Articles by: Jerry Krase

  • Donald Trump with Rudy Giuliani
    Op-Eds

    Post-Election Italo-Trumpism: Part One

    As I had predicted, Italian American New Yorkers, or at least the vast majority of their neighbors, voted for President-Elect Donald Trump. From a quick reading of the election returns outside of the Big Apple far and near, Italo-Trumpism had spread from sea to shining sea.

    This raises two questions: “Why?” and “How” might Italian Americans be rewarded for their fealty to the Trumpster?” Since the answer to the first, is more complicated, I will only address the second here. As was obvious during the campaign, more or less prominent Italian Americans were way out there as loud supporters of The Donald and his agenda. Among them were America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie, and “America’s Toughest” Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona (the latter lost his (re)election bid to fellow Italian American but liberal Democrat Paul Penzone).

    Shortly following the Trump victory, Reuters ran a story “Factbox: Short list of potential picks for Trump administration” that included a number of known Italian Americans, and a few “potentially” Italian Americans (Those with Italian sounding last names that I have italicized):
    For Secretary of State: Rudy Giuliani.
    For Attorney General: Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie, and Pam Bondi, (Florida Attorney General)
    For Homeland Security Secretary: Joe Arpaio.
    For Environmental Protection Agency Head: Mike Catanzaro (energy lobbyist, G.W. Bush EPA official).

    A day later The New York Daily News added:
    For U.S. Trade Representative: Dan DiMicco (Former Nucor Corporation CEO).
    For Commerce Secretary: Chris Christie and Dan DiMicco

    While I am writing this, it was announced that Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo would be proposed for CIA Director.

    As might be expected, some of these choices have not been well-received by The New York Times and other newspapers that had endorsed Hillary Clinton. According to a NYT Editorial Why Rudy Giuliani Shouldn’t Be Secretary of State “…he would be a dismal and potentially disastrous choice.” Noting among other things his problematic business ties and “Mr. Giuliani has given paid speeches to a shadowy Iranian opposition group that until 2012 was on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.”

    One might also think that Chris Christie’s appointment to almost anything in the new administration would be problematic given his potential indictment vis a vis the George Washington Bridge Gate scandal. Especially since a few of his minions, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, have already been convicted and facing a lot of hard time.  However, not only won’t Chris get rewarded for his yeoman campaign services, he was removed from the presidential transition team by The Donald’s son-in-law and closest adviser Jared Kushner. Jared purged Chris because, as U.S. Attorney he sent Jared’s father Charles up the river in 2005 for tax evasion, witness tampering and (My oh my!) illegal campaign donations.

    In the forthcoming “Post-Election Italo-Trumpism Part Two,” I will analyze and discuss more closely the Italian American presidential vote in New York City. Many of the most wrong-headed political commentators are bending over backwards to explain how they weren’t really as wrong about the election as they actually were. Most still think that ethnicity doesn’t matter; everything was about race and class as in the “Revenge of the poor and working class whites.” I believe that even well-educated, and well-off, Italian Americans are an excellent example of the wide range of white ethnic voters who were perilously ignored, except for “deplorable” comments, by Hillary and the Democratic National Committee.

    Although not a compliment, Italian American are no more racist, homophobic, and misogynist than non-Italian Americans. What made the difference for the majority of Italian Americans in voting for Donald, besides his pomposity, I believe, was concern for their own, and their families’, security and economic future; not the plight of others. The remnants of traditional Italian values of insularity (family and home) also easily translate to protectionism, and even isolationism. Placing their faith however in the promises of someone so much like Silvio Berlusconi may not bode well for “our” future, but nevertheless deserves to be analyzed and understood.

     
  • Artist Scott LoBaido
    Facts & Stories

    The Italian-American Vote

    A crude analysis of the New York City presidential vote by borough since 1992 shows that the voters in Counties with the highest proportion of Italian Americans
    have tended to lean rightward (see table above). Note that Richmond County, which has the most Americans of Italian descent and the greatest rightward tilt, is better known as the Borough of Staten Island (l’Isola Bella). Kings County is better known as the Borough of Brooklyn, and New York County is Manhattan.

    There are many different ways of measuring potential support for candidates and parties. For example, although registered Republicans are a distinct minority in the City, they tend to be concentrated in the white ethnic neighborhoods of the “outer” boroughs such as Staten Island and Queens—which is also where you find the highest concentration of Italian Americans. We therefore would expect greater support for Donald Trump in those places.

    Further support for this view comes from the NYC Election Atlas compiled by the City University of New York’s Graduate Center for Urban Research, Graduate School of Journalism, and Center for Community and Ethnic Media. Although losing in Manhattan, Trump received 63% of the total votes cast in the NYC Republican Presidential Primary. He did well all other boroughs most notably Staten Island where he got almost 82% of the vote. His most solid support came from predominantly white, conservative-leaning communities in Queens: such as Middle Village, Howard Beach, College Point, and Douglaston and Bayside.

    On the other hand, Hillary Clinton received 64% of the vote in the Democratic Party Presidential Primary. She did best in African American and Afro-Caribbean communities in southeast Queens, the Rockaways, central Brooklyn and the north Bronx. She also got 70% or more of the vote in predominantly white, liberal Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods. Clinton won a million+ votes, and 58% of all votes, while Trump got about half as many votes or 60% of all votes. One visible indication of support for candidates for public office are campaign signs placed in street-facing windows or planted on front yards. For example, in my gentrified window was a modest Bernie Sanders’ “A Future to Believe In.”

    In the case of Trump, evidently, size does matter. In The New York Daily News there was a story by Chelsia Rose Marcius and Stephen Rex Brown about a Staten Island Trump supporter who constructed a HUGE sign for the GOP candidate after a large, but smaller, previous version was torched. The new (16 X 12 feet) wooden “T” simulation of the American flag was built by Italian fellow Scott LoBaido on Sam Pirozzolo’s front lawn in Castleton Corners. LoBaido christened his creation “Freedom of Speech.” In appreciation they got a phone call from The Donald himself. The News also reported, “As the new letter was completed, drivers honked their horns in approval. A handful of supporters sported “Make America Great Again” hats and chanted “USA!” While a hundred or so Trump supporters cheered, several women in the crowd, referring to Hillary Clinton, yelled “Lock her up!” I assume they have been added to Hillary’s collection of “Deplorables.”

    Of course lots of Italian Americans (virtually all of my Italian American friends, neighbors, and relatives) support Hillary Clinton (Hillary for America). Some intend to vote for Green Party Candidate Jill Stein (#It’s in Our Hands). A few might even vote for the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson (Live Free). But their proportion and signs tend to be smaller than Donald Trump’s “Make American Great Again.” 

    * Jerry Krase is Emeritus and Murray Koppelman Professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY. 
  • Op-Eds

    The Rise of Italo-Trumpism



    Every few years, because it makes little sense also to me, I feel the need to explain American politics to Italians and Italian Americans alike. This year the center of my attention is the inordinate support expressed by Italian Americans for the presumptive Republican Party Presidential candidate “The” Donald Trump.  Thank God, for me it is only half of a reality check.  A major part of the problem of deciphering his Italo-appeal is the Huuuuge mountain of pseudo-journalistic effluence that has inundated American mass media about the Trumpster. In the entertainment business, and therefore it follows --- American politics -- there is no such thing as bad coverage even when it stinks to high heavens. In the past I only complained in writing about the likes of the “Fair and Balanced” Fox News and the "News doesn't have to be boring to be news," New York Post, but since the U.S. Presidential campaign season began in earnest I’ve added “Lean Forward” MSNBC and “All the news that’s fit to print” The New York Times to my list of unreliable sources.




    One Salon.com writer, Fedja Buric, thought Trump might be channeling Benito Mussolini, and with Trump’s chin skyward profile he might have a point. In “Trump’s not Hitler, he’s Mussolini,” Buric also argued that the anti-intellectualism of the Republican Party has led to a modern fascist movement in America. Less ominously,




    Alan Rappeport of The New York Times wrote that The Trumpster was “… reviving memories of someone who stirred local passions like few others: Frank L. Rizzo of Philadelphia.” The popularity of the “Big Bambino” Mayor was based on his take no prisoners attitude toward law-breakers, as well as social activists, and the noncompliant press.  Most recently in the Times Frank Bruni provided the Italian take on Trump who is seen as a somewhat perverse version of Silvio Berlusconi; a super-rich businessman, who knew how to use the media, and who promised to make Italy great again via a “new Italian miracle.” Having more than enough unflattering details, the similarities in their mutually repugnant views of women and immigrants were left for a subsequent column, I suppose, on why “Italy Feels Our Pain.”




    It is not difficult to explain Trump’s exalted place in Presidential preference polls among more or less likely Italian American voters. Italian Americans have been moving over into the Republican and more Conservative ranks as registered voters for some time. Even when registered as Democrats (DINOs – Democrats In Name Only) or simply “independent” they list starboardly. There’s is not an ethnic preference vote. Today’s Italian American voters were as likely to vote for their semi-co-ethnic Bill De Blasio as for Barack Obama. His name also ended in a vowel but many Italian Americans I have had the pleasure (?) to meet continue to believe, as does birther Trump, that our current President is a Kenyan-born Muslim.




    In my experience, where Staten Island (La Bella Isola) goes, so does the Italian vote. With about a half a million residents, Staten Island is the most conservative borough in New York City. As evidence, La Bella Isola has been trying, unsuccessfully, to secede from the “too liberal” Gotham City since the 1970s. In 1993 65 percent of its voters said, “yes, we can (leave)” in a 1993 referendum. According to Politico in Staten Island: “The mostly white, middle- and working-class Republican voters here have embraced the brash, Queens-born mogul as a hometown hero. So have some of the top GOP officials on the island, including Councilman Joe Borelli, who’s become a go-to Trump surrogate on national television…” As to Borough or Countywide elected officials I think only one is a Democrat and he, ex-Congressman Michael McMahon, also tilts much of the time to the right. As to prominent Italian American elected officials representing Staten Islanders who are more likely to upset Trump's bandwagon than jump on it are New York State Assemblyman Matthew Titone and New York Sate Senator Diane Savino.




    As to the confirmation of my earlier prediction; in the April 16, 2016 Republican Presidential Primary about 80% of Staten Island’s Republican voters thought Donald Trump should be become the Leader of Free World, and when necessary make decisions about whom to nuke. This was about the same outcome in other more or less identifiable Italian American voting areas in New York State. In contrast, all of the full and partial Italian Americans in my immediate family voted in the Democratic Presidential Primary for Bernie Sanders (whose name like Barack’s ends in a vowel). I had predicted he would get practically bupkis (niente di niente) when it comes to Italian American voters. Bernie stopped for a visit with one of my neighbors on Ninth Street in hyper-gentrified Park Slope, Brooklyn on his way to a HUUUGE rally in Prospect Park that was steps away from my house. I didn’t get to the rally but did manage to get a “FUTURE TO BELIEVE IN” (UN FUTURO IN CUI CREDERE) sign for my front window.




    Given this Italic rightward lean, one might ask who are the most prominent of New York Italian Americans supporters of The Donald? Googling on The Web I found, among many others, Ex-America’s Mayor and failed 2008 Presidential candidate Mayor Rudy Giuliani; real estate mogul and failed New York State Gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino; as well as current New Jersey Governor and failed Republican Presidential candidate Chris Christie. Trump also has local support in the form of Republican Party Chairmen Arnaldo Ferraro (Kings County --- AKA Brooklyn), John LaValle (Suffolk County --- AKA White-Landia), Joseph Mondello (Nassau County --- AKA White-Landia) and Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano.




    Among entertainment luminaries is Scott Baio, AKA “Chachi (Ciacci) Arcola.” The most controversial public figure is probably Joe Arpaio, “America’s Toughest” Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona who, according to RealClear Politics, re-endorsed Trump at a Las Vegas rally in February mumbling in part: “What I like about him, he tells it like it is, most politicians, they are very politically correct, have you noticed? Nobody says anything, I can never understand. I can understand when he talks, some may not like it but that's tough...” Arpaio is not bright enough to understand that the HUUUUGE wall built by the Mexican government will probably put him out of the job by keeping out Mexicans.




    As for international supporters of Donald Trump there are many fellow anti-immigrant Know Nothingers such as Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian secessionist Lega Nord; Frenchman Jean-Marie le Pen founder and former leader of the neo-fascist Front National; and Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who single-handedly changed the perception of Holland as a leading nation of tolerance. Last but not the least is, on the order of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean News Agency the Democratic Republic of Korea Today.




    I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Senator who is proud to call himself a Socialist. Most New York’s Italian American voters feel slight connection to him or those found in Gerald Meyer’s The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture (Greenwood 2003). According to Meyer “Radicalism had a powerful but largely unacknowledged influence in the Italian-American community.” His book tried to “restore to Italian-American history the radical experience that has long remained suppressed, but that nevertheless helped shape both the Italian-American community and the American left.” Chief among New York City’s Italian American leftist heroes was Harlem Congressman Vito Marcantonio (1935 -37, 1939-1945).   Ironically, Vito ran first as a Republican when it was a “progressive” party, and later with the Social Party splinter --- the American Labor Party (ALP). Fiorello LaGuardia also was supported by the ALP. Current Trumpsters, NYC Council Members Vincent Ignizio and Joe Borelli, contrast sharply with Peter Cacchione, a Brooklyn Communist Party City Councilman, who Meyer wrote “… strengthened the presence of the left within New York City’s Italian American communities.” Cacchione, popular among Italian Brooklynites, was elected to three consecutive terms (1941 - 1947). 




    There is another element that must be considered as to why Italian Americans, especially Italian American men, support Donald Trump. A constant theme is how he “speaks his mind,” “doesn’t take crap from anybody,” and “says out loud what we are thinking.” Despite all the distance that Italian Americans have travelled as far as education, income, and prestige “we” still carry the scars of the poor and working class cultures in which we and/or our parents, and definitely our grandparents were raised. To quote one of “our” greatest cultural heroes:

    For what is a man, what has he got?

    If not himself, then he has naught

    To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels

    The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

     

    However, the Frank Sinatra song I wish more Italian Americans would sing today is:

    The house I live in, a plot of earth, a street

    The grocer and the butcher, and the people that I meet

    The children in the playground, the faces that I see

    All races and religions, that's America to me!
  • Op-Eds

    Like Obama, “Bernie” ends in a Vowel


    I’ve been off of the political commentary merry-go-round during the fall and winter seasons because I didn’t want to add to the growing mountain of pseudo-journalistic effluence that has inundated American mass media.  In the past I only complained in writing about the likes of the “Fair and Balanced” Fox News and the "News doesn't have to be boring to be news," New York Post, but since the U.S. Presidential campaign season began in earnest I’ve added “Lean Forward” MSNBC and “All the news that’s fit to print” The New York Times to my list of unreliable sources.

     

    They all seem not to like my favorite candidate, Vermont Socialist Bernie Sanders, Even The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman felt the need to campaign for Hillary in a few recent columns; demonstrating that just because you win a Nobel Prize for Pro-New-Keynesian Economics doesn’t mean you opinion on matters electoral politics should matter. After all, didn’t Milton Friedman win the same prize for being Anti-New-Keynesian. However, I am not here to bury Brooklyn-born Bernie’s misguided opponents but to praise Him, albeit indirectly.

    I am also here try to explain his place in Presidential preference polls among more or less likely Italian American voters. You might think that among Italian American voters, Bernie’s major opponent is Hillary Clinton, but it’s really “The Donald” Trump. Italian Americans have been moving over into the Republican and Conservative ranks as registered voters for some time, and even when registered as Democrats (DINOs) or simply “independent” they list starboardly. Today’s Italian American voters are as likely to vote for Bernie Sanders as they were to vote for their semi-co-ethnic Bill De Blasio; or for Barack Obama whose name also ended in a vowel, but who many Italian Americans I have had the pleasure (?) to meet continue to believe is a Kenyan-born Muslim.

    To the best of my knowledge, where Staten Island (Richmond County) goes, so does the Italian vote. With about a half a million residents, Staten Island is the most conservative borough in New York City. As evidence, La Bella Isola has been trying, unsuccessfully, to secede from the “too liberal” Gotham City since the 1970s. In 1993 65 percent of its voters said, “yes, we can (leave)” in a 1993 referendum. According to Politico in Staten Island: “The mostly white, middle- and working-class Republican voters here have embraced the brash, Queens-born mogul as a hometown hero. So have some of the top GOP officials on the island, including Councilman Joe Borelli, who’s become a go-to Trump surrogate on national television…” As to Borough or Countywide elected officials I think only one is a Democrat and he, ex-Congressman Michael McMahon, also tilts much of the time to the right.

    Who then are the most prominent New York Italian Americans supporters of The Donald? Googling on The Web I found, among many others, Ex-America’s Mayor and failed 2008 Presidential candidate Mayor Rudy Giuliani; real estate mogul and failed New York State Gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino; as well as current New Jersey Governor and failed Republican Presidential candidate Chris Christie. Trump also has local support in the form of Republican Party Chairmen Arnaldo Ferraro (Kings County --- AKA Brooklyn), John LaValle (Suffolk County --- AKA White-Landia), Joseph Mondello (Nassau County --- AKA White-Landia) and Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. Slightly farther afield are Pennsylvania State Senator Lou Bartletta who previously endorsed Rick Santorum and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who switched to Trump after Jeb Bush surrended to The Donald.

    Among entertainment luminaries is Scott Baio, AKA “Chachi (Ciacci) Arcola.” The most controversial public figure is probably Joe Arpaio, “America’s Toughest” Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona who, according to RealClear Politics, re-endorsed Trump at a Las Vegas rally in February mumbling in part: “What I like about him, he tells it like it is, most politicians, they are very politically correct, have you noticed? Nobody says anything, I can never understand. I can understand when he talks, some may not like it but that's tough...” As for international supporters of Donald Trump are fellow anti-immigrant know Nothingers: Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian secessionist Lega Nord; Frenchman Jean-Marie le Pen founder and former leader of the neo-fascist Front National; and Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who single-headedly changed the perception of Holland as a leading nation of tolerance.

    The problem for Bernie Sanders among many Italian American voters is that he fits the mold of people who you might find in Gerald Meyer’s The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture (Greenwood 2003) According to Meyer “Radicalism had a powerful but largely unacknowledged influence in the Italian-American community.” His book tried to “restore to Italian-American history the radical experience that has long remained suppressed, but that nevertheless helped shape both the Italian-American community and the American left.” Chief among Italian American leftist heroes was Harlem Congressman Vito Marcantonio (1935 -37, 1939-1945).   Ironically, Vito ran first as a Republican when it was a “progressive” party, and later with the Social Party splinter --- the American Labor Party. Note: Fiorello LaGuardia also was supported by the ALP. Current Trumpers, NYC Council Members Vincent Ignizio and Joe Borelli, provide a sharp contrast to Peter Cacchione, a Brooklyn Communist Party City Councilman, who Meyer wrote “… strengthened the presence of the left within New York City’s Italian American communities.” Cacchione was very popular among Italian Brooklynites and was elected to three consecutive terms (1941 - 1947). 

    Although I believe most of the full and partial Italian Americans in my immediate family will vote for him, even though “Bernie” ends in a vowel, I predict he will get practically bupkis (niente di niente) when it comes to Italian American voters in tomorrow's New York State Presidential Primary Election. Stay tuned for my post-election analysis. I should note that Bernie stopped for a visit with one of my neighbors on Ninth Street in hyper-gentrified Park Slope, Brooklyn yesterday on his way to a huge rally and concert in Prospect Park that was steps away from my house. I didn’t get to the rally but did manage to get a “FUTURE TO BELIEVE IN” (UN FUTURO IN CUI CREDERE) sign for my front window.

  • Op-Eds

    On the Road to Naples I Discovered Why Italian American Politicians are their Own Worst Enemies


    Both Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have deep family roots near Naples. Last week I went to the Universita degli Studi suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples to talk about, among other things, "Citizenship and Governance." Many would not believe it but Napoli is one of the best places in the world to learn about both topics. Walking around the city I could see how it works despite citizenship and governance. People say that Naples is chaotic and they are correct, but the chaos makes sense to its citizens and as a result their city simply "happens."




    Any attempt to control Neapolitans like traffic signals, anti-litter regulations, and even bicycle lanes have little effect on local life. Neapolitans don't expect much from their government and their government returns the favor. In contrast, in the Big Apple and the Empire State, New Yorkers hold their elected officials, especially Bill and Andy, to a much higher standard and blame them for every real and/or imagined slight.  In turn they blame each other, and their continuing feud, on the verge of vendetta, serves neither of them, or the rest of us very well. One might ask, "Why are Italian American Politicians their Own Worst Enemies?" The answer can be found in a corollary of the advice given by the 6th century BCE Chinese general Sun Tzu who wrote the Art of War. This Machiavellian–sounding sentiment was pilfered by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola and uttered by Al Pacino (Michael Corleone) in The Godfather Part II (1974): "My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer." My mother-in-law Rose Jordan-Nicoletti’s version of this universal, but especially Italian American, proverb was “Don’t apologize! Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it.” The parallel, yet competing, political careers of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio clearly have been guided by these complementary aphorisms.

     

    Andy and Bill have become their own worst enemies because they are so much alike, and this makes them even more dangerous to each other. When one itches, the other one scratches and vice versa. As a result of their mutual quest for prominence they compete for just about everything. During the past six months the intense competition has evidently been for bad press and it is difficult to declare a victor. As with all bad news the basic headlines tell the whole sad story.

     

    For The New York Times Nikita Stewart announced “For Some New York Latinos, Enthusiasm for de Blasio Gives Way to Frustration.”  In The Daily News Albor Ruiz wrote of the “Rising Fury at Mayor de Blasio over Luxury Developments. “  In the New York Post Danielle Furfaro implied that de Blasio was peddling influence; “Campaign contributions behind move to cap Uber, New Yorkers say.” De Blasio’s progressive reformer campaign image opened him to charges of hypocrisy once he took office.


    “Mayor de Blasio’s Hired Guns: Private Consultants Help Shape City Hall” was the not so shocking discovery of Thomas Kaplan. To nobody else’s surprise Bill’s 2013 campaign advisers were still “at his side as a kind of privately funded brain trust, offering strategic advice and helping to shape the message that comes from City Hall.” And even less startling, as with every other political consultant I have ever known “Their involvement also poses conflict-of-interest concerns, as some of the consultants’ firms have clients that do business with the city.” The featured Comment, by "J" of New York, NY, said it all: “Based on his dismal performance as mayor, he is definitely not getting his money's worth out of these consultants. “




    Andy has been no slouch either in the bad news column, racking up an impressive record second only to Bill, and Andy’s fellow Governor Chris Christie. Alexander Burns told his readers that even his  “Fellow Democrats” don’t like “His Style,” (), while Burns’ fellow Times writers William K. Rashbaum and Suzanne Craig were more substantive with “Corruption Inquiry Appears to Expand to a Signature Cuomo Program.” 




    The investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, was into the “Buffalo Billion” development bidding process. ” He has also caught the unwanted attention of the non-mainstream press as evidenced by Julian Guerrero’s unflattering characterization “Andrew Cuomo's Circle of Corruption” in The Socialist Worker.


     

    This embarrassment of riches has led the rivals to point fingers at each other. In the Daily News Erin Durkin blurted “De Blasio blasts Cuomo, accusing governor of thwarting his goals out of 'revenge.'”  Alexander Burns and Thomas Kaplan added “New York Democrats Join Mayor de Blasio in a Chorus of Dissent Against Governor Cuomo.” Two months later, Capital New York reported “Cuomo-de Blasio war expands to new fronts.” Simultaneously, veteran New York political war correspondent Fred U. Dicker warned de Blasio that “Cuomo (was) personally recruiting candidates to de-throne” him.  The latest embarrassment for both were reports in several New York City dailies that while on a joint visit to Puerto Rico they didn’t even look at each other. 


     

    Like feuding next-door neighbors, they have put plagues on their own houses. In the Daily News “About New York” reporter Jim Dwyer penned “Mayor De Blasio and Governor Cuomo Point Fingers, but There’s Enough Blame for Both.” The New York Post’s Natalie Musumeci reported “Mayor de Blasio’s approval ratings have plummeted to a new low, with relatively few voters approving of his performance.” Half said he didn’t deserve another term. Capital New York’s Josefa Velasquez said Governor Cuomo’s popularity glass was only half-full as his approval rating dropped twenty percent over the past six years. From the Fred Dicker’s sharpened quill comes “Mayor de Blasio is so reviled across the state that Senate Republicans are planning to use criticism against Hizzoner to boost their candidates in next year’s campaigns — and they’ll use critiques leveled by Gov. Cuomo to help demonize him.” 


     

    The closeness between Andy and Bill virtually makes them brothers, and in Italian families intense male rivalries are normal. My Sicilian-American mother’s four half-Sicilian sons constantly fought with each other over nothing. At my wife’s all-Italian family gatherings, I fondly remember my father-in-law Anthony Charles (Nick) Nicoletti and his brother-in-law Anthony Jordan Jr. taking center stage. Whatever comment one made the other quickly contradicted, leading to a verbal battle during which spectators were called upon to support “their” oratorial gladiator. As with the war between Andy and Bill, no one was ever declared a “winner.” 


     If truth be told, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio won election because their opponents (Rick Lazio, Carl Paladino, Joe Lhota) were less appealing. Their campaigns also produced record low turnouts. Lucky for their egos however, once in office, our two rival emperor's got to wear new clothes. What their closest advisers won’t tell them however, the press seems only too happy to.
  • Op-Eds

    The Unfortunate Pilgrim



    Every October, or “Italian Heritage and Culture Month” as it known in La Grande Mela, I have mixed feelings. Few count me as Italian American despite treasuring my mysterious patrimony, including the fact that all Italians are anarchists until they are in charge.


    Despite having been a Founder of the American Italian Coalition of Organizations, and President

    of the American Italian Historical Association, I never apply for anything with “Italian” or “American Studies” in the title. As to “onlyreal Italians need apply” I’ve had too manybad experiences.


    For example, when I was Director of the Brooklyn College Center for Italian American Studies (1975-1984) several “real” Italian American professors complain ed that a “non-Italian” held the post.


    My researchon Italian American college students helpedestablish the Distinguished Professorship ofItalian American Studies. However, whensomeone mistakenly nominated me for thepost, I received a call from a prominent ItalianAmerican starting with “How dare you….”My identity problem has a long history. When I started dating my wife Suzanne Nicolettiin 1958, her parents wanted to know my“nationality.” As I didn’t know I looked throughsome family papers and discovered that mymother’s maiden name was “Cangelosi.”When I asked her why never told us she wasItalian she replied, “We’re not,” explaining thather mother said they were “Sicilian.”


    I thoughtthis was a positive, so I told Suzanne the “goodnews,” which for her un-Sicilian parents wasrather bad. Most of her relatives still think I’mIrish because most of the “mixed marriages”they know of are Irish-Italian.Three decades later, I got a PSC/CUNY grantto do “Photographic Research in SouthernItaly.” Suzanne’s relatives encouraged us tovisit their hometown in Laurino, Province of Salerno.


    A borrowed Italian Auto Club road map showed a direct route from Potenzato Laurino on an ominously colored Strada Provinciale (county road) 11e and 11f. As Idrove I asked pedestrians along the way “È questa strada per Laurino?” But the responseswere incomprehensible: “Si, ma bla, bla, bla,bla.” (“Is this the road to Laurino? Yes, but blah, blah, blah, blah”).


    The road morphedfrom two paved lanes, to two unpavedlanes, to one unimproved lane where weencountered goats and herders. After severalhours of breath-taking views and backbreakingbumps the roadway improved andwe entered Laurino.


    We asked people for the residence of lafamiglia De Gregorio and were energeticallypointed the way to a three-story stuccoedbuilding situated on a steep incline wherewe knocked on the door. The small, yetthree-generation, extended family was justfinishing dinner. When we explained who wewere, they treated us like lost, royal, relatives.The table was quickly re-set and after wefinished eating and drinking we were invitedto stay longer (even a few days).


    We thankedthem for their kind invitation but explainedwe were on our way to meet people inSorrento and needed to make up for the timelost in the mountains. The men took us to abar and introduced to neighbors and friends.There were some tears when we left and wefelt as though we were leaving “home”, butunderstood our real home was in Brooklyn. Back in “The States,” I decided to explore the“conversation” I had with people along Strada provinciale 11 to Laurino. I sent the e-mailmessage below to some of my academicItalian friends.


    Their responses reveal a greatdeal about authentic Italian bontà: Amici/eI need help with a translation of phrase from English into Italian for a paper I am writingabout my own, and my wife Suzanne’s,search for our roots in Italy.


    It regardstraveling to a remote village in Campania(Italy) and asking people along the waywhether this was the road to the town. Thequestion I asked, perhaps incorrectly, was:“E’ questa la strada per Laurino?” The answerin Italian was (credo): “Yes, but you can’t getthere from here.”; “Yes, but you can’t getthere this way.”; or “Yes, but the road turnsinto a goat path” (which it did). Grazie tante, Mino Cangelosi Krase.

    These were the replies:1. “Sì, ma non ci arriva da quì; Sì, ma non è questala strada; Sì, ma la strada diventa una strada dacapre.” Hope to see you soon. All the best MinoVianello.2. Traduzione: “E’ questa la strada per Laurino?Sì, ma non ci si arriva da qui. La strada diventauna mulattiera (mule trail).” Saluti, MaddalenaTirabassi.3. “Sì, ma non ci si arriva da qui; Sì, ma la stradava a finire in un sentiero (but I would not knowhow to translate ‘goat path.’)” Best, CristinaAllemann-Ghionda.4.


    Dear Jerry: My translation: “Sì, ma non ci siarriva da qui; Sì, ma non ci si arriva da questaparte; “Sì, ma la strada diventa una mulattiera.”Best, Stefano Luconi.5. Jerry, I am on my way to Venice for aMA thesis discussion where I acted as cosupervisor.“Si, ma non puoi/può andarci daqui...” Will get back to you soon again, best!Paolo Ruspini.6. The most Italianate response, which Igratefully received from my Italian colleagueswas as follows:Jerry: the question “E’ questa la strada perLaurino?” is perfect, in Italian. The problemis that, encountering a “native” in Italy, thenative — only to be kind — tends to reply to thequestion as if it were: “Is this the one best wayto Laurino?”; so that the reply is: “Ok, this wayis good, inasmuch as it goes to Laurino; the bestway, however, is ...” In fact, replying: “No, it’swrong, the good way is another one” the nativecould have felt uneasy, since the reply would bea bit rude. Anyway: your question was classical;I also would have used the same linguisticform; and I would have had the same reaction. Bye.


    Leonardo Cannavo.I replied to Leonard, thusly: grazie tante, macome si dice in italiano le frase? How would yousay it in Italian? And can I quote you in mypaper? I think your understanding of thesituation is perfect. La tua comprensione dellasituazione è perfetta!To which he wrote:Ok, sorry, I didn’t get the point. The easiesttranslations for the three phrases is asfollows:“Yes, but you can’t get there from here” = “Sì,ma da qui non ci può arrivare.”“Yes, but you can’t get there this way” = “Sì,ma da questa strada non ci può arrivare.”“Yes, but the road turns into a goat path” = “Sì,ma la strada diventa un sentiero per capre.”If you quote me in a paper of yours, it will bean honor; you need not ask for permission.


    Most unfortunately, few methodologists (andconsider that I feel uneasy wearing the hatof a methodologist) refuse to consider thecultural and psychosocial frames of theirjob. Speech interaction is both amusing andrevealing. Bye. L. As a child, I had attended a few Italian“football” weddings, and as an adult I went toa rather unsatisfying Cangelosi reunion, morelike a picnic, in Garfield, New Jersey. I hopedthe Cangelosi clan gathering would be like theSicilian wedding scene from the Godfather,Part II.


    For people like me expectations or“demands” for authentic experiences can’tbe met because we never experienced them.We move through the scenes but have neverbeen, and will never be, part of them. To beAmerican is to be uprooted, if not rootless,in the sense of having roots elsewhere, andour journey in search of our imaginary Italianhome made that clear. In searching formy roots I became an unfortunate pilgrim,because in the final analysis “You can’t getthere from here.”

     
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    Memories of September 11th Past, Present, and .....

    We decided to publish again this blog.  Because 9/11 is still in our minds.

    ---
    Today is September 11, 2009. Eight Years Later and still America has not come to terms with what happened to us and what we did to others as a consequence. I have entered here some of what I wrote immediately after the attack. In addition are some of the hundreds of photos I took in my Park Slope neighborhood a few days after 9/11 and which was misinterpreted by many as simple patriotism as opposed to thoughtful commemoration of the victims and sympathy for friends and family.
     

    On the evening of 9/11, 2001 I received the following message from my niece:

    Subj: Is Everyone Safe????

    Date: 9/11/01 5:37:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time

    From: (Liz) To: (Uncle Johnny), (Uncle Jerry), (Kristen Krase), (Katherine Krase), (Aunt Maryann), (Aunt Suzanne)

    I don’t know where everyone works. Can someone please check in with me and let me know our family is all safe and accounted for. Thank you. Love Liz

    I immediately sent Liz a note and the next day I sent out my own message in the early evening to everyone in my address book and to all the professional association list services to which I subscribed. Here it is:

    Subj: Re: The View from Brooklyn, NYC 

    We live in Brooklyn but the smoke from the fires and dust from the debris coated the neighborhood and we had to close all the windows and people were wearing dust masks on the street. My family is fine but there is so much horror. I spent the day with my three daughters and two grandsons. My wife worked at one of the hospitals receiving some of the bodies and triaged patients. I and my daughters went to the local hospital to give blood but there were so many people who came to contribute their blood that we were told to come back the next day. I have asked everyone to give blood and say prayers. I will go into the college today and see if I can do something meaningful. I am worried about inter-group problems in the city and especially at the university where students had been at each other’s throats over Middle Eastern issues. Jerry
     

    The message continued: I decided to play squash today (September 12, 2001) as I usually do on Wednesday mornings and forgot that when I take the subway there is a point en route which has(d) such a wonderful view of the NYC skyline and the twin towers. As we approached the Smith and Ninth Street Station which reputedly is the world’s highest subway station I moved to the window and almost simultaneously, and in total silence, people got out of their seats and moved to one side of the car. It was the most quiet time I have ever heard on a NYC subway car. I will not take any pictures of any of this as I’ve already seen too much. (I kept this promise by not venturing to the WTC until some years later but instead focused on how ordinary people responded to the tragedy with their own powerful messages. The photo below of the approach to Smith and (th St was taken some months after 9/11)

    In response to my message I received hundreds of responses expressing various degrees of sympathy and support. I was shocked however at the number of people who added a “but” to their notes. As the time from 9/11 and distance from the World Trade Center increased I noticed how much the view of America, especially by Europeans, had radically changed since we were an Ugly but well-intentioned superpower. I naturally assumed that there would be immediate and unequivocal sympathy if not support for the U.S. from among my colleagues. There was for my family, and me but there was too often a qualifier to expressions of compassion. Academics have an annoying tendency to give some kind of informed, objective, emotionless opinion of an historical event and this one was no exception. The messages reminded me that Europeans are keenly aware of and sensitive to American foreign (and military) exploits.

    The images which follow were taken as I walked around my neighborhood in the days immediately after 9/11. They show the ways that ordinary people responded.
     
     
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    Part II -- The Unfortunate Pilgrim*: Or You Can’t Get There From Here
  • Op-Eds

    Part I -- The Unfortunate Pilgrim*: Or You Can’t Get There From Here
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    Between Columbus and Cuomo



    With the sad announcement of the untimely (only 10 years my senior) death of Mario Cuomo on the same day of the second consecutive inauguration of his son Andrew as Governor of New York State, very important people (VIP), and not so important people (NSIP) like myself are rushing to comment on his legacy. The competion for notice is fierce. I have heard and read many "Odes to Mario" ranging from sour insults to treacly gushes. Like all potentially great people, he and his many parallel lives were complex and will require much more time to appreciate. Therefore, I offer here a small portion of a speech I gave in 1992 decorated with some current and sincere reflections. I began my talk with an observation that remains true today: Five hundred years ago an Italian discovered America. Five hundred years later, Americans have yet to discover Italians.


    A few months ago I attended an event to honor outstanding Italian American students at the CUNY Graduate and University Center. This occasion was one of many sponsored by the John Calandra Italian American Institute over the years. While enjoying the good company and collation, my good friend and colleague, Nick Spilotro, pulled me aside to ask me to address the Italian American Studies Committee of the United Federation of Teachers. He also graciously provided me with the title of my Italian Heritage and Culture Month presentation; "From Columbus to Cuomo." As he expected, I almost immediately began to change the text and the subtext of the Symposium. As I speak to you today, my title stands as not "From Columbus to Cuomo," but "Between Columbus and Cuomo." Who knows what tomorrow may bring. Perhaps next year's title will be "Between Queen Isabella and Geraldine Ferraro."


    As a gubernatorial appointee to the New York Council for the Humanities, some people might assume that I am a close friend, neighbor, or relative of the governor. I am none of these. Speaking honestly, my two most momentous "Cuomoccasions" took place many years ago. The first was in 1977, when he came to Brooklyn College to talk on the student radio station while he was running in the Democratic Primary for Mayor of New York City. Vincent Fuccillo, a professor in the Political Science department, who was then Director of the Center for Italian American Studies, Mario DiSanto, an adjunct faculty member of the Sociology department and a community activist, and I had arranged to meet with him to offer our services as advisors concerning the City University of New York. We also intended to offer ourselves as campaigners. We thought to ourselves: "How could he resist such an array of talent?" Bursting with ethnic pride and hopefulness when we met Cuomo at the school, our egos were quickly deflated when he made it obvious that he felt he knew more about CUNY then we did. Like Christopher Columbus, Mario Cuomo is not easy to love.


    The second Cuomomentous, and happier time in his presence was at the election night celebration after he had won the governorship of the State of New York. Then I stood with a group of ecstatic Italian American campaign workers chanting Ma- Re- O! In that campaign I helped in the Cuomo gubernatorial effort in Brooklyn while assisting in the bruising Congressional fight of Major Owens and the equally challenging Councilmanic race of Sal Albanese. In effect, I was trying to convince both African, and Italian-Americans that "Cuomo was the One." Cuomo's victory was Phoenix-like, rising from the ashes of the mayoral loss (to Ed "I" Koch). Like Columbus, when Cuomo decides to take a trip, he doesn't turn back until he reaches his destination; even if it's not where he thought he was going. Lacking intimacy with the governor, I polled a number of people who know him much better than I do to discover what he is "really" like. After a brief survey I have concluded that the nicest thing I can say about Mario Cuomo can be summed up in the word "Matilda." By the way (BTW), to this I received sustained, but cautious, applause.



    With his passing, whether he would have liked it or, more likely, not Mario Cuomo becomes a member of my personal batting lineup (he preferred professional baseball to politics) of Italian American political All-Stars, among whom are left-handed, right-handed, and switch hitters Fiorello La Guardia, Vito Marcantonio, John Marchi, Ella Grasso, and Geraldine Ferraro.


    As to the essence of Mario Cuomo: the more people disagreed with him, the more he was convinced he was right --- and he usually was. And, whatever personal faults he proudly displayed, as his archenemy Ed Koch (whom I doubt he will encounter is his afterlife) would have said "we should be so lucky."

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