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So, if you specifically happen to be a third or fourth generation Italian American who grew up in the New York tristate area, then Maria Laurino’s [b:Were You Always an Italian?: Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America|725923|Were You Always an Italian? Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America|Maria Laurino|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347645929l/725923._SY75_.jpg|712139] is a book I would most certainly recommend. My father, a third generation Italian American from the Bronx insisted I read it, and he has yet to give me a bad reading recommendation yet.
This book will appeal especially to anyone with Southern Italian heritage, which admittedly is the background of most Italians who left Italy for America. The struggles of that harsh pastoral land were enough to propel an entire generation to seek new opportunities abroad. Movement is at the heart of Italian America lore, a culture that is ever in flux. This was true for my family as well.
When my great-grandfather Dominico emigrated from Reggio Calabria, Italy to the United States in 1894, to say he had a hard time would be an understatement. He was cheated of all his money and stranded in Albany, having to hitchhike his way back to NYC. A generation later, his son (my grandfather) was nearly denied the ability to buy property in Westchester in the early 1900s because the seller was distrusting of the scary new Italian immigrants. But they kept moving forward (and in my grandpa’s case, presented the angry woman with his new baby boy who allegedly melted her bigoted heart).
At this point, it is absolutely worth noting that as the years changed, Italians began to “assimilate” in America. More than speaking “proper” English or dropping the vowels from their names, Dr. Nell Irvin Painter describes this change as an absorption into American whiteness in her book [b:The History of White People|6919721|The History of White People|Nell Irvin Painter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349005576l/6919721._SY75_.jpg|7147568]. The “darkest” or “most ethnic” of white Europeans, Italians were still able to be absorbed into this racial category in ways that other immigrant groups simply were not.
So, what Maria Laurino offers with her book, is the unique perspective of someone who witnessed these key cultural shifts. She can remember the bigotry she experienced as being “ethnic” when she grew up, but then later vents her frustrations at how Italian Americans could then turn around and participate in racism themselves. She is also frustrated with the negative stereotypes of Italians that present the more “ethnic” components of our culture as dangerous, and blames this for why people have distanced themselves from some of the more authentic components of our heritage.
“Is it possible for Italian-Americans to see the past through a different lens, uncolored by the preconceptions and political agendas of others—but also freed from a false romanticism? Why do so many Italian-Americans insist on hearing only ‘nice stories’ about our heritage when the majority of our ancestors came from a land plagued by misery and sadness—in modern language, a dysfunctional past? Perhaps the pace of this ethnic group’s assimilation, which has been quicker than that of darker-skinned ‘others’ like Latinos and African-Americans, has led to an abandonment of the kind of acute intellectual reflection that these groups have engaged in as they attempt to understand their relationship to the past and their place within the larger culture.”
When writing about racial strife in Bensonhurst she also expands, “Residents don’t blame the Italian-American construction companies for demanding the cheapest labor; instead they bitterly complain that ‘the Mexicans’ are stealing their jobs.” It is as if the shame of being perceived as “weak” or “other” can prevent people from being able to empathize with their neighbors, preferring to identify with those they perceive as strong, even if those very exploitative forces are the true cause of their own injustice.
Overall, I think if you come from a background of struggle (and most every American does if you go back far enough) you ought to use your (or your family's) experiences to empathize with others currently facing injustice. I’ll never forget the day I found my grandma crying in her kitchen because she had heard another Italian American use a negative racial slur against a black person. Her shame at this person’s ignorance and lack of empathy was so startling and upsetting to her, that she had a hard time even processing it. She never forgot where she came from, and all I can do is continue to remember as well.
Reading this book brought back so many memories for me, I just couldn’t not recommend it.
This book will appeal especially to anyone with Southern Italian heritage, which admittedly is the background of most Italians who left Italy for America. The struggles of that harsh pastoral land were enough to propel an entire generation to seek new opportunities abroad. Movement is at the heart of Italian America lore, a culture that is ever in flux. This was true for my family as well.
When my great-grandfather Dominico emigrated from Reggio Calabria, Italy to the United States in 1894, to say he had a hard time would be an understatement. He was cheated of all his money and stranded in Albany, having to hitchhike his way back to NYC. A generation later, his son (my grandfather) was nearly denied the ability to buy property in Westchester in the early 1900s because the seller was distrusting of the scary new Italian immigrants. But they kept moving forward (and in my grandpa’s case, presented the angry woman with his new baby boy who allegedly melted her bigoted heart).
At this point, it is absolutely worth noting that as the years changed, Italians began to “assimilate” in America. More than speaking “proper” English or dropping the vowels from their names, Dr. Nell Irvin Painter describes this change as an absorption into American whiteness in her book [b:The History of White People|6919721|The History of White People|Nell Irvin Painter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349005576l/6919721._SY75_.jpg|7147568]. The “darkest” or “most ethnic” of white Europeans, Italians were still able to be absorbed into this racial category in ways that other immigrant groups simply were not.
So, what Maria Laurino offers with her book, is the unique perspective of someone who witnessed these key cultural shifts. She can remember the bigotry she experienced as being “ethnic” when she grew up, but then later vents her frustrations at how Italian Americans could then turn around and participate in racism themselves. She is also frustrated with the negative stereotypes of Italians that present the more “ethnic” components of our culture as dangerous, and blames this for why people have distanced themselves from some of the more authentic components of our heritage.
“Is it possible for Italian-Americans to see the past through a different lens, uncolored by the preconceptions and political agendas of others—but also freed from a false romanticism? Why do so many Italian-Americans insist on hearing only ‘nice stories’ about our heritage when the majority of our ancestors came from a land plagued by misery and sadness—in modern language, a dysfunctional past? Perhaps the pace of this ethnic group’s assimilation, which has been quicker than that of darker-skinned ‘others’ like Latinos and African-Americans, has led to an abandonment of the kind of acute intellectual reflection that these groups have engaged in as they attempt to understand their relationship to the past and their place within the larger culture.”
When writing about racial strife in Bensonhurst she also expands, “Residents don’t blame the Italian-American construction companies for demanding the cheapest labor; instead they bitterly complain that ‘the Mexicans’ are stealing their jobs.” It is as if the shame of being perceived as “weak” or “other” can prevent people from being able to empathize with their neighbors, preferring to identify with those they perceive as strong, even if those very exploitative forces are the true cause of their own injustice.
Overall, I think if you come from a background of struggle (and most every American does if you go back far enough) you ought to use your (or your family's) experiences to empathize with others currently facing injustice. I’ll never forget the day I found my grandma crying in her kitchen because she had heard another Italian American use a negative racial slur against a black person. Her shame at this person’s ignorance and lack of empathy was so startling and upsetting to her, that she had a hard time even processing it. She never forgot where she came from, and all I can do is continue to remember as well.
Reading this book brought back so many memories for me, I just couldn’t not recommend it.