Man’s Inhumanity: Italian-Americans

Their Brutal Nature

In New Orleans, in 1891, a mob stood in the streets and chanted angrily. They were uncontrolled, vengeful and out for blood. “Hang the Dagos!” they shouted “Hang the Dagos!”

Inside the Parish Jail were 19 Italian immigrants- indicted for the murder of police chief David Hennessy. Hennessy had allegedly been investigating a “secret society” among the Sicilian dock workers in New Orleans when he was killed execution style. Some historians believe he was investigating organized crime activities and at the time of his death, that was what the people thought. The people assumed he had been killed by members of this secret society.

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Hennessy survived for a few days after his injury and even managed to speak, but he never named his assassin.

A rumor began to spread throughout New Orleans that his last words were “Dagos did it”.

They rounded up the usual suspects.

On the morning of  March 14, 1891, the crowd was outside of the jail. They were armed. It was barely ten o’clock, a sunlit morning.  25 armed men stormed the jail with their weapons. They fired over a hundred shot gun blasts into a group of six Italian men, ripping them to pieces.

One man, Antonio Marchesi, had the top of his skull blown completely off.  He died lying exactly where he fell, in a pool of his own blood, having lain there for nine hours in agony.

After dispatching a few other men in the jail, the mob dragged the dead bodies outside and hung them from the lampposts.

The crowd cheered.

The newspaper described the Sicilians saying “The little jail was crowded with Sicilians, whose low, receding foreheads, dark skin, repulsive countenances and slovenly attire proclaimed their brutal nature”

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Internment Camps

During WWII, millions of American people paid the price for their heritage. There were internment camps for Italian Americans during the war. It was assumed that if your parents were from Italy, then you must be sympathetic to Mussolini.

Joe DeMaggio’s father was almost dragged off to a camp. Had it not been for his son’s status, he certainly would have lost everything he had. Because of anti-Italianism, Italian businesses were vandalized and anti-Italian propaganda was circulated saying “don’t speak the enemies’ language”.

Stereotypes about Italian- Americans

“Italians are stupid, uneducated and boorish. They are clannish, hot-tempered and uneducated. Italian people all have Mafia connections and are prone to violence.”

In fact, 88% of Italians live in or near a large city, tend to have only one child, have a divorce rate of only 8% and 66% of Italian Americans have a white collar job. Today, there are 26 million Italian Americans in the United States.

In some places and organizations, Italian Americans are included as recipients of affirmative action benefits.

Organizations

These organizations fight discrimination and defamation against Italians and also provide scholarships to Italian students. They are mostly engaged in educating the public about ethnic discrimination and the accomplishments of Italian Americans.

The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF)

Order of the Sons of Italy of America and The Commission for Social Justice (CSJ)

The American Italian Defense Association

http://www.italiausa.org/

These groups have links to other issues of interest to Italian Americans.