "The 
Sopranos"; have watched every episode; I will watch every episode. Television 
does not get better than this.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: All right, well, we'll see if this works on you.
Gandolfini's problem. The Tony Soprano role is played by James Gandolfini. 
Here's what he thinks about Tony Soprano. Quote: "I don't think I will do a 
Mafia character again. I want to get away from the violence. It's starting to 
bother me personally," unquote. (Laughter.) Gandolfini is concerned that some 
viewers see him as a hero. Speaking about the Tony Soprano character he 
plays, Gandolfini goes on to say this: "In the last series, he" -- Tony 
Soprano -- "killed his best friend." That was Pussy, you'll remember. "That's 
why I can't believe it when people come up to me and ask me to come and talk 
to their kindergarten class about Tony Soprano. It boggles my mind." Unquote.
Question: Does that send -- does that quote speak volumes about what's going 
on here?
MR. BUCHANAN: It speaks volumes -- speaks volumes about American culture, 
which is deeply, deeply degraded, and this is an example of the best of the 
worst.
MS. CLIFT: Maybe Tony needs another visit to the therapist. (Laughter.) It's 
not the violence that we love, it's his angst about the violence that we 
love. You don't see that anywhere else where people are bothered about the 
fact when they do evil things.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: When he goes into a small-time restaurant and he takes the 
guy out and he breaks his legs, he breaks his ribs, he breaks a couple of 
other bones in his body, he puts him in traction in the hospital because 
there's no shakedown, you think that that's something good for us to be 
seeing?
MS. CLIFT: No, no. He's having panic attacks and he's seeing a psychiatrist 
about it. That's the whole point.
(Laughter.)
MR. O'DONNELL: I have a question. Didn't his agent tell him what the 
character was before he took the part? I mean, this is the part of a lifetime 
for him.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it's getting to him, more than it's getting to people 
like O'Donnell or Eleanor Clift.
MS. CLIFT: Well, he might want to broaden his repertoire as an actor after 
this. I don't blame him.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: A quick exit question -- yes or no -- does Hollywood 
discriminate against Italian Americans? Yes or no.
Pat Buchanan.
MR. BUCHANAN: It stereotypes them.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: That's yes, it does discriminate, correct?
MR. BUCHANAN: No, it doesn't -- it hires them, but it stereotypes them.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, stereotyping is discrimination, Pat.
MR. BUCHANAN: No, it's different. Let's say it stereotypes them, yes.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: All right.
MS. CLIFT: Italians are leading men and leading women --
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes or no?
MS. CLIFT: -- Sophia Loren. I'd say no. (Laughs.)
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes or no?
MR. BLANKLEY: Yes, they stereotype everybody.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Stereotyping -- is that discrimination? (Laughter.)
MR. O'DONNELL: The greatest source for "The Sopranos," in addition to David 
Chase's own genius for creating it, are the wiretaps and all the records 
provided by Rudolph Giuliani, that great Italian American who loves "The 
Sopranos."
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: And so does Joe DiGenova supply material for David 
Chase,  I'm sure.
MR. O'DONNELL: The great prosecutors, Italian Americans, have shown us 
what the Mafia really is.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: David Chase is a genius at this, and it's gripping. But 
Hollywood does discriminate against Italian Americans.
 
 

Extracted from Professor Ben Lawton's post to H-ITAM. 

Activists, in particular, will find this essay fascinating. Massaro
demonstrates that, according to current law, Italian Americans are
considered to be a race. He discusses the evolution of this law as it
developed over several cases.  The first and most important would appear to
be "Scelsa v the City University of New York (CUNY)."  (44)

According to Massaro, "Traditionally, civil rights legislation has provided
virtually no protection against . . . discrimination .. .on the basis of
national origin." (44). This case "accents the slow but steady erosion of
the artificial distinction between 'race' and 'national origin' that has
heretofore given rise to ethnic minorities, including Italian Americans,
receiving 'different treatment under the law, as written or applied."  (44)

The petitioner in the case, Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa, director of the John D.
Calandra Italian American Institute of CUNY, "filed the action in both an
individual and representative capacity (as director of the Calandra
Institute). As dual plaintiff, he sought to bar CUNY from accomplishing
three things: (1) "from employment discrimination against Italian
Americans"; (2) "from relocating the Institute and transferring its
operations to several different units of CUNY"; and (3) from removing him as
the Institute's director." (45).

The Scelsa court "granted all three requests (or prayers as we say) by way
of a preliminary injunction" invoking, "sua sponte, by its own initiative .
. .  Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, our nation's first civil
rights statute." (46).  The decision, in favor of Scelsa was "a delight to
those who are sympathetic to the plaintiff's position and a nightmare to
those favoring [CUNY]." (45).

In other words, if the court had not found that Italians are a "race," the
Calandra Institute would no longer exist and Dr. Sciorra would, presumably,
be employed elsewhere.

The Scelsa court also cited a case entitled St. Frances v Al-Khazraj (1987).
The fundamental issue raised here is that, "Discrimination on the basis on
national origin has always been, and sadly continues to be, a destructive
force in American society. As such it is indistinguishable from racial
discrimination.  Notwithstanding, modern day civil rights legislation
expressly prohibiting discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex or
national origin," has not been interpreted either administratively or
judicially to afford protection to those victims of national origin
discrimination."   (47)

Richard Annotico, Esq., will be pleased to read that the Scelsa court cited,
inter alia, the Encyclopedia Americana (1858) and the Encyclopedia
Britannica (1878), both of which, if I understand Massara correctly,
"referred to 'Italians' and various other ethnic 'races.'"(49).

In arriving at a definition of race, "The Court's opinion specifically
rejected reliance on genetics and/or physical characteristics.. . . In
making this finding, the Court defined the word 'race' in its sociological,
perhaps sociopolitical, rather than biological sense. 'Race' in the
sociological sense considers the concept that people differ from each other
not primarily because of physical attributes, but becasue of differences
rooted in culture."  (49).

More specifically, the Court wrote that "Section 1981 was designed to
protect identifiable classes of persons, such as Italo-Americans, 'who are
subjected to intentional discrimination solely because of their ancestry or
ethnic characteristics  . . . " (50).

Another case referenced by the Court was United States v Biaggi on the
grounds that "A motion to set aside a verdict on the ground that the
prosecution had used its peremptory challenges discriminatorily to exclude
Italian Americans from the jury was brought." (51).

"The court held that Italian Americans constitute a "cognizable racial
group" for the purposes of raising objections to this form of challenge"
(51) because they "(1) are definable and limited by some clearly
identifiable factor,; (2) share a common thread of attitudes, ideas or
experiences; and (3) share a community of interests." (52)

While one might quibble with these points, the Court's "discussion of its
reasons for taking judicial notice of Italian American's cognizability" is
persuasive:  "These observable, distinguishable names constitute a clearly
identifiable factor separating Italian Americans from most other ethnic
groups.  These names emanate from Italian ancestors who immigrated to this
country and who constitute a discrete resource from which Italian-American
heritage has been passed down." (52).

The Court went on to state that it took "judicial notice that Italians have
been subjected to stereotyping, invidious ethnic humor and discrimination."
(52).

The Court went on to state that the "legsilative history of post-Civil War
statues provides corroborative support forthe view that, at that time,
"races" included "immigrant groups" coming from each foreign nationa and,
further, 'it can there fore be confidently concluded that . . . congizable
racial groups include[s] a variaty of ethnic and ancestral groups subject to
intentional discrimination, including Italian Americans." (53).

The result is that Section 1981 offers "grounds for seeking relief in cases
of national origin discrimination  . . . where race cane be and, in fact,
has been equated with ethnicity, or national origin." (53)..........
 

Singer Perry Como Dies at 87

The Associated Press  5/12/2001

MIAMI, Fla. (AP) - Perry Como, the crooning baritone barber famous for his 
relaxed vocals, cardigan sweaters and television Christmas specials, died 
Saturday after a lengthy illness. He was 87. 

Como died in his sleep at his home in Jupiter Inlet Beach Colony, his 
daughter Terry Thibadeau said. 

``We spent two beautiful hours (Friday) with dad, me and my grandson, 
Holden,'' Thibadeau told The Palm Beach Post. ``We shared ice cream. It was a 
wonderful moment for us.'' 

The charming Italian-American whose name became synonymous with mellow 
performed through seven decades, starting in the 1930s. His idol, the late 
singer Bing Crosby, once called Como ``the man who invented casual.'' 

Como left his job as a steel town barber to sing with big bands in the 1930s 
and his songs were a mainstay of radio and jukeboxes in the late 1940s. He 
helped pioneer variety shows on the new medium of television in the 1950s and 
performed on television specials over the last four decades. His music 
remained popular in recent years on easy-listening radio. 

In 1945, Como had his first million-selling hit, ``Till the End of Time.'' It 
was among many songs including ``Prisoner of Love'' that topped the charts. 
He competed with Frank Sinatra and Crosby to be the era's top crooner. 

While Como emulated Crosby in his early years, some of his best-known numbers 
were light novelty songs like ``Hot Diggity'' and ``Papa Loves Mambo.'' He 
made a brief foray into wartime movie musicals in Hollywood, but decided to 
pursue a career in radio. 

Como often said he far preferred singing romantic ballads to some of the 
lightweight numbers, but the novelty songs were a frequent audience request. 

``They get tired of hearing `Melancholy Baby' and those mushy things,'' Como 
said in a 1994 interview. ``But those are the songs that, as a singer, you 
love to sing.'' 

Some music experts say Como, with his naturally melodic baritone voice, might 
have carved a deeper niche if he had taken firmer control of his material. 

Will Friedwald, author of ``Jazz Singing'' and an expert of music from Como's 
era, once called Como ``a marvelous singer'' who ``seemed to do everything 
they put in front of him.'' 

Como made his television debut in 1948 on NBC's ``The Chesterfield Supper 
Club'' and in 1950 he switched to CBS for ``The Perry Como Show,'' which ran 
for five years. Como then returned to NBC for a variety show that ran for 
eight years, first on Saturday nights opposite Jackie Gleason, then on 
Tuesday night. 

In 1963, he gave up the regular television show and began doing occasional 
specials. Rock 'n' roll had crowded out the crooners who once charmed hordes 
of screaming bobby-soxers. 

His career saw a resurgence in the 1970s with songs like ``It's Impossible,'' 
``And I Love You So'' and several best-selling Christmas albums. 

In 1994, Como put out a three-CD boxed set including his most popular songs 
since he started recording in 1943. And his former hit, ``Catch a Falling 
Star,'' became familiar to a new generation of fans when it became part of 
the Clint Eastwood-Kevin Costner movie ``A Perfect World.'' 

Como said he occasionally tired of the jokes about his somnambulant style, 
although he found a skit on the SCTV comedy show particularly amusing. The 
spot showed a Como impersonator lying on the floor nearly comatose with a 
microphone in front of his barely moving lips as dancers leaped about him. 

His casual legend grew from his first pressure-packed appearances on the 
pioneering medium of live television - with its crashing scenery, misplaced 
cue cards and camera confusion. 

``I decided the only thing to do was take it as it came,'' he recalled in a 
1985 interview. ``People wrote in asking how I could be so casual. It all 
started to grow.''
   Pierino Roland Como was born May 18, 1913, in Canonsburg, Pa., the middle 
offspring of 13 children of Italian immigrants.

At age 11, he went to work sweeping floors after school at a barbershop in 
the town just south of Pittsburgh. He got lessons on how to cut the hair of 
coal miners and other workers, and by the age of 14 he had his own barber 
business earning $150 a week. His pay dropped off during the Depression when 
he went to work for another barber. 

But he got an offer to sing with Freddie Carlone's band in Cleveland in the 
early 1930s. He began his rise in show business when he was signed to sing 
with Ted Weems big band in 1936, a relationship that continued for six years. 

In 1943, he began what turned into a 50-year contract with RCA-Victor Records 
with the recording of the song ``Goodbye Sue.'' 

In his later years, Como lived in a private semiretirement with his wife 
Roselle, whom he met at a picnic when he was 16 and married in 1933. They 
divided their time between the North Carolina mountains and the Palm Beach 
County town of Jupiter where he played golf, took long, brisk walks and 
entertained his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mrs. Como died in 
August 1998, less than two weeks after she and Como celebrated their 65th 
wedding anniversary. She was 84. 

He reappeared on television periodically for Christmas television specials 
from exotic, international locales. Even as he grew older, the graying Como 
retained a tanned, fit appearance and youthful charm. 
 

Fiore points out that Page (Who is Black) is part of a Media that is "blind" 
to 
Italian American Negative depictions and "rabid" when there are Negative 
depictions of their groups, exhibiting a blatant hypocricy. 

==========================================================
Chicago Tribune 
Dear Editor:

Surely, Clarence Page cannot be unaware that Italian Americans are 
deeply offended by the hideously perverse portrayal of our ethnic group 
that is continuously and purposefully presented by The Sopranos 
television series. Yet, he didn't regard this as being worth 
consideration, and avoided the issue entirely in his favorable analysis 
of the show (May 6, 2001).

At first glance, it seems odd that Page, of all people, would endorse 
any film or TV series that debases a particular group through the 
routine deployment of hostile racial or ethnic stereotypes. In fact, I'm 
certain we could expect a less positive assessment from Page if the 
series treated African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, or Jews 
in the same fashion.

Yet that's precisely the point, and we could not ask for a clearer 
example of the hypocrisy so shamelessly apparent in media's brand of 
liberalism than Page's recent column. Criticize the depiction of 
"Shylock" in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, complain about the 
handling of African American characters by Mark Twain, or protest a 
football team's Native American icon, and the social conscience of the 
news media is instantly stirred with grave concern over unfair and 
potentially dangerous stereotyping.

All of this enlightened sensitivity vaporizes away, however, when 
Italians are the target. Suddenly, there's no hand-wringing over the 
effect that persistently negative portrayals might have on the 
self-image of Italian American children. Suddenly, scriptwriters, 
producers and publishers no longer feel the need to populate their story 
lines with positive roll model-type Italian characters for the sake of 
balance. Suddenly, protesting Italian Americans are not greeted with the 
news media's sympathetic ears, but are accused of hypersensitivity and 
of attempting to stifle creativity and First Amendment rights

The only plausible explanation for this unsubtle double standard is that
Italians are Euro-ethnic, mostly Catholic, and perceived to be socially 
conservative, thus, in the eyes of liberals, deserving of every slur and 
insult hurled our way. As for Page, we will certainly be ready to call 
public attention to his flawed sense of fairness the next time he sounds 
the alarm against unfair racial or ethnic stereotyping.

Sincerely,
Don Fiore
Villa Park, IL 60181

Letters to Editor of Chicago Tribune: << ctc-@TribLetter.com >>
====================================================
The Chicago Tribune
Sunday, May 6, 2001

WHAT 'THE SOPRANOS' SAYS ABOUT US 
by Clarence Page

WASHINGTON. Who is this Bob Wright? Some kind of a wise guy?

No, he's the president of NBC. It is that gang over at HBO's hit show "The 
Sopranos" who are the wise guys and they've really got Wright rattled.

In a recent letter to other executives at his own network and various 
television studios and productions companies, Wright asked for opinions on 
the award-winning HBO mob hit. He wrote that he wanted to know how it 
"impacts mainstream entertainment and NBC in particular."

Right. Look at the ratings and it is obvious what impact "The Sopranos" is 
having on the networks. It is kicking their backsides.

On some Sunday nights the show brings in bigger ratings than any of the four 
major over-the-air networks, even though HBO reaches only about a third as 
many homes as the networks reach.

In interviews, Wright does not hide his resentment over the way "The 
Sopranos" wins Emmys and a prestigious Peabody Award while featuring a level 
of sex, violence, nudity and profanity that would cost NBC its license if it 
tried anything similar.

Wright's right about the pressures the networks are under. "The Sopranos" 
gets big awards, big critical praise and big ratings. Meanwhile, the 
networks' cops and hoodlums have to use nonsense words like "friggin' " or 
"freakin' " just to keep preachers, politicians and parents' groups off the 
networks' necks.

But if Wright thinks the secret of "The Sopranos'" success is bullets, bare 
breasts and bad words, he's really missing the point. If he fails to learn 
the lessons of "The Sopranos," he is doomed to repeat NBC duds like last 
season's XFL football games.

I can think of four important reasons why "The Sopranos" is a hit. Three are 
obvious and the fourth is far-fetched, but probably no less true than the 
obvious ones.

No. 1: Unlike most network shows, "The Sopranos" actually shows some original 
thought. It doesn't look like it rolled off a Hollywood assembly line. It 
doesn't look, as someone once said of a camel, like a horse designed by a 
committee.

No. 2: "The Sopranos" shows respect for the intelligence of viewers. It 
offers supurb writing, acting, directing, editing and all of that other 
technical stuff that makes moving pictures look good.

No. 3: It's believable.

This is not the romanticized mob of Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather." 
This is the modern mob, hanging on to what's left of itself in the era of 
suburbia, psychotherapy and federal RICO ( The 1970 Racketeer Influenced and 
Corrupt Organizations Act.)

The show works not because it is about them, the Sopranos, but because it is 
about middle-class Americans. The sex and violence is occasional and pushed 
into the background. The "family business" is less important than its impact 
on the families, particularly the Sopranos themselves.

Here we have Big Tony, who has to see a shrink to spill his guts about the 
people he has killed, the father who he adored and the mother who wanted to 
kill him.

Here's long-suffering Carmela, who maybe should have married that nice car 
dealer after high school. Instead she is struggling mightily to hold her 
family together and raise their bright but troubled kids, the collegiate 
Meadow and the athletic "Little Ant'ny," without their falling into drugs, 
promiscuous sex or their father's line of work.

The Sopranos works in part because they are us. They are the middle-class 
American dream, except for Daddy's business, which is delicately referred to 
as "waste management" or simply, "this thing of ours."

Which brings me to my fourth and far-fetched reason for the Soprano's 
success: It suits our political times.

When "The Godfather" became a smash hit and instant classic in the Watergate 
election year of 1972, Norman Mailer immediately picked up the theme in his 
campaign book "St. George and the Godfather." President Richard Nixon was the 
Godfather, in Mailer's view, clobbering in a 49-state victory the pious, but 
politically inept Sen. George "St. George" McGovern, who didn't seem to know 
what hit him.

If "The Godfather" echoed the mysterious, brooding Nixon, with his "enemies 
list" and scheming associates, "The Sopranos" in some ways echoes the 
enigmatic and philandering Bill Clinton, the sitting president during the 
show's inception.

Our fascination with "The Sopranos" is not unlike our fascination with Bill 
and Hillary Clinton. Love them or hate them, we still find ourselves 
wondering what they were going to do next and who was going to get hurt by it.

George W. Bush and his family are, by comparison, pretty easy to read. What 
you see appears to be what you get. Some humorists have compared President 
Bush's clan to the Corleones of "The Godfather," except with dimwitted 
brother Fredo taking over the family business.

That's good for a laugh but the Bushes do not come close to matching the 
Corleones' aura of menace. So far the Bushes seem more like situation-comedy 
material. That, by the way, is precisely what they are in Comedy Central's 
"That's My Bush."

But give them time. The house of the Sopranos is worth watching. So is the 
White House.

I intend to do both. I can't get enough of them, even when I don't like 
what's going on inside.
----------
>>http://chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/page/
Clarence Page is a member of the Tribune's editorial board. E-mail: 
cptime@aol.com
 
 

In the 1950's the "melting pot" theory was being "discredited" by Academia,
who now proposed a "stew" theory that called for "diversity", a "mosaic",
a "multicultural pluralism".

The Italian Americans were reluctant to seize upon this opportunity to 
"re-embrace" their heritage, as other groups were doing, and were more 
"comfortable" being part of the "mainstream". 

Further more, too few Italian Americans seemed CAPABLE to "pass on"
to their progeny the Italian & Italian American History or Culture, and so
few Educational Institutions  were WILLING to do so, while those same 
Institutions rushed to offer a plethora of studies of "minority" cultures. 
 

There has been a thread (discussion) of this "dynamic" on the 
"La Dolce Vita List Serv, and I have below excerpted and edited three 
particular insightful posts, although others were equally deserving.

It is however, disappointing that these rather obvious points need to be 
made, and that what we instead should be doing, is determining ways 
to make available to all generations, particularly our "future" (the younger
generation) the tools to become learned in their heritage, which Dominic
Tassone, in the third post offers a beginning. 

1. Assimilation or Integration?, Francesca L'Orfano
2. Assimilation- Dead End Mentality, Philip Celeste
3. A Fourth Generation View of Assimilation, Dominic Tassone
=================================================
1. Assimilation or Integration?, Francesca L'Orfano

(To me) the definition of ASSIMILATION... is to become like the "eurocentric 
mainstream" and to give up being Italian in order to belong... (Others
are) saying that that is "not" what we want...we can belong and be proud
Americans and Canadians and also still keep our Italian heritage alive...

However those who believe in assimilation usually state that once on 
North American soil, we "MUST" give up our ties to our ethnicities and
even sometimes we must change and anglicize our names and adopt 
the mainstream ways..........

I am a proud Canadian however I am also proud of my Italian heritage...
therefore it is INTEGRATION we want, not assimilation..integration of 
our various cultures......assimilation is where there is no diversity but 
just "one big culture"....David Chase has assimilated the mainstream 
attitude towards Italians...he is ashamed of his heritage and that is very
evident in his series. 

As some say, their children and grandchildren have embraced very little
of their heritage...what I, and others, are fighting for is our desire to 
continue to keep our Italianita alive on North American soil so that your
grandchildren will have more than their name to identify as being Italian...
=================================================
2. Assimilation-Dead End Mentality, Philip Celeste

..Many fourth generation Americans, have has lost their ethnicity, 
and they  will ultimately be at a disadvantage.

..Other ethnic groups have not, and with minimum exception, 
will Never give up their ethnicities.  And they will always come out ahead 
for it (politically, socially and economically, because in that cohesion 
there is unity, strength, and power). The Most Prosperous, Most Stable,
Most Productive American citizens, (with the exception of African 
Americans and recent immigrant Hispanics) are Ethnic Americans 
(i.e. Armenians, Persians, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese,
Jews, Greeks).

Very much like Italians, they all come from tremendously rich cultures,
and the majority of their groups have no intention of giving this up. 
Why do you think such influential people such as Steven Spielberg, 
are now encouraging Jewish Americans to marry within their own ethnic
group. I agree with Spielberg and for many reasons.

As is typical for non-ethnics: they are disproportionately drawn to 
"born again" religious affiliations, or any "cult" or "so called cause" 
which will allow them to feel a sense of belonging, to fill the bewildering 
void in their lives.

And what I speak of is not completely an issue of blood and genes. 
It's really about culture.  An Italian American with 25% or less Italian blood
can still identify as Italian.

I do not resent other Italian Americans if they prefer to be "Americanized",
Let's face it,  its a beautiful country and for many a very good life.  But 
its
not an ethnicity, and by turning their back on their ancestral heritage, they
are depriving themselves of a rich culture, lineage, and identity.
Ironically, these "American" images were created in Hollywood, by an 
immigrant group of almost exclusively Eastern European Jews. 

We should take important note that, as can be seen all over world, when
the cultures of countries are threatened, for instance by a McDonalds
mentality, it tends to be McTrashed, because it represents a globalization
and an assimilation of an Orwellian nature, representing a great threat to
that country's culture and identity. Hmmm.

Whether one is an Ethnic Italian-American or an Assimilated 
Italo-Americans, both have good reason to work together to fight Media
defamation.It is this issue which we should focus at this point.

BUT, Lose your culture,  you lose your soul.
=================================================
3. A Fourth Generation View of Assimilation, Dominic Tassone

(RAA Preface: Dominic, I disagree only with your first paragraph, 
because GENERALLY and OVERWHELMING speaking, 3rd and 
4th generation I-As Don't have ANY idea of what their Italian, Italian 
American Culture is. The only time they recognize it when it is served
to them on a plate. You and members of FIERI are all too rare examples,
and deserve plaudits and greater support from the Community!
Now your turn [;-))

The notion that 3rd and 4th generation IAs have no idea what their 
culture is - I beg to differ.

I am 4th generation can tell you that the growth of an organization like
FIERI (I-A young professionals organization) is evidence that many of 
us want to understand a culture that we have gotten in derivative form 
mixed with Americana. In some chapters, FIERI even has a presence 
at the high school level. For whatever reason, the Italian culture sticks 
in a way that others don't and there is a growing trend (that we ought 
to foster) to learn about the IA culture. 

Moreover advances in telecom and ease of travel today mean that we 
can learn and participate in our culture that before had left I-As in a 
cultural vacuum cutoff from the Italy save a handful of local papers and
reports from recent immigrants.

Mr. Galletta, regardless of your grandson's ethnicity, he will be treated
as an IA because he bears an Italian name. The real question is will 
you and your family teach him about IA history and what that means. 
How will he react when he is challenged about being Italian? Expect 
this as early as 2nd grade. Will he look down and say "no I'm not- 
I'm American," or will he articulate an informed response?

At my daughters communion yesterday the differences and similarities
of my family (Italian-American) and my in-laws (Italian immigrants) as
usual struck me as an interesting juxtaposition. I asked some people,
where the recent immigrants from Italy were. I received an interesting 
look, and an explanation that was in short: Why leave Italy to come here?
Before there was no little good-paying work, but since the early 1980s 
things have changed.

They don't want to live or be like 'babbe americani.' The level of violence
against women, alcoholism, school shootings and the like baffle them. 
Not to mention a perception of blatant promiscuity and disdain for children.

The question of whether assimilation should be encouraged or 
discouraged to me is an imagined choice (or an academic question)
today that didn't exist for many of our ancestors who didn't have the 
luxury of working in the US without learning English or being pampered
with help from the gov't. Today things are different and the multicultural
pluralism (not a melting pot) means that recent immigrants don't need 
to learn English and their children aren't ashamed of their origins - they
do speak Italian in front of the kids. Now we have RAI and the Internet.
I'm certain other readers have stories about name changes (forced or 
out of shame) in their families that evidence the old way Italian-
Americans attempted to assimilate - mine certainly has.

In terms of values, who wants to be assimilated into an amoral purely
economic culture 24x7 which is America? Who in their right mind 
actively wants that? I thought the comment about Time-Warner raising 
kids on fast food was right on. I don't mind the rat race (outside the home)
and have an appreciation for all cultures. However, I personally prefer 
some sanctity in my domicile, i.e. Italian (even European) values at home.

In the government's obsequious quest to dole out 'our money' to 
protected, privileged, and preferenced groups, it is interesting indeed to 
see how the gov't census statistics are manipulated to get taxpayers 
money into the hands of certain ethnic groups. 

Curiously, many simply list themselves as American.
What does that mean? I agree that American is not an ethnicity, 
more like a lack thereof.

Now on the subject of the American media, I can only say the promise
of America is equitable opportunity and equality under the law. What 
we have from the media in general is possibly not illegal, but certainly 
an inequity.
 

WHY THE SOPRANOS MAY NOT BE 
ABOUT TO ECLIPSE SHAKESPEARE :)

1.  It evades motivation.  Its principal characters inhabit the underworld.
Why?  They are  Italians from New Jersey -- no further reasons needed.
This also adequately explains why mothers and sons will contrive to kill
each other, among other pathologies.  All the mechanisms that put these
characters in motion and explain their actions ultimately reduce to their
Italian-ness.  The series appropriates a pre-existing frame-tale, blended
using the Valachi Papers, The Godfather (text and film), and their
antecedents -- clear back to Sherlock Holmes and Scarface.

2.  The dialogue and attitudes are juvenile.  Don't believe me?  Get a
script or transcript, delete all the <bleep> and <bleep> from the dialogue,
and then read what remains.  Without the Carlin Seven, it's pretty weak.
Now my friends and I talked like that on the corner of 23rd and Mifflin
when we were 13 or so.  But we got over it.   Army recruits talk like that
and they get over it.    But The Sopranos do not get over it.   Far from
reflecting a  "gritty realism"- it patronizes  working-class ethnics and so
allows the audience to feel superior to them.

3.  The show perpetuates two corrupting stereotypes.   The one, that all
I-As are crooks, has been discussed on this forum at great length, and it
need not be repeated.

The other stereotype,  routinely ignored here and elsewhere, is a popular
one-  the evildoer is presented as being an Other- decidedly not like
everyone else.  The program continues the shopworn device of marking the
criminal to differentiate him and to separate him from the norm.  Dick
Tracy used physical disfigurement. For the Sopranos it is ethnicity and
(perhaps less obviously) class that mark the criminals.   In fact,
equating  Soprano mobsters with The Other is exactly the device that give
the audience permission  to view the events with ironic detachment.
Sopranos are not Everyman, they are instead Somebody Else.

These points are sufficient to moderate enthusiasm for the show.  But it
can be opposed on grounds other than the artistic.  The Sopranos is not
simply a TV program- but a contrived Media  Phenomenon.  Its plot,
characters, and dialogue have been promoted into a major popular culture
cluster by the show's executives, abetted by a fawning pack of media
shills.  And as such it is no longer entitled to the shelter afforded a
premium-cable show airing at an adult-appropriate time; its material can be
challenged using prime-time network criteria.

One might argue that in this the show is the beneficiary of its popularity
and quality.  That argument was eliminated by the Harrison NJ casting call
stunt perpetrated last year.  As you recall, the show's keepers coolly
exploited public ignorance of how TV shows hire actors.  And by doing so
they wallowed in a great deal of free media, while the hipsters sneered at
the dumb guineas who dressed up like they were going to a wop wedding.
After that stunt, I rejected the arguments from artistry-- the program
exposed itself as  a corrupt engine operated, like the rest of television,
to maximize its profits.  And that drive for money accounts for the
violence, the exploitation of women, the language... because that is what
titillates, and of course titillation sells.

It is probably true, as Gardaphe' says, that irony is being overlooked
here.  But all the irony may not be visible from a single vantage point.

John Scocca
mailto:johnscocca@home.com

It is so encouraging to see so many Italian Americans speaking out, and even 
more satisfying seeing more and more of those thoughts making it to the 
Letters to the Editors columns. They are now becoming numerous enough, that I 
will have to be rather selective, although it's tough, because there are so 
many good ones. But then again maybe you deserve to know that there IS a 
building groundswell! 

It is especially sweet when these letters come from the hierarchy of Major 
Italian American Organizations, like the one below the Letter from Joseph 
Sciame, National II Vice President, Order Sons of Italy in America

Chicago Daily Herald
May 2, 2001
Letters to Editor
 

'SOPRANOS ' SLURS ARE A SCOURGE ON SOCIETY

I am not sure of where Fence Post writer Kay Bradley of Itasca might be 
coming from, but she is certainly out of touch with regard to at least one 
particular ethnic group's identity.

"Different ideas that make people think." Ideas that make people think of 
what? Criminality, absolute incivility, murder, crime and the lot? "The 
Sopranos" is the lowest of low programs because it depicts a particular 
ethnic group in a situation that is negative stereotyping. All studies to 
date show and prove that people, especially young people, are detrimentally 
affected by this program, not to mention how insulting it is to successful 
and well-meaning, productive and renowned Italian-Americans.

Stick to the topic: "The Sopranos" is bad for our society! I think Bradley 
needs to be educated regarding the achievements of Italian-Americans before 
she goes any further, especially with "different ideas which do make people 
think" but of positive achievements.

Remember well, no other ethnic group in America is being maligned, or 
denigrated, as Italian-Americans are today in this country. It must, and 
should, stop!

Joseph Sciame

National II Vice President
Order Sons of Italy in America
Washington