I’ve been asking myself that question for some time. Having participated in Italian American affairs for over forty years, it seems strange to ponder such a thing.
It is not so much a question for our Italic Institute, which has remained on course over the decades. Our mission is the same as it was in 1987: to educate Italian Americans in their classical heritage. Over the years we have evolved into a think-tank, publishing and pondering on subjects well beyond the food, travel, and fashion expected of our ethnic group. This blog is one example.
Other organizations have evolved too, but in ways that seem confusing to us. None of us works in a vacuum so change is often a reaction to the realities of the times. I hesitate to condemn other organizations because they are confronted with the same realities we are, and their reactions may make more sense than they appear.
The realities we are talking about deal with assimilation, intermarriage, ethnic image, and youth acculturation. For all organizations these challenges affect their bottom line—the financial one—attracting members and donations.
We are no longer producing Italian Americans with the values of yesteryear, for the reasons stated above. Intermarriage often takes away the one obvious sign of ethnicity by replacing many Italian surnames. And as I have repeatedly written, Catholicism does not support our Italian identity as do Judaism, Greek Orthodox, Hindus, and other denominations in their communities. We have had to try harder.
Our Institute’s strategy of increasing pride by offering better educated Italian Americans a “classical” view of heritage versus the common “immigrant” perspective, clearly overestimated the number of followers by the thousands! Still, we refuse to compromise our message. How else can we be the “alternative?” Other organizations appear to be shifting gears, trying other angles to stay relevant.
Some used to donate large sums to charities like Alzheimer’s and Cooley’s Anemia. Such generosity was also a marketing tool for membership and fundraising events. It also projected the image of an ethnic group that was “giving back” to American society. That has now changed.
Giving back now includes helping Italy. This year, the Sons & Daughters of Italy directed some generosity for storm relief occasioned by Mediterranean Cyclone Harry. The National Italian American Foundation just gave the Italian government $115,000 for that same storm relief. NIAF also funded a huge mosaic in Naples (not Ellis Island) honoring Italian immigrants.
NIAF has also embarked on a campaign of world diplomacy signing “strategic alliances” with the United Nations, with some Italian regions (including the Isle of Capri!), and the Polish American community. Such announcements make for inflated press releases but how do they address the fading Italian American legacy? Maybe there is no magic bullet. Being “Italian” means so little to the new generations.
One of NIAF’s late benefactors, Peter Secchia, funded the Voyage of Discovery program some years ago that now sends 48 qualified college students to Italy for ten days. (Secchia was the U.S. Ambassador to Italy from 1989-1993.) This program definitely helps but the numbers pale in comparison to Birthright Israel which sends some 10,000 American Jewish students annually to their ancestral homeland. Since its inception in 1999, the program has gifted over 900,000 young Jews from across the globe. We can never hope to match those figures.
But there are other ways to raise the awareness of Italian Americans and to enrich them. When I read of NIAF’s strategic alliance with the Polish community I found this site for a Polish American credit union, the Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union (PSFCU). Here is what it does:
“Each year, the credit union directs approximately $3 million into community support. This includes more than $600,000 in scholarships for Polish American students (providing 7,500 recipients with more than $8 million in scholarships since the program began in 2001), direct donations to 142 organizations totaling more than $900,000, and roughly $2 million in sponsorships for cultural events, parishes, Saturday schools, and Polish American media. The PSFCU holds nearly $3 billion in assets, serves more than 126,000 members across 24 branches in five states, and invests roughly $3 million a year in the community that built it.”
Can we do the same? After all, a paesano founded the Bank of America. –JLM
There is a Polish/Slavic Union here in Chicago, too. They absolutely put their money where their mouth is. They fund Saturday afternoon Polish language/history classes for kids.
I know because I taught (and currently substitute teacher, now that I’m retired) in a school district (s) with a lot of Polish American students. Whether first-generation or third-generation, the students all attend Saturday morning language and culture programs.
They also find the time to engage in the same “American” after-school sports as Italian Americans do: baseball, football, hockey, etc. Yet they put their heritage first. Even kids who complain about going later realize the importance of such programs and are grateful.
Assimilation is killing us. So is ignorance. Just saw an example of this on-line: Mazzaro’s Deli in St. Petersburg, FL is a famous, bustling, grocery store/deli which also has a huge warehouse of import gift items. Yet the only pictures hanging on the walls of the deli are of Don Vito Corleone, Joe Pesci, and the entire cast of the Sopranos. I think there’s one of Dean Martin, too. And I’ll bet you that the owner of Mazzaro’s isn’t even aware that the King of Cool (along with Tony Bennett) publicly condemned “The Godfather” movies. Sad.
This is always a challenging topic for the reasons you both noted. The Italian American orgs of the future will have less to do with fork and spoon village identity, than appreciation of Italian Culture, and for Italian American, heritage.. The groups that can appeal to those interest will have an interesting ride. Actually it is also more in line with an appreciation of the philosophy of the Italic Institute.
Literally weekly, I receive notices from interested people who want to present, or have a forum for specific focus on Italian Americana whether it’s in the arts, music and innovation. There are also needs for regional clearing houses regarding keeping up with these activities.
Some activities we do, perhaps are good PR, but in orgs I am involved in, a lot of scholarships have been given out….4-500 over 50 years, and I cannot recall a single membership from those activities…..not that I am against motherhood issues but from a bang for your buck….not so great.
The other thing I have noticed is that transfer of knowledge and heritage is just not doing so well. When an “old timer passes” I have noticed, at least in my area, SF Bay, the kids are not even continuing their family membership, so continuity of heritage ends with a certain generation. Thankfully we pick up our membership from all walks of life that enjoy the culture, language, travel and experience, more than any direct Italian heritage.
Funny too, for a while the news waves always blast a horrible ditty, “Cars for Kids…donate your car today. Help children services….,” it turns out that Cars for Kids, supported Orthodox jews sending their children to visit Israel……one guy wanted his money or car back…..and now there’s an investigation as to the legality of their promises.
The other interesting thing is observing the dimwits, who while knowing so little of their Italian heritage, parade around if being connected to mafia like stereotypes— go figure— A sense of humor is always helpful in this field.
Italian American scholarships are a membership tool for the orgs. The parent or grandparent usually has to be a member for at least a year. Apply to NIAF for their few scholarships and you need to be a member – and it’s a Foundation which is supposed to give away money! For a NIAF grant you have to be sponsored by an “affiliate ” org which pays NIAF $1,500 for such a designation. These are businesses not charities.
Like Cars for Kids, I recall being encouraged to sign up for The United Way at my old corporate job so a donation was automatically taken from my pay. When I found out that a huge part of the recipients of United Way were Jewish groups I stopped giving and specified the one Italian charity for my donation. Quite amazing how Italian American groups rarely get a piece of these group charity pies, maybe we are not smart enough.