Italian Americans

Italian Americans (I/A) have distinguished themselves in science, business, teaching, and other worthy endeavors. Yet society continues to routinely depict us as greasers and mobsters. When not stereotyped as The Fonz or the Enforcer, we get the Most Happy Fella treatment. Product mascots like Aunt Jemima, Chiquita Banana and Grandpa Stroehmann have gotten makeovers for a more dignified, assertive, upscale image.

Only pisano food-peddlers, ranging from little winemakers to rotund pizza bakers, have retained their organ-grinder servility and bambino-like emotionalism.

Big shots guilty of ethnic slurs lose their reputations, even their jobs. Think of Earl Buntz, Jimmy the Greek, and Marge Shot- if you'd stoop so low. Only wop-chops go unpunished. Mario Cuomo, as upstanding a politician there is, had to contend with opponents implying he was connected to the mob. It seems that slurs against I/A are the last socially acceptable prejudice in the US.

However, we (I/A's) are partly the blame because we seldom protest the slander. In fact we often join in and laugh at the punch lines. Slams against I/A may seem harmless compared to with the chokehold racism of Mark Fuhrman or the vile anti-Semitism of synagogue defacers. But added up, they amount to a vast underrepresentation at the top echelons of business, national politics, and college administration. I/A's need to stop the self-flagellation and insist that others respect our heritage.

SoÐ'.....should we stage protests? Stay home from the workplace? No, those symbolic steps may be right for others, but not us. Our actions must center on the workplace. Let's emphasize the real ways we contribute to, and partake of, the American dream: not with knives, guns , and brass knuckles as the tools of our trade, but with beakers, backhoes, and computer keyboards.

NOTE: It is a privilege and an honor to