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The Italic Way - Editorials

Editorials from The Italic Way represent a range of views on the treatment of Italian Americans in society. Feel free to contact us with your comments, opinions and thoughts.

What America Needs

Pax Italica: A Call to Self-Assertion

Charities & Foundations

Com-pa`-re or "Goombah" (sic)

The Zealotry of Senator Miller

Leaving Ellis Island

Pecora for the People

Why Some Bigotries Are More Palatable Than Others

Who Is Giving Back?

What America Needs

Though many Americans, Italian-surnamed or otherwise, still lament former New York Governor Mario Cuomo's last-minute nixing of a presidential bid in the early 90s, we tend to forget another inspirational figure who also had a date with destiny: Lee Iacocca, the brillian businessman who saved the Chrysler Corporation from bankruptcy. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Iacocca was urged to run for the White House by party bosses as well as the common folk, an ideal he seriously considered before ultimately declining. Now 82 years young, Iacocca has come out of retirement with a vengeance with his new bestseller, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? In the book, Iacocca excoriates the Bush administration, derides the U.S. Congress for "sitting on their asses," and laments the gradual erosion of America's moral and economic authority in the world. From Cicero to the late U.S. Senator John Pastore (D-RI), the Italic people have never lacked for eloquent leaders. Is it too late for an "Iacocca for President" independent bid in 2008? The former car executive apparently still has energy to burn.

-Bill Dal Cerro

Pax Italica: A Call to Self-Assertion

While the world anxiously awaits the long-term outcome of the Annapolis Middle East peace conference, Washington ought to consult Rome for tips on being an honest broker--and a bold peacemaker.

Though peacekeeping in the Levant is as treacherous as the shifting desert sands, Italy has a track record second to none in the region. In Afghanistan, NATO's Italian forces have acquitted themselves with honor and distinction. And not just on the battlefield.

According to senior cleric Maulvi Shirin Agha, "The Italians behave very well with the people, and everyone likes them. The Taliban can only dream of coming back."

During last year's ruinous war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, il bel Paese acted decisively to provide a solid framework for resolving the crisis.

Unlike the timorous French, the Italians combined deft diplomacy with a muscular troop commitment to forge an international contingent capable of disarming Hezbollah and safeguarding Israel's security. In fact, Ehud Olmert (Israel's prime minister) specifically requested that Italy assume command of the mission.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema are to be commended for their perspicacity. Yet Prodi is still fuming--and rightfully so--that Italy has been excluded from the official contact group (the Five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) negotiating with Iran over nuclear arms. "I am not happy about that. You must include countries that have the greatest interest in the problem at hand. Italy is Iran's biggest European trading partner."

Romano Prodi--who served as an economics professor at the University of Bologna--is also a keen student of history. He know that peacemaking is hardly terra incognita to the Italians--from antiquity to the present day. Indeed, the Middle East is the Magic Boot's backyard. Pick a city, nation or locale--Palestine, Jerusalem, Caesarea, Tiberias, Tehran, Beirut, Istanbul, Jordan, Baghdad, Damascus--and you'll find a Roman Italian imprint.

In 1983, Italy fielded the most respected and effective peacekeepers in war-torn Lebanon, providing stability and succor to the refugees of Sabra and Shatilla. And Beirut was once home to Italian expatriates during the reign of the emperor Hadrian.

When Italy officially took charge of the multinational force in Lebanon in February 2007, it marked a return to Rome's primacy in the Mediterranean--and a long overdue call to global self-assertion.

-Rosario Iaconis

Charities & Foundations

One of the more disturbing articles you will find in this issue deals with how the major Italian Americans spend their money. Because they are charitable foundations, the public has open access to their tax returns, merely google "990 finder." You will see that a significant portion of organizational income is distributed as scholarships or large donations to medical charities. While there is no question of the good intentions and transparency of these gifts a suggestion could be raised as to the relevancy of allocating the lion's share of the community's resources to non-heritage programs. Helping an 18-year-old pay for a fraction of his college education is not the same as protecting his Italian legacy. Similarly, you would be hard-pressed to demonstrate how giving to Boys Town of Italy relates to our cultural challenges here in the USA. In fact, there are few Italian "boys" at Boys Town. The majority come from North Africa and Eastern Europe to Rome where they are integrated into Italian society. Meanwhile our Italian American boys and girls are growing up with only the Hollywood version of what being "Italian" means. These kids need acculturation not accounting credits.

Nor are medical charities relevant to our mission. Frankly, the overhead of most medical charities would shock many people. Their 990s can be googled to discover how little money actually trickles down to research and how much goes to executive salaries.

The Italic Institute spends 86% of its income on our heritage programs like Aurora Youth, Project Italia Productions and The Italic Way Magazine. We have no paid executives and we don't give money away just to feel good. Our first and last mission is to the Italian heritage. It would be nice to have help.

-John Mancini

Com-pa`-re or "Goombah" (sic)

The word "goombah", stumbling out of the same Italo-American lexicon that gives us "gabbagol" and "pastafazool", is rapidly morphing from a mere linguistic corruption to a common definition of a particular cultural and behavioral mode. Firmed up by The Sopranos star Steve Schirripa's bestseller, A Goombah's Guide to Life, (Crown Publishing Group, 2002) and a resultant burst of copycat material appearing in magazine articles and hastily created Internet websites, it serves to conveniently condense an ungainly string of adjectives such as "crude", "loud-mouthed", "bigoted", "uncouth", "graceless" "ignorant" and "Italian-American" into a single, handy term. You need only to describe someone as a "goombah", and your listeners instantly get the idea.

Sure, some of us see it as another phase in the continuing depletion of dignity from our heritage. But other Italian Americans, or at least those short on brain cells and big on gold neck chains, are wearing the goombah name tag with pride and exuberance, grateful for having finally achieved a firm, sociological identity.

-Don Fiore

The Zealotry of Senator Miller

Baby boomers weaned on such classic TV fare as "The Addams Family," "Supermarket Sweep," and "The Munsters": beware! Zell Miller will hunt you down and stamp out your anti-ghoulish, teratophobic, shopping-intolerant ways for good. After receiving national attention as the champion of a horribly (Gasp!) exploited minority---rural Americans---Senator Miller met up with a bunch of gussied-up, slicked-down Holly-wood types. You know the ONES--they drive fancy wheels and have cee-ment ponds bigger'n the Mississippi. Seems they wuz fixin` to make fun of the kin folk in Appalachia and the Ozarks. Seeems they wuz hankerin' for one of them new fangled re-a-li-ty telly-vision shows based on "The Beverly Hillbillies." Ol' Zell was a-hollerin' and a-cussin' at them there city slickers. Why, Jed Clampett would be right proud of that Miller feller. Seems he's a whole lot hotter under the coller than a prairie hog in a pile of country mud.

At a time when anti-Italian intolerance reigns supreme in the media, this is the drivel that tries men's souls.

-Rosario Iaconis

Leaving Ellis Island

Like many others, I have experienced the rush of finding a grandparent's name on a long-forgotten ship manifest from the Ellis Island archives. I suppose I could even enroll my family name on the island's registry for a few dollars to claim this poor man's Plymouth Rock. But what is the point? Was Ellis Island the defining moment for the Italian Americans in the New World or was it merely one of many entry gates for us?

We have transformed the Atlantic passage and the beachhead at Ellis Island into a grand spiritual event. Granted, it took some degree of courage to forsake an old familiar culture to start a new life in America. And, it appears a vindication of that ancestral trek when children and grandchildren later achieved a comfortable economic status. But are we selling ourselves short by highlighting an immigrant past rather than the truer version of the Italian American story. That story was covered in our last issue, Deep Roots in America (n. XXX). In short, our ancestors partly financed the discovery of the Americas, led Europeans to these shores, and assisted in the building and defending of civilization here.

If our Italian grandparents were courageous in coming here one hundred years ago it is the same courage that millions of English, Germans, Irish, Scots, Jews, Poles, Asians, and Hispanics have demonstrated over the preceding centuries. Immigrants are still facing harrowing passages to participate in the American dream. What makes them so special? Nothing. Whether the other groups were escaping poverty, religious persecution, hunger, pogroms, Communism, dictatorship, or whatever, coming to America was not such an agonizing choice. But, we of Italian origin should rightfully see our transplantation here as an older and more complex immigration. Our real treasure is not Ellis Island but the very foundations of the New World and the United States. Our inspiration should be our forebears' courage and foresight in exploring this world, in the fine Italic hand behind the Constitution and the American form of government, and, eventually, in our muscle and blood in creating an enduring civilization.

This is the real stuff of our heritage. It's the mental fuel that we need to rise above the low expectations that has given us The GodFather and The Sopranos instead of the moon.

Isn't it time to get off the beach and take the high ground?

-John Mancini

Pecora for the People

Though they claim to worship at the altar of the Muses, Hollywood's creative types are nothing more than ritual purveyors of recycled prejudices. If Hollywood had any chutzpah, however, it would mine a treasure trove of real-life heroes whose exploits changed the course of history - and bettered the lives of everyday citizens. The only hitch is that LaLa Land might have to scuttle its fixation with crude Italian stereotypes. One such champion of the people who would be ideal for the silver screen (or cable TV) is Ferdinand Pecora. (read history, n. XXXI, p.24)

Picture a Vincent Bugliosi-like prosecutor bringing Wall Street's smarmy white-collar criminals to justice during the early days of the New Deal. Possessed of a rapier-sharp mind and indefatigable integrity, Pecora fights for truth, justice and the American way - and wins. Furthermore, he takes on the likes of J.P. Morgan Jr., Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and assorted robber barons and pols who prospered as the stock market crumbled and the banking system collapsed.

Riveting courtroom confrontations would feature Pecora's dissection of the pompous and the corrupt. And these scenes would need no theatrical embellishment. You see, in his time, Ferdinand Pecora was the living embodiment of all that is good about America. His crusade against organized malfeasance in business led to the Security and Exchange Act of 1934. Pecora did not suffer corporate fools gladly. He just prosecuted them.

Suspend disbelief for just one moment and imagine Stanley Tucci ascending the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to accept an Oscar for his portrayal of this intrepid Italian American.

What a sea change that would be.

-Rosario Iaconis

Why Some Bigotries Are More Palatable Than Others

Recently, John Rocker, the benighted Atlanta Braves fireballer, launched a bigoted diatribe against New York, blacks, Hispanics, Russians, Asians and Gays. His outburst was intemperate, crude and clearly the handiwork of someone for whom the acronym KKK has nothing to do with strikeouts.

Before the cock crowed thrice, the media responded with a vociferous denunciation of Rocker. Columnists and radio talk show hosts called for his ouster from baseball. All the major regional and national newspapers railed against Rocker's outlandish statements. The Commissioner of Baseball ordered him to undergo psychiatric tests a la the Soviet Union.

Imagine, however, what the reaction would have been had Rocker, instead, strolled through Brooklyn and waxed poetically about Tony Soprano look-a-likes packing the streets. Chances are many of the same radio, television and press pundits would be guffawing along with Rocker. And any protestations by Italian-American groups would have been immediately dismissed as much ado about Guido. For Italians, unlike other ethnicities, have a funny bone and can distinguish comedy from bigotry. They know when to laugh and how to cry. Didn't you know that, dear reader?

That's what The New York Times critic Caryn James must mean when she lauds The Sopranos as "a work of art that is tough, intelligent and daring enough to generate sympathy for a cold-blooded killer." Like most viewers she is not the least bit offended by the John Rocker-like anti-Italian stereotypes presented each week to millions on HBO. In fact, she gushes over the show because "it offers a chance to appreciate how nuanced the story of Tony Soprano and his families, nuclear and Mafia varieties, really is."

Perhaps, then, John Rocker did not engage in bigotry, after all. Perhaps he was merely offering us a gritty and nuanced depiction of New York's gorgeous mosaic in all its ethnic diversity.

-Rosario Iaconis

Who Is Giving Back?

We hear it sometimes from the hypocritical media stars who mop the floor with our Italian culture that they "give back" to the community. What they actually mean is they lend their name to non-ethnic charitable fundraisers. It allows them to be called "celebrities" and assuages any cultural guilt they may bear. But in the scheme of things, this charity work is but a pittance when compared to the social, economic and spiritual damage inflicted upon us by their willing participation in Big Media propaganda. Where is the "give back" from the millions, if not billions, of dollars that have been made in the prostitution of Italian American culture? We wrote to Anthony Puzo, son of the late author Mario Puzo, a short while ago. We asked him to let us know what contributions his father had made to our community in the way of scholarships, museums, cultural centers, social justice, anything. We received no answer. It is the same across the board. There is no Coppola Foundation for Italian Americans, no Scorsese Grants for Italian American Heritage, no De Niro summer camp for Italian American youth.

The plain truth is that we have been had. So let us stop debating with one another over the first amendment rights of media corporations. Let's all ask our boys in the 'hood -- where are the crumbs from the feast?

-John Mancini