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Taylor Street Archives
www.taylorstreetarchives.com
Elijah and the American Dream
Vince Romano
May 2006
Vince Romano
May 2006
“A day will come when you will smell land and there will be no
land…and on that day Captain Ahab will beckon… ”
In Herman Melville’s classic1851 tale of the great white whale, Moby
Dick, the prophet, Elijah, gives the above warning to Captain Ahab’s
crew as they board the Pequod. In this allegorical tale describing
Captain Ahab’s quest of the white whale, Melville intentionally names
the doomed ship the Pequod. In the early struggle for dominance,
power and wealth in the recently settled New England territory, the
pilgrims and competing neighboring Indian tribes conspired to
eliminate the Pequod tribe. The Pequods suffered complete annihilation
and extinction. At the end of Melville’s tale, Elijah’s prophesy is
fulfilled. Ishmael, the teller of tales, is the lone survivor.
Later, at the turn of the 20th century, emigrants arriving from Europe
(modern day pilgrims, if you will), were lured by the “promise.” The
smell of land, in Elijah’s prophesy, was replaced by the symbolic
beckoning of the Statue of Liberty. The day had come when they
“sighted the promise.” For one particular group, however, the
“Promise” (the American dream), as in Elijah’s prophesy, would be
elusive, if not empty. Not just for them, but for their posterity as well.
While others moved smoothly through the maze leading to the
American dream, one group of emigrants continues their upstream
battle to become participants in, rather than servants to, that dream.
One ethnic group, legislated against by congress, singled out and
demeaned by the media, virtually insulated from the executive suites,
and denied access to any affirmative action programs, continues its
upward struggle to achieve the promise their ancestors sought over a
century ago.
There are those who participate in the American dream and there are
those who are destined to remain servants to that dream.
No other emigrant group, no other ethnic group, had been so maligned
by the media as the Italian Americans. The power of the media rivals
that of any force created by man. It played the dominant role in putting
to death two men (Sacco and Venzetti)…executed even after others had
confessed to the crime of which they had been accused. The media also
played a dominant role in the New Orleans lynching of Italian-
Americans who were dragged from their jail cells. For some, the
lynching took place despite having been found innocent in a court of
law. Accounts of that event depict Negroes, only two decades removed
from the emancipation proclamation, participating in the dreaded
lynching.
And then there was Alistair Cooke’s 15 week television series, America.
In one segment, America: The Immigrant, Alistair Cooke is depicted
drawing the names from the files of various immigrant groups from the
Department of Immigration in Washington D.C. From various files he
randomly draws the names of renowned individuals as being
representative of the contributions made by each of their ethnic groups.
For various ethnic groups he chooses a Supreme Court Justice, a musical
composer, a politician, etc. When he arrived at the file listing the Italian
immigrants, the card he pulled out, as being representative of the
contributions made by Italian Americans, was none other than Alfonse
Capone. Not one voice cried, “Shame!”
In addition to such overt and blatant assaults, as appeared on Mr.
Alistair Cooke’s TV series, there are the insidious depictions, routinely
made by the media, of Italian Americans as being synonymous with
crime and decadence.
There was no escape from this deadly combination of the media’s and
the larger society’s perception of Italian-Americans that was being
imposed upon us. “I despise you people with your greasy hair and your
olive oil skin.”…Mario Puzo. The psychological genocide had its affect
on Italian-Americans of all ages. Especially vulnerable were Italian-
American youngsters in the process of fashioning identities and self-
concepts. Equally devastating, the perceptions of our teachers were
impacted by that same media. Many Italian Americans, heeding the not
so subtle message being delivered by the media, castrated the vowel
from the end of their names.
Jane Addams, as close to the patron saint of Taylor Street’s Little Italy as
one can be, recognized this phenomenon. Allegedly, she was
instrumental in Frank Cesario’s decision to anglicize his name to Frank
Chesrow. I suspect that many other Italian Americans who resided in
the Jane Addams’ Hull House community were similarly advised. Frank
Chesrow, during WWII, rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army.
Other Italian Americans, who apparently had not castrated the vowel
from the end of their names, were being herded into concentration
camps.
“Let me tell you, sir. I’ve seen boys younger than these with their arms
ripped off and their legs torn out. But there is no sight like that of an
amputated spirit…they have no prosthetic for that, you know.”
The unrelenting attack by the media had taken its toll upon a people
whose ancestors had both nurtured and passed on all that is now known
as western civilization. Despite an ancestry that is unequaled by any
other group of immigrants, the psychological genocide had its impact
upon the aspirations of our young. In a 1970s federally sponsored study,
Italian Americans occupied the bottom rung of the educational
achievement ladder…they were the lowest of all European ethnic groups
in educational attainment as measured by college enrollments. Italian
American surpassed only the Hispanics and Negroes.
It is the mission of those of us who have the power to influence the
media to exercise that power. The misplaced challenges of the past must
be reviewed and, where necessary, they must be discarded. We can no
longer demand of the media that they not print or film what is
marketable and makes money for them…at least not in the capitalistic
culture that is the foundation of our present society. What we can and
should insist upon, however, is a full and fair presentation in their
works. Their articles, their stories, their documentaries, etc…must be
prefaced and seeded with certain unalterable truths. Failure to do so
distorts audience perceptions and hence, alters historical fact. Shooting
from the hip, here are a few of those under reported and unalterable
truths that should be formalized into two minute capsules as a prologue
to media events such as the Sopranos.
Organized crime was not an Italian/Sicilian phenomenon. It has roots in
the homelands of virtually every ethnic group that comprises the
American landscape today.
Organized crime existed in America long before the Italian-American
emigrants arrived on these shores…perhaps as long ago as the first
pilgrims. The first organized effort to illegally usurp dominance, power
and wealth was orchestrated by the pilgrims our earliest emigrants…the
first WASPS. Perhaps, as Ezekiel had prophesized, it was an omen of
things to come.
Organized Crime in America was surely in existence when the “McCabes
and Mrs. Millers” founded frontier towns that were taken (extorted)
from them by easterners whose off-springs now control and/or influence
the board rooms of corporate America, Governors’ Mansions, and
legislatures. In reviewing the biographies of these icons, the media
must explore and report beyond their tax advantaged “Charitable
Trusts,” in the same manner as they had dismissed the soup kitchens of
the O’Banions and the Capones.
The prohibition day era gave rise to as many organized crime families as
there were ethnic groups in the United States…including the behind the
scenes WASP and “wanna be wasp” communities. In many cases, they
and/or their offspring had and have attained positions of ambassadors,
senators and, perhaps, even presidents.
Organized crime flourished because the political structure permitted it
to flourish. Therefore, by definition, the political structure, sequestered
as it was, must be added to the long list of thriving organized crime
families.
We, in turn, must be honest in our dealings with the media. We must
acknowledge that Italian Americans have and continue to be part of the
organized crime phenomenon since becoming major players during the
prohibition era. We must accept and admit that, as in many other
endeavors that required courage and talent, Italian Americans excelled
in this trade as well. Hence, the Italian-American entry into organized
crime received as much publicity as Joe DiMaggio, Rocky Marciano,
Enrico Fermi, Lee Iacocca, Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini, and a host
of other notable achievers had received. When the Bishop of New York
was asked to explain the paradox of the head of the New York Diocese
and the head of the Mafia family being brothers, he responded, “It’s not
so odd, it just so happens that Italians are the best at whatever they do,
regardless of their vocation.”
Moving on to what I believe to be a more serious problem, what could
have caused Alistair Cooke and CBS television to overlook?
The Italian American who was the only enlisted man in WWII to win
both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross…the two highest awards
given by this country for valor under fire?
The Italian American ace who, during WWII, broke Eddie Rickenbacker’
s record of 26 kills?
The multitude of first generation Italian Americans who were part of
that “greatest generation.” Young men who fought valiantly for this
country only to be besmirched by Mr. Alistair Cooke’s nationwide TV
presentation marinating the minds of the American people to believe
that Alphonse Capone was representative of the contributions made by
the Italian-American immigrant and their offspring. Thanks to the
dedication of men like Anthony Fornelli, we now have a museum that
will document, for posterity, the valor of these young men which had
obviously gone unheralded by the media. A museum that will refute
and rebuke the Alistair Cookes?
The half- million Italian Americans who served in WWII. From the
beaches of the south Pacific to the skies over Europe, we earned our
share of the nation’s highest awards. The Congressional Medal of Honor
alone was won by no less than two dozen Italian Americans. We had no
airports or bridges named after those Italian American heroes. Those
who made the ultimate Sacrifices were memorialized by family and
neighbors. Thousands upon thousands of gold stars hung from the
windows in the Little Italies scattered throughout America.
One must wonder what thoughts ran through the minds of those Italian
American mothers who had lost their sons in the struggle to defeat
America’s enemies or had their sons returned to them with their arms
torn out and their legs blown off, when Alistair Cooke announced to the
world that Alphonse Capone was representative of the contributions
made to America by the Italian Americans. They have no prosthetic for
that, you know!
Although never in harms way, Enrico Fermi, the father of the atomic
bomb, must be considered, along with the above mentioned war heroes,
for his contributions. Surely he would hold as high a place as any
member of any ethnic group that one might ever conceive of being draw
from the files, by Alistair Cooke, on that nationally viewed TV
documentary.
We must confront and expose the de facto exercising of power that
denigrates us while disreputable members of other ethnic groups are
closeted and/or redefined by the media.
Besides our war heroes noted above, we had our share of politicians,
musicians, scientists, athletes and entrepreneurs whose names Mr.
Cooke could have drawn from the immigration files in Washington DC.
So how is it that Alistar Cooke chose Alphonse Capone as representative
of the contributions made to this country by Italian-Americans?
Perhaps the more substantive question is, “Why did Alistair Cooke not
use George “Bugs” Moran, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, the Gusenberg
brothers, Mickey Cohen, Whitey Bulger, Dutch Schultz, Arnold
Rothstein, Dion O’Banion, Leopold and Loeb, Llewellyn “Murray the
camel” Humphreys, John “Jake” Guzik, and a host of other notable and
nefarious characters as being representative of their ethnic groups?
“Who gave the order?”
It is not just the failure of the media to report on the positive
contributions of Italian-Americans or their zealousness in depicting
Italian-Americans as being synonymous with organized crime that must
be challenged. We must confront and expose the de facto exercising of
power that denigrates us while disreputable members of other ethnic
groups are closeted and/or redefined by the media. It is not just the
words of our enemies that we must remember; it is their silence that
must be remembered, as well. Not one voice cried, “Shame!”
When their existence was threatened, our Roman ancestors built a navy
and defeated the greatest naval power of its time…When their existence
was threatened, our Roman ancestors transformed themselves into
horsemen and outfought and outmaneuvered the best cavalry troops of
its time…When their existence was threatened, our Roman ancestors
conscripted legions of soldiers to match that of the invading
hordes…When their existence was threatened, our Romans ancestors
built alliances to neutralize and overcome the threat to their empire.
Perhaps the message here is that a Praetorian Guard of Italian American
community leaders must be forged to control and neutralize the threat
the media poses. We must model what other successful groups have
done. While other ethnic groups boast of having upwards to 35,000
lobbyists, we, as Italian Americans have yet to launch a single lobbyist
to petition, monitor and, where necessary, threaten congress and the
media on our behalf. (The honorable Congressman Frank Annunzio
was the last of a breed.)
Perception is reality. Those who control the media control perception
and, ultimately, promote their version of reality. Since its inception, the
Chicago Tribune had as its motto on its editorial page, the following,
“The mission of a modern day newspaper is to shape and lead public
opinion.” During a media workshop, held at Triton College in suburban
Chicago, and attended by editors, TV executives, politicians and
community leaders, the contention that the media simply reported the
news was heatedly challenged. Shortly after that heated workshop, the
Chicago Tribune removed that motto from its editorial page.
Queste e cosa nostra.