Last week, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter (BLM) stated that much of their organization’s $90 million income since its inception came from “white guilt.” In other words, wealthy Whites and White-dominated corporations needed to buy forgiveness for “systemic racism.”
As an honorary White person – Italian Americans were inducted into this august category only a few decades ago – I choose not to beg for (or pay for) penance for another group’s sins. The way I see it, the real sinners are White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) – the original “Whites”. They may try to deflect all their sins onto an Italian explorer and the year 1492, but Black folks have recently come up with a more appropriate year and event: 1619, the year the first Black slaves were purchased by English settlers. Let’s take a walk down memory lane.
Italian explorer John Cabot claimed eastern North America for England in 1497. In 1607, English settlers planted the first colony in Virginia. By 1619, the heat got to these sun-burned farmers and they begged Parliament for Black slaves who were assumed to be sun and heat-resistant. Slavery of all races was a universal business at the time, but Muslim Arabs had discovered the mother lode of slaves in sub-Saharan Africa. From the 7th Century to modern times, Muslims enslaved by one count 14 million Blacks. Europeans came late to this African slave business, around the 1400s. According to Prof. Louis Gates of Harvard, of the 10.7 million Africans who survived the slave ships to the New World only about 388,000 were American WASP purchases.
There was a reason why sub-Saharan Africa was an endless reservoir of slaves. Despite all the historical spin and euphemism, Black Africa was a backward tribal hodgepodge. It was the Arabs who opened it to trade, religion, and civilization. But metal weapons, tools, and pots had to be paid for with gold or slaves, the only commodities the outside world wanted from the primitive continent. African chiefs already bartered in slaves and were persuaded to convert to Islam as an excuse to enslave even more fellow Blacks as “infidels”. In turn, the Arabs took the slaves and gelded the males to avoid racial “confusion” in the Middle East. (There’s a reason the Middle East has few racial problems and the United States is awash in them.)
By contrast, the keen Anglos viewed castrating Black males as bad business when reproducing them was akin to compound interest – doubling their capital investment forever. Moreover, these wily scions of the British Isles had no qualms about raping Black females and adding the resulting issue to their slave inventory – cotton was thicker than blood! So, from 388,000 imported slaves, we now have 47 million Blacks – again according to Prof. Gates, the average Black is 25% “white”. But give credit where it is due, they’re overwhelming part-WASP, in effect “Afro-Saxons”.
With this knowledge, the question becomes: why should Italian Americans, or Irish-, German-, Polish-, Jewish- and so many other Euro-Americans bear “White Guilt.” Slavery was outlawed before many of our forebears came, and earlier arrivals – like the Irish and Germans – actually fought to free the slaves. Nor did we invent Jim Crow or the KKK. In fact, a good number of Italians were lynched by these defenders of Anglo America. Although we admittedly shared the racist benefits of an Anglo world, they didn’t open every door – we had our own “do not apply” Anglo bigotry at schools, corporations, government, and the professions…and may still have.
In 1989, the media latched on to a perfect replacement for WASP bigotry: Bensonhurst, that Brooklyn neighborhood where a Black youth was murdered by an 18-year old Italian American. It was the George Floyd media extravaganza of its day. Instead of police racism it was northern White racism with an Italian face. Forget Jim Crow, the New South was paradise compared to walking in an Italian neighborhood. Nothing subtle about Italian bigotry – Al Sharpton was greeted with a display of watermelons as he protested. The news media went wild: “Guidoville” blared the NY Post headline; “A Tough Code in Defense of a Closed World” wrote the NYTimes; a producer for CBS News 60 Minutes, Alan Weisman, wrote an op-ed denouncing his deceased Italian grandfather for using the n-word. The Anglos had passed the burning cross to a new crop of “Whites.” It’s a questionable fraternity.
Unfortunately, there is little value left in the White brand. So, call me Euro-American, not White. -JLM
No matter what the truth is BLM has $90 million. Italian Americans have 0 for all the years of prejudice and discrimination. A big fat 0 for all the negative images in the media. You find bigotry in the Italian American and the black community. It should be denounced wherever it is found. Guilt should target the guilty not a whole society!
In retrospect, what’s astonishing about the Bensonhurst incident are two things: a) the media’s not-so-subtle ferocity in stereotyping Italian Americans; and b) their absolute refusal to post other opinions at the time. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when the Italic Institute of America sent a letter to major media outlets in protest, they were ignored.
Has the media’s attitude changed? Not a whit.
With all the talk of police reform, no one in the media brought up Frank Serpico. With all the talk about freedom of speech, no one in the media brought up Mario Savio. With all of the talk about our first female VP, no one in the media brought up Geraldine Ferraro.
Meanwhile, Spike Lee, thirty-odd years later, is still taken seriously by the media. He is, in fact, a wildly overrated filmmaker and genuine race-baiter who uses his movies to promote his views. With the exception of Do The Right Thing, where he actively allowed Danny Aiello to improvise on his Italian American character, Spike has portrayed the sons and daughters of Italy in the same ferociously gross and unfair way the media still does!
This is a timely observation because the BLM movement makes the same generalities as others when it comes to race…Trying to understand the history of society and then adding a “guilt component” makes no sense at all and in fact, becomes counterproductive when you want to try to understand the forces that created a modern society.
Now we are seeing a counter-reaction and denial, and a new revisionist history to the point we are back to myths and fairy tales. I don’t think it’s a good time to be a historian, for sure!
Trying to confront the lies and distortions about Columbus was frustrating enough and when I mentioned the slave trade was pretty universal during those times, including in Africa, I was met with verbal assaults. Even so, African nations don’t have deep pockets, so compensation is basically out of the question. Likewise, the history of Italian Americans among other ethnic groups has been totally ignored in understanding the development of our modern society. I doubt it will change much in the near future so it’s our job to keep the flame alive…
That’s really what I think many Americans of all backgrounds are wanting without the agendas of certain groups. How can a community understand its past when it’s layered with all the additional baggage of not-so-hidden agendas. It really becomes an obstacle to learning from history.
Specifically, about Italian Americans, there is a rich but not always a happy tale about our history. It’s important to understand it, not in terms of guilt and all, but in appreciation of our heritage and what we had to overcome…It is just that simple…unfortunately, people are so turned off by all of these agendas that they would rather not deal with them. And that is a true loss.
If one would only look at mainstream media and movies only, one would think that the Bensonhurst incident shows the nature of Italians (racist murderers). In reality, it was an isolated incident in a very violent time in NYC.
On the other hand, if we look at real data thru the years, the story is completely different. Here is a list of murders committed by minorities against Italians and Italian-Americans. There may be others. These are the ones I remember.
Diego Damis, Chicago 2022
Christi Spicuzza, Pittsurgh, 2022
Davide Ghiri, NYC, 2021
Paul Marino, Delaware 2020
Lidia Marino, Delaware 2020
Carlo Marigliano, Little Rock, 2017
Karina Vetrano, Queens, 2016
Oliver D’Orio, NYC, 2014
Rita Morelli, NYC, 2011
Lori Roscetti, Chicago, 1986
Dr. Michael John Mammone, a very popular physician In Los Angeles, was cycling to work one day when he was purposely run over at a high rate of speed and killed, out the killer’s confessed hatred for white people. Ilario Bertuccio was an 81 year old janitor in San Francisco, who was gunned down by Black Panthers who wanted to get even for slavery. Nathan Trapuzzano was a 24 year old tech worker in St. Louis, recently married with his new wife expecting, who stood up to an aggressive teen thug, who pulled out a gun and murdered him over that “slight.” 57 year old Lena Triano was a beloved neighbor and friend to many in her community, and lived alone in her New Jersey home, when one evening a teen broke into her home and committed an incredibly barbaric rape=murder! 56 year old Concetta Russo-Carriero was a legal secretary in White Plains, New York, who was viciously stabbed to death in a public parking garage. The perpetrator said in a taped confession: “I was thinking that the first person I see this morning that looks white, I’m killing them. I wanted to kill somebody who lived a lily-white lifestyle and was a closet bigot. I never seen her before, and I didn’t care. As long as she had blond hair and blue eyes, she had to die. I have no remorse whatsoever, because she was white.”
I can think of many more, but these were a few that came to me. All committed by that same old demographic. They seem to be the only demographic that kills our innocent people! Obviously, these people don’t ask for name, rank, and serial number first! Their violence is reaching new heights all the time. This isn’t getting any better.
There is plenty of Black-on-White or even Black-on-Italic violence that it just ignored by the media for racial reasons. You may recall that civil rights activist (and suspected mob leader) Joe Colombo was gunned down at a Columbus Circle rally in 1971 by a Black photographer. Because of Colombo’s tainted reputation, no racial angle was ever pursued by the police or media. In contrast, every White-on-Black crime is subject to all sorts of racial scrutiny.
Just got to read this.
I absolutely could not agree more, when slavery, is mentioned in conversation I immediately make it clear that “my people “ were not even here then!
Mille Grazie!