Last week, our suburban newspaper Newsday published an op-ed by former congressman Steve Israel recounting how Albert Einstein wrote President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 warning him that Nazi Germany was pursuing an atomic bomb. The op-ed cited work by Jewish American scientist Leo Szilard as inspiring the Einstein letter. What the op-ed overlooked was that the Einstein letter referred twice to the work of Enrico Fermi as well as Szilard. In fact, Fermi ultimately split the atom and produced the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942 – the breakthrough that put us ahead of the Germans.
Both my colleague Rosario Iaconis and I independently read this op-ed and sent letters to the editor noting this oversight. Neither of our letters was published. A quick search of Jewish websites revealed a pattern: [from Jewniverse] “On that note, Szilard co-authored with Einstein a letter to FDR in 1939 warning that Germany might develop A-bombs so the U.S. should do the same. Thus began the Manhattan Project.” (Actually, the letter was only signed by Einstein.)
Access to the media is difficult enough for the average Joe, but it has been a frustrating experience for Italian American organizations. Either our message is too grandiose: “Italian explorers opened the New World” or a threat to American entertainment: “Mafia movies are offensive.” Many of our organizations choose not to run the media gauntlet knowing how little respect there is for our opinions.
The only other group that has a similar problem in this age of diversity are Black conservatives. I’ve come to sympathize with them as much as our own image-conscious paesani. You will never see reporters from NBC, CBS, or ABC seeking out Ben Carson, Larry Elder, Robert Woodson, or Leo Terrell for their opinions on race relations. They and their conservative kinsmen blame much of Black poverty and violence on disintegrating Black families (‘missing fathers’) and a culture of victimhood espoused by the likes of Al Sharpton, the Black Lives Matter movement, and myriad “civil rights” groups. In fact, these race-conscious activists like Charles Blow (NYTimes), Joy Reid (MSNBC), Lester Holt (NBC), Whoopi Goldberg (The View) monopolize the media.
But unlike us, conservative Blacks are making headway. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is running for president on a message that Blacks are not victims in need of reparations or affirmative action. In media, actor Morgan Freeman is another conservative who denies victimhood. He is proactive in securing positive movie roles and producing prideful documentaries – tonight is the premier of his World War II homage to the all-Black 761st Tank Battalion (“Black Panthers”) on the History Channel. No less than Jackie Robinson was a member of this unit.
Compare these proud Blacks to our own bigshots. Shall we see on Wednesday, during the televised primary debate, if Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis inadvertently admits to being Italic? We are still waiting for ethnic exploiters like Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, David Chase, and Robert DeNiro to admit they got rich from stereotyping their own people. Clearly, there is no hope they would ever produce a positive version of our heritage.
So, here we are not merely objecting to the unabridged cable menu of Mafia movies – you can catch one on literally any day of the year – but now struggle to save the reputation of the man who joined two worlds in 1492. We may be muzzled but our celebrities are not. Instead, they have joined the opposition. Leonardo DiCaprio has pushed for Indigenous Peoples Day to replace Columbus Day. Fellow actor Mark Ruffalo had this to say on the subject:
“[Columbus] is nothing for the Italian American community to feel any pride over. We don’t have an Al Capone statue up anywhere that we celebrate. Columbus did a lot worse than him or any other Italian mob boss. He is a shame to our heritage.” [Ruffalo tweet on 30 June 2020]
David Chase not so subtly encouraged omertà on Columbus Day in one more insulting episode of The Sopranos when gang members voiced support for the holiday and Tony warned them not to get involved.
Art reflects the media’s reality. So, we are left alone to fight for positivity. -JLM
Fermi is often regarded as the true father of the atomic bomb and, without question, the father of atomic energy. I have seen a number of movies about the WWII development of the atomic bomb that typically portray Fermi as a somewhat minor figure. I will be anxious to see how he is portrayed in the newly released movie “Oppenheimer”.
That your observations and comments were ignored says a lot. I am really not surprised, and it is an American tragedy that you can not have an honest dialogue for fear of being labeled x or y, or having to explain yourself, rather than deal with the issue. Recently I was at a museum where they wanted to promote inclusiveness and listed some of the groups not normally associated with art shows and exhibits, The list was interesting , but I have no idea why some groups were included, and why some were not, naturally Italian Americans and their experience was not considered.
The bottom line is merit and talent are still always going to trump political correctness, especially in the arts and sciences, even to a fault. I recall in the sciences after WWII how many Nazi scientists were fought over, by both Russia and the USA. That may grate all the revisionist but you need excellence to keep a competitive edge….it just is what it is…
I saw Oppenheimer. Fermi is portrayed as a minor figure. Che sorpresa, no?
Fermi appears only briefly in Oppenheimer, and his fellow Italian physicist Antonio Segre’ not at all. You will never see a PBS Special on the life of the progressive New Deal Congressman Vito Marcantanio, who represented East Harlem and was viewed by his many Puerto Rican constituents as Puerto Rico’s unofficial representative in the House of Representatives, as he stood up forcibly for their rights, along with the rights of his Italian, African-American and Jewish constituents. He was a major figure in NYC politics until his early death around 1950.