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CSJ Report
The Commission for Social Justice (CSJ) is the anti-defamation arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the biggest and oldest national organization for men and women of Italian descent in the United States.
The CSJ was founded in 1979 to fight the stereotyping of Italian Americans by the entertainment, advertising and news industries. It also collaborates with other groups to ensure that people of all races, religions and cultures are treated with dignity and respect.
The CSJ monitors the entertainment, advertising and news industries, contacts offending parties by letter and/or telephone and alerts other Italian American organizations, e-mail networks and concerned individuals to the problem so that they too can take action.
Through its Positive Image Program, the CSJ regularly informs the media and general public about Italian American achievements, contributions, history and culture.
As part of its Positive Image Program, the CSJ conducts research, produces studies, teaching tools, pamphlets, exhibits and other materials on the achievements and contributions of Italian Americans.
Crucial
1887 Trial Evidence Establishes Italy's
Antonio
Meucci As Inventor of The Telephone
So, who did invent the telephone? Click this link to read this crucial evidence.
http://www.esanet.it/chez_basilio/new_york_lecture_press.htm
CRITICS:
FUGHEDABOUT GENNARO FEAST
By Brooke Edwards, The
Villager (NYC, NY) – March 28, 2007
The future of the annual Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy remains a bit uncertain, after a subcommittee of Community Board 2 voted to deny the application for this year’s festivities. Though the decision ultimately rests with the Mayor’s Community Assistance Unit, C.B. 2’s recommendation may still hold sway over the fate of the popular event.
Bob Gormley, C.B. 2 district manager, said one reason the board’s Street Activities Committee denied the request was because no one from the San Gennaro festival attended the meeting. The group planning the feast says they did not receive any notification that their request would be voted on at the March 7 meeting, though Gormley says C.B. 2 sent them a letter a week in advance.
The other reason the application was denied was because the only people who did attend the meeting opposed the event, saying their quality of life is disrupted by the noise, crowds and street closures, plus trash left on the streets when it ends.
Lillian Tozzi, who lives on Mulberry St. in the festival area, said, “We have 99 days a year where our streets are closed. It’s very, very disruptive.” Tozzi also objects to the feast because, she said, “The feast the way it is now is not really a traditional Italian feast anyway. It’s an international feast.” Tozzi says that ever since former Mayor Giuliani stopped the Mafia from running the festival, it has gone downhill. She says the festival is not kept clean, with rats running around on the grills and tables left up overnight.
“No one’s enforcing anything,” she said.
The subcommittee heard these complaints and issued their denial. The application then went before the full community board on March 22, who bounced it back to the subcommittee for a revote at a time when San Gennaro could be present.
The subcommittee will vote again on the festival’s fate at their next meeting on April 17. Gormley fully expects that there will be people on both sides of the argument present.
The feast started in Little Italy in 1926 to honor San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, who was martyred in 305 A.D. It takes place over 11 days, surrounding the Sept. 19 anniversary of Gennaro’s death. There are parades, entertainment and food stands, with a celebratory Mass and candlelit procession along Mulberry and Mott Sts. carrying a statue of the saint from the Church of the Most Precious Blood.
Regarding the dispute about this year’s festival, the church’s pastor, Fabian Grifone, said, “As far as I’m concerned it’s approved. The feast means too much to this city.” He said they are continuing to move forward and plan for the festival, scheduled to take place Sept. 13 through Sept. 23.
“The people who objected to the feast, they knew about it before they moved in,” Grifone added. “It’s been going on for 80 years. If they didn’t like it, they shouldn’t have moved here.”
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_204/criticsfughedabout.html
July
07, 2006
Reported by Bro. Mike Ferrato
Quotation from ancient Roman orator Cicero:
“Not to know what has happened before we were born is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”
Below you will see some writings which clearly portray negatively against our Italian heritage and culture.
Posted August 3, 2006
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Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Sunday afternoon, the overpacked convertible turned onto LaGrange Road in Frankfort right in front of me. All eyes at the intersection turned with it. The occupants, clad in T-shirts celebrating their home country, waved their flags and shouted in glee.
Just a week after the Fourth of July, and here these young hooligans were celebrating their love for another country.
Well, if they love it so much, why don't they go back to it?
That's right. This is America. And if you're going to wave a flag, you better be waving an American flag.
The red, white and blue.
Not the green, white and red.
Yeah, these ingrates were celebrating Italy's victory in the World Cup. Speeding around with their "ITALIA" T-shirts, tooting their horn, waving their flag.
If you're going to toot any horn, it oughta be American.
Just because they've given us the "gift of their cuisine," these Italians think that entitles them to do anything they want here and flout our laws with their Mafia and Cosa Nostra.
I wanted to get out of my car and wave my fist at them.
"That's right, goombah," I would've shouted. "I breaka you face!"
Instead, I decided to go home and call Speak Out.
"I bet you won't print this," I said into the phone, "but those Italians out in the street celebrating that World Cup are all greasy meatballs. With their olive oil hair and guinea charm, they think they can just come over here and woo our women and take all the jobs in the spaghetti restaurants. Well, did you know pizza was invented in America? That's right, the good old U.S.A. Go back to Italy."
The only upside to Italy's World Cup victory — that's soccer, you know, not football; I don't care what they call it over there in Europe; or South America; or Africa; or Central America — is that the Italians beat the French.
Imagine how bad that would be, those Frogs driving around in their Peugots and Renaults, waving their very un-American red, white and blue flags.
Sunday's scene was almost as bad as that other ethnic group that gets all worked up on their big holiday. You'll see hundreds of flags flying atop cars, irking the rest of us bona fide American patriots.
Everyone hooting and hollering and drinking all day in between little naps.
You can pick them out of a crowd just by their skin tone.
The Irish.
They think they own St. Patrick's Day, taking over the streets to march and wave flags and drink booze and clog the roads and get on my nerves. You're in America now. Assimilate. Celebrate America. Speak English. I can't stand that Gaelic chatter you hear in all those neighborhoods overrun by the Irish.
And their flag is orange, white and green. What kind of country puts orange in a flag?
I get teary-eyed and my chest puffs up when I hear "The Star-Spangled Banner." "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" can't beat that.
All I'm saying is, forget where you came from. You're here now. Speak our language, learn our customs and renounce all connections to those countries you and your forebears left.
This is America.
Love it — in exactly the same way I love it — or leave it.
Join me next week, when I attack Canadians, who exploit our open northern border, and Haitian wetbacks who had the temerity to float across perilous waters into America the beautiful.
Managing editor Dennis Robaugh may be reached at drobaugh@dailysouthtown.com.
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
From: Dona Desanctis
To: Mark Siegel, spokesman, Cingular Wireless
From: The Order Sons of Italy in America
Re: Cingular Wireless's double standard
The Order Sons of Italy in America is the nation's oldest and largest organization for men and women of Italian heritage. Recently, its anti-defamation arm, the Sons of Italy Commission for Social Justice, learned of a curious double standard Cingular applies in its attempt at "political correctness."
Specifically, your company is currently airing a commercial featuring Sopranos regular Tony Sirica (“Paulie”), playing a menacing Italian American gangster. The commercial perpetuates the stereotype of Italian American men as violent criminals, which is highly offensive. Regrettably, requests from concerned Italian Americans and others to have it removed have been ignored.
At the same time, last month, in its May 14 edition, the Washington Post reported that Cingular apologized and immediately removed from its online store a ringtone called “La Migra Alert” (Spanish slang for the Border Patrol) that mocked illegal immigrants when a reporter brought it to the company’s attention. You are quoted in that article as saying, "We realized it was offensive, no question about it. We apologized for putting it up there in the first place."
My question to you, Mr. Siegel and to your company is, why the double standard? Since there can be no possible or plausible justification for it, we ask you to please remove the offensive commercial that denigrates 16 million Italian Americans who are U.S. Citizens as well as the nation's fifth largest ethnic group and issue a public and formal apology which we will certainly accept and widely circulate.
IN THE NEWS
June 2, 2006 – Sons of Italy News Bureau – National Chaplain Named
The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the nation’s oldest and largest organization for men and women of Italian heritage, has named Father Joseph Capella of New Jersey as the new OSIA National Chaplain. OSIA National President Vincent Sarno has appointed Father Capella who will succeed Fr. Donald Licata who died in March after attending to OSIA’s spiritual needs for 15 years. “I have had the pleasure of having spiritual guidance from Father Capella for the last few years,” says National President Sarno. “I know that his insight, wisdom and love of God, combined with the respect of his Italian culture and heritage will make him a great religious counselor for OSIA.” As national chaplain, Fr. Capella will attend OSIA events at the national, state and local levels to offer prayer and counsel. He also will give pastoral assistance to the OSIA leadership and individual members as requested. Fr. Capella had previously served as OSIA state chaplain of New Jersey, where he attended conventions and other meetings, and performed weddings, baptisms and funerals for members in that state. “I am always impressed by the level of fraternal love and support shown at such times,” says Fr. Capella. “It is a wonderful intentional community that is bound together by the tenets of our Italian heritage. I'm so proud to be a part of it.”
http://www.osia.org/public/newsroom/press_releases.asp
June 1, 2006 – Queens Chroncile (Rego Park, NY) - Group Aims to Preserve Best of Italian Heritage
Naturally
enough, Diego Lodico summed up the spirit of the Italian cultural
organization he founded with a quotation from ancient Roman orator
Cicero: “Not to know what has happened before we were born
is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of human
life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the
records of history?” According to Lodico, this is the idea
behind Bella Italia Mia - or “My Beautiful Italy” - a
Maspeth based organization dedicated to Italian culture and
history. The organization’s origins date to 1995, when
Lodico retired after running two clothing stores and working as a
consultant on Wall Street. Now that his time wasn’t consumed
with work, the second generation Italian American began to look to
enrich his knowledge of his roots. After searching for events to
fulfill his interest, he gradually became a familiar face at local
Italian cultural gatherings. After a while, people began turning
to Lodico for information about Italian American heritage events,
and he started a calendar to encompass the few that were happening
in Maspeth and Middle Village. Then, in 1998, Lodico decided to
start a nonprofit organization to promote Italian cultural
observances and a positive image of Italians in general.
For
the complete story visit the following link:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16722522&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574901&rfi=6
May 14, 2006 – Press World - Italian Americans and Federal Hill – The Documentary
The story of Italian immigrants, the hardships they faced, and their successful integration into American Society while preserving their customs and traditions has been a story largely untold if at all. Inaccuracies of Italo-American society, family and history have been perpetuated by movies like ‘The Godfather’ Coppola ‘72), ‘The Untouchables’ (DePalma ‘87), ‘Goodfellas’ (Scorsese ‘90), ‘A Bronx Tale’ (DeNiro ‘93), and ‘Federal Hill’ (Corrente ‘94). While some stereotyping happens with all immigrants and nationalities, movies like these fill the minds of children with absolute rubbish and label people with Italian ancestry unfairly. Movies, plays, skits and even animated movies like the hit “Sharktales” poke fun at Italians as comic relief and stoop to give the bad guy an “Italian hoodlum” feel. By contrast, an upcoming documentary movie holds promise of a different view and fill the huge void left by the Hollywood crowd. Aptly called “Italian Americans and Federal Hill,” this film serves up historical reality, nostalgia, traditions, food, family values and the importance of education as related by Italo-Americans themselves in their own words. The official web site is at www.italianamericansandfederalhill.com
For the complete story visit the following site:
ITALIAN TECHNOLOGY
May 16, 2006 – UPI (Milan, Italy) - New Kind of Cement Absorbs Pollution
An Italian company has begun marketing a cement that is capable of absorbing pollution from vehicles. Italcementi, which spent 10 years developing its TX Active, said the building material is capable of reducing urban pollution by more than 40 percent, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Tuesday. Tests on a road near Milan showed TX Active cut the level of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide by as much as 65 percent. It functions via a chemical process called photocatalysis, whereby sunlight triggers a chemical reaction when titanium dioxide on the surface of the cement comes into contact with pollutants in the air. TX Active works most effectively in bright sunlight. Italcementi said test results have been verified by independent bodies like the National Research Council. TX Active cement has already been used on a number of buildings, including Air France’s new headquarters at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, Rome’s Dives in Misericordia church and Bordeaux’s Hotel de Police.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1164468.php/New_kind_of_cement_absorbs_pollution
May 24, 2006 – ANSA (Rome, Italy) - Italians Wipe Out Bad Memories
Unpleasant and even traumatic memories can be wiped out, Italian scientists say. Working with mice, Turin University researchers have managed to modify the memory of sounds associated with electric shocks. “Memories are fragile things, stored in various parts of the brain. There are a bit like jigsaw puzzles. It takes days to store away all the bits but only a few hours to reconstruct the mosaic,” said lead researcher Piergiorgio Strata. “We have managed to intervene when the parts are being brought back together from the amygdala, the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum.” “It appears that the nastiest memories come out of the cerebellum. If we can block that bit, the memory comes out modified - it could even return as a pleasant one.” Strata hopes to get sufficient funding to start experimenting with humans, especially trauma victims. “It works in mice, so it should work with people,” he said. The Turin University neurophysiologist presented his findings at a Rome conference marking the 100th anniversary of Italian pathologist Camillo Golgi’s Nobel Prize for studies of the nervous system.
http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-05-25_1253924.html
May 26, 2006 – ANSA (Rome, Italy) - Italians Fight Malaria with Plant
Italian doctors are set to take an ancient Chinese plant to Africa to fight malaria, the continent’s No.1 killer. The active ingredient of the Artemisia plant has been used to combat malaria for years. But even if that is not extracted, herbal infusions can slow the progress of the disease, said Florence University researcher Franco Vinceri. “In cases of necessity it can prove useful in preventing dramatic outcomes,” said Vinceri, who heads the Florentine university’s pharmaceutical science department. The Italian Foundation of Doctors for Africa (FIMA) has raised 50,000 euros to take artemisia plants to Burundi and teach local people how to grow them, dry the leaves and make an infusion to drink several times a day. “We have to save Africa, which is falling into the abyss,” said FIMA’s honorary president Cardinal Ersilio Tonino. More Africans die of malaria than AIDS. It kills a child every 30 seconds.
http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-05-26_1266758.html
WORLD TRADE CENTER MEMORIAL
Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that Frank Sciame will lead the effort to ensure a buildable World Trade Center memorial. Sciame will convene the Memorial and Master Plan Design Committee of Michael Arad, Peter Walker, Max Bond and Daniel Libeskind and work in coordination with the LMDC, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the WTC Memorial Foundation to ensure the memorial is brought in line with the $500 million budget. The Governor and Mayor have set the end of June as the deadline for resolution.
Nota: Frank Sciame is our National IPP Joseph Sciame’s second cousin and they are the descendants of Giuseppe Sciame, their great grandfather. Their two grandfathers: Giuseppe (for Joseph) and Antonio (for Frank) were brothers.]
“The creation of a fitting memorial to all those we lost of September 11, 2001 is the centerpiece of our collective rebuilding efforts and we remain committed to adhering to the vision of Michael Arad and Peter Walker’s ‘Reflecting Absence’, to maintaining the long established budget of $500 million, and to keeping our promise to open the memorial by September 11, 2009,” the Governor added.
CAUSE OPENED FOR MARINE CHAPLAIN WHO DIED IN VIETNAM
The Long Island Catholic - June 7, 2006
WASHINGTON (CNS) - With the permission of the Vatican, the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services has begun an inquiry that could lead to the canonization of Maryknoll Father Vincent R. Capodanno, a U.S. Navy chaplain who died in 1967 while serving with the Marines in Vietnam.
Msgr. Roland A. Newland, chancellor of the archdiocese, made the formal declaration of the opening of Father Capodanno’s cause May 21 during the 12th annual Memorial Day Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
With the declaration, the New York-born priest also receives the title “servant of God.” A tribunal set up by the Archdiocese for the Military Services will gather information about Father Capodanno’s life and virtues for eventual presentation to the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes.
Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, head of the military archdiocese, was the main celebrant for the Mass, attended by more than 1,500 people.
In his homily at the Mass, Father Louis V. Iasiello, a rear admiral who is chief of Navy chaplains, said Father Capodanno “is more than a person of extraordinary military accomplishment… He is also a Christian who lived an exemplary life of extraordinary virtue, a person who, through the testament of his life, offers all believers a model of faith to inspire them to live, more deeply, their own Christian vocation.”
Born Feb.13, 1929, on Staten Island in New York, Vincent Robert Capodanno studied at Maryknoll seminaries and was ordained to the priesthood June 14, 1958. He served for the first eight years of his priesthood as a Maryknoll missionary in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Dec.28, 1965, Father Capodanno asked to serve with the Marines in Vietnam and joined the 1st Marine Division in 1966 as battalion chaplain. Fatally wounded by enemy sniper fire Sept. 4, 1967, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
ITALYMONDO.COM
Welcome to italyMONDO.com, the world’s premier company and website regarding our proud Italian heritage. Although many of our sites, such as MyItalianAncestor.com and MyItalianTown.com, are not active as of now, please keep checking back as, following my upcoming business trip to Italy this Spring, these various sister sites will open for business in the Summer of 2006, including the much talked about UpstateNYItalians.com (With full databases of all Italian who immigrated to Upstate New York... FREE!) and our online magazine, MONDO!. It’s a very exciting time of for italyMONDO, to say the least! So, at this time, we are allowing early users to sign up for our online magazine, which will allow “members” to keep up-to-date on the status of the sites, and also receive some special treats such as pictures and videos of my upcoming trip. Of course, it’s completely free; This is simply our way of reaching out to the international Italian community. All we need is a name and e-mail, which you can submit via the newsletter sign-up box below, or directly via an e-mail to the address shown below. E-Mail: pete@italymondo.com or write to: 7 Hover Avenue, Amsterdam, NY 12010
For more information visit the following website:
May 25, 2006 – Baltimore Sun - A Personal and Cultural Renaissance in Little Italy
Ten years ago, the Rev. Oreste “Rusty” Pandola asked Rosalie Ranieri to turn back the clock. Take this old school - St. Leo’s Elementary - and make it a resource for the dwindling, aging community of Little Italy in Baltimore. Offer courses of practical value: the preparation of wills and the like. Oh, and throw in some Italian language courses, some cooking classes, winemaking and even Italian card games. Mrs. Ranieri - the soul of what came to be called the Oreste Pandola Learning Center - sighed and shrugged philosophically. “Like a good Catholic girl, I said I would try,” she says. Father Pandola, the pastor of St. Leo’s Church, died suddenly not long after his assignment to Mrs. Ranieri. But she has continued as if he were watching over her every move. She has made the school into something more than it was: a community center for Little Italy and former residents of the neighborhood now scattered across the region.
For the complete story visit the following link: