tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59880640093119526342024-03-05T21:31:51.521-08:00Marcantoniana Items from the Life and Times of the Marvelous Vito Marcantonio. highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-11093940942613863752023-08-16T11:59:00.004-07:002023-11-27T01:26:12.284-08:00Birthday Card for Tina Modotti<p> </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UTBh3zjFEgWKB728PsvYsfN1Xp6-h4l_F_ZeGxtAPcc9kIHzGGPwGFW3CfhLcBhutItDcyCzC_Ong6rRn9GQe3hBLok2GDTbGU9277t7Zj1wuRwpp3XcI3iLS6sHlX_cvNVLcqV8-1A/s1600/TINA1+001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506529979205115426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UTBh3zjFEgWKB728PsvYsfN1Xp6-h4l_F_ZeGxtAPcc9kIHzGGPwGFW3CfhLcBhutItDcyCzC_Ong6rRn9GQe3hBLok2GDTbGU9277t7Zj1wuRwpp3XcI3iLS6sHlX_cvNVLcqV8-1A/s320/TINA1+001.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 218px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><em>Pure your gentle name, pure your fragile life,</em><br /><em>bees, shadows, fire, snow, silence and foam,</em><br /><em>combined with steel and wire and</em><br /><em>pollen to make up your firm</em><br /><em>and delicate being.</em><br /><br />--Pablo Neruda<br /><br />Today is Tina Modotti's birthday.<br /><br />She would have been 127, but during her short 46 years, Modotti lived a century's-worth.<br /><br />"Marcantoniana" admires Modotti, not just for an unparalleled commitment to working people, but for the rich texture she wove into her existence, and a willingness to embrace not just what came her way, but the trouble she looked for and found.<br /><br />By way of birthday card for the fabulous lady, we will sketch a resume of her brief, but full-fledged, engagement with the World.<br /><br />Modotti was born in Udine, Italy. Her real, first name was Assunta. Poppa was a craftsman who followed the currents of work through the western factory world, so that she spent some years in Austria before taking off, as a teen, for San Francisco.<br /><br />There she worked as a seamstress in factories while Momma fed her pasta and Poppa the rantings and songs of the anarchist-inspired International Workers of the World -- the Wobblies.<br /><br />Modotti liked the theater and, at some point during her development into a first-class vixen, was tapped by a Hollywood talent scout to go south and settle in Los Angeles.<br /><br />There she played the exotic and foreign siren in a number of A-list productions such as "The Tiger's Coat" and "I Can Explain."<br /><br />Tina married and fell in with a bohemian crowd that counted among its numbers Edward Weston, a still-renowned photography pioneer at whose knee she learned the craft, while simultaneously having an affair with him.<br /><br />She was, by any measure, a seductress with a healthy sexual appetite.<br /><br />Her husband tempted Tina into visiting post-revolutionary Mexico. Weston followed. There she stayed and delved into that wonderful and beleaguered nation's cornucopia of colors, sounds and flavors, honing her craft into a portfolio much-admired even today.<br /><br />Modotti mixed with muralist Diego River and his wife (not Frida, the first one), Siqueiros and other figures of the Mexican left until her commitment grew enough to join the communists' feeble efforts to overthrow an already corrupt regime.<br /><br />When her first husband died Modotti became lover to a Cuban Marxist named Julio Mella, who was shot as he walked with her down a Mexico City street. She was accused as an accomplice in the murder.<br /><br />Surviving the legal i<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGeJjqHTFTy9qZ2lDNfEY-0CphzMlN0pqJXMSqz4t9Nzn_SfSezFJvPs846lPNqAEBiZ5ewkCa3Ug-zZ2Dyk8S7-E7ClwgvnJJDL74kWdREjoyy-hJBy6NH2oQLYuu1NOLdhUAotFpnc8/s1600/TINA2+001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506529793726450962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGeJjqHTFTy9qZ2lDNfEY-0CphzMlN0pqJXMSqz4t9Nzn_SfSezFJvPs846lPNqAEBiZ5ewkCa3Ug-zZ2Dyk8S7-E7ClwgvnJJDL74kWdREjoyy-hJBy6NH2oQLYuu1NOLdhUAotFpnc8/s320/TINA2+001.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 226px;" /></a>nquest, she nonetheless acquired the sobriquet, "The Bloody Tina Modotti."<br /><br />Sooner than later, the revolution melded seamlessly with her own life. After somebody tried to kill the Mexican president, Modotti was tossed from the country and into a wanderer's existence served exclusively on behalf of the worker's cause.<br /><br />Her art was dedicated to the same cause, but unlike socialist realism and other products of the era, Modotti never took up a cudgel. There is nothing bombastic or cloyingly heroic about her photographic subjects.<br /><br />Rather than impose a communistic view onto the world, Modotti found natural instances, bits of workerist filigree that she highlighted with a Graphlex lens and whatever light was at her disposal.<br /><br />The compositions are often exquisite.<br /><br />Berlin, Austria, Paris...Modotti served as a spy in the service of the communist movement. Like many well-meaning progressives, she wasted her countless and life-threatening efforts on the schemes of wicked Joe Stalin.<br /><br />Few knew what Stalin was until it was too late, that's what is said. Still, it was not necessary, this falling into the trap of losing God only to replace him with the leader of Russia's Communist Party, good or bad.<br /><br />But we all make mistakes. The swoop and sweep of our lives can be ennobled by their smaller embellishments.<br /><br />Modotti was dispatched to Spain along with her lover Ennea Sormenti, where she worked as a nurse for the international communist medical auxiliary, staying until the Spanish Republic's tragic demise, squiring beleaguered refugees across the icy Pyrenees mountains in the winter of 1939.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnWLpstMbgfVWxtgID7bNxx490YPRyt3vHSSTQ6bXCEu8zbXGN1ursI7aoJjQPrYg0l_Muw-TtalWPOlLst1AZNPAh5FzTwNlQFqz2AyQKHs_TGk9ncqYbPVlOrea1Sa3USTcwNjGHsE/s1600/tINA3+001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506530296913393202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnWLpstMbgfVWxtgID7bNxx490YPRyt3vHSSTQ6bXCEu8zbXGN1ursI7aoJjQPrYg0l_Muw-TtalWPOlLst1AZNPAh5FzTwNlQFqz2AyQKHs_TGk9ncqYbPVlOrea1Sa3USTcwNjGHsE/s320/tINA3+001.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 247px;" /></a><br />Tina floated the world over on a barge for a while, no country willing to take her in. Mexico finally relented. She died there in a cab a few years later, her life only partially rebuilt.<br /><br />Elena Poniatowska, Mexican author of the definitive biography, <a href="http://highwayscribery.blogspot.com/2008/07/other-places-part-ii-mexican-literature.html">"Tinisima,"</a> crafted a quiet expiration brought on by a life of high-drama and chain-smoking.<br /><br />Others speculate her life on the political and romantic frontlines might have spurred someone to murder La Modotti.<br /><br />Either way, the mystery befits a woman who led an uncommon existence, following her bliss, seeking a higher purpose, molding life itself into a work of art.</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://a.co/d/6t57vrm"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio</span></a></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-82751315536923302672023-07-08T15:45:00.008-07:002023-07-08T16:42:21.644-07:00Book Report: "Down These Mean Streeets" by Piri Thomas<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKVAR1O1IqIgc83BAaGP2dzOEsmOGanIXRMJo1h1JyN4L67IckCP_WrVaNlP_GD22UyUFl_UB5VCBKOFle1SyZBRIWRNs-iDvHFJKXKIsYOAoblTBv8QWpz6WuHxsrV1AIygTEdMwxYFx/s1600/Piri+001.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616442150190749618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKVAR1O1IqIgc83BAaGP2dzOEsmOGanIXRMJo1h1JyN4L67IckCP_WrVaNlP_GD22UyUFl_UB5VCBKOFle1SyZBRIWRNs-iDvHFJKXKIsYOAoblTBv8QWpz6WuHxsrV1AIygTEdMwxYFx/w256-h400/Piri+001.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 128px;" width="256" /></a> </p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br />"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679781420/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=highwayscribe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0679781420">Down These Mean Streets</a>"<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=highwayscribe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679781420&camp=217153&creative=399349" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-color: initial; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-style: none; border-top: medium none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px;" width="1" /> gets you three books for the price of one.<br /><br />The first book is true to its title: a young man's coming of age along the dangerous byways of Spanish Harlem.<br /><br />Here we see the perils associated with traversing the concrete jungle, the need for toughness and concomitant death of tenderness in youth.<br /><br />Author Piri Thomas details what life was like for Puerto Ricans moving into what had been an Italian neighborhood and the Italians' response to their displacement.<br /><br />Thomas was born in the 1920s, so that the time covered here ranges from the '30s to, perhaps, the early '50s, rendering his once hip track of new-lit jargon and streetjabber something of a timepiece.<br /><br />Thomas' novel came out in 1967 and one can imagine the liberal chic set of Mayor John Lindsay's New York jumping like cats to nip at his rough-edged peek beneath the shiny Big Apple's skin.<br /><br />Although this kind of literature has become stock in the book trade (James Frey anyone?), Thomas' autobiographical recounting of life among the rough Puerto Rican boys on his street can still shock.<br /><br />His detached description of when the bored kids willingly go up to the apartment of some transvestites for homosexual interaction, pot, and booze, is rather striking and unsettling.<br /><br />The second "book" deals with young Piri's identity crisis. One which can be extended to all the Puerto Ricans of his time.<br /><br />highwayscribery is ignorant of what they are thinking today, but in Thomas's time, there was much ado over skin color, the islanders running from evening black to lily white as they do.<br /><br />Thomas' problem was that he was darker, while his brothers were white. As a Puerto Rican, he did not, at first, view himself as being in the same boat as the African-Americans with whom his people crowded Harlem.<br /><br />But when the family makes an escape to suburban Long Island, Piri comes in for a bit of a shock, and slinks back to "El Barrio" with a severe chip on his shoulder and a deeper sense of shared experience with the American Negro.<br /><br />This issue is aired-out in discussions with folks of different skin pigmentation, each of whom expresses a unique understanding of the related questions. For this reviewer, it went on a little too long, and seemed a little self-indulgent.<br /><br />Especially for a young man confronted with the serious matter of economic survival in a cruel and unforgiving city.<br /><br />Nonetheless, Thomas' youthful obsession generates an anger which serves as bridge to the third book, which is a jail tale.<br /><br />Identity issues unresolved, his skin color serving him poorly in prejudiced city, the young man goes on a crime spree, again remarkable for its matter-of-fact execution, which lands him in the state penitentiary.<br /><br />Perhaps it was novel at the time, but today his efforts to maintain a tough guy's rep -- primarily to avoid being sodomized by bigger, harder criminals (no pun intended) -- while rehabilitating himself with a little Nation of Islam cant and some in-house masonry training are now familiar fodder.<br /><br />Thomas' attempt to forge a street-seasoned prose is uneven. He never really finds a groove and seems almost relieved to let more articulate characters do some of the heavy lifting where the expression of complex ideas is involved.<br /><br />Nonetheless, he succeeds in engaging the reader, pulling of that time-tested trick of getting people to root for a guy doing bad things, by peeling back the hard layers and revealing a human and worthy heart.</span><div><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">"The Goodfather (A Novel):The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">Amazon.com: The Goodfather: The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio: 9798889921745: Siciliano, Step Stephen: Books</a><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><br /></span></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-81180616767910036412023-02-10T13:00:00.006-08:002023-06-20T23:45:23.864-07:00Two Italian American Lions Reborn with Renato Cantore’s “Harlem, Italia” <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e5678a3c-7fff-fb58-213f-44ea035cc596"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b>Vito Marcantonio and Leonard Covello Reconsidered in Italian-Language Publication</b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQwGA6CbadvuQCMrON-tosFsaYrhNOYUT0w21k43jgf-eedmMsz7o-LNSjz7gv81KmkHZKVYhlvtTUfqsthkleICXOTbVyKNbwmODiOnTO-WluWfhKaD7wUfyEOVIEqX395ijt5lQdqdEXvWpamKP9sSXt73oDsagctwiNo_8DSxYp667YJweIfp-_w/s2657/cantore.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2657" data-original-width="1736" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQwGA6CbadvuQCMrON-tosFsaYrhNOYUT0w21k43jgf-eedmMsz7o-LNSjz7gv81KmkHZKVYhlvtTUfqsthkleICXOTbVyKNbwmODiOnTO-WluWfhKaD7wUfyEOVIEqX395ijt5lQdqdEXvWpamKP9sSXt73oDsagctwiNo_8DSxYp667YJweIfp-_w/w418-h640/cantore.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Italian Harlem, and </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">its two main </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">prominenti,</span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Leonard </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Covello </span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;">and Vito </span></span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marcantonio, have </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;">been </span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;">brought to </span></span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">literary life in </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Harlem-Italia-Marcantonio-visionari-migranti-ebook/dp/B0BNQVNBX2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2GNV8ZN2Z5CIU&keywords=renato%20cantore&qid=1675541320&sprefix=renato%20cantore%2Caps%2C246&sr=8-&fbclid=IwAR3AxWt-zRl9ZxJKtSITx-BQkDEHQynF8oRg57-OI9Ut6m6_qvP0ZnrB4Vg"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">“Harlem, Italia”</span></a><span style="color: red;"> by </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renato </span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cantore.</span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-2b136e50-7fff-985e-207b-1105c6b06063"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cantore</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">deputy director of Rai-Tgr, Italy's television network for regional news, has published numerous books and articles on the history of Italian emigration to the United States. “Harlem, Italia,” published by Rubbetino, is an Italian-language effort intended to educate people on immigration and its history. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">“Italians are getting to know the immigration problem,” said Cantore in a Feb. 10 interview. “I think knowing the history of when we were immigrants can be very useful for all of us.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Leonard Covello was an educator in East Harlem, a veritable pillar of the community, who worked to gain respect for his people and their language. Marcantonio was a student of his who went on to become a congressman and important collaborator to Covello where the construction of Benjamin Franklin High School - and other community-based efforts - were at stake. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">It has been a while since there was a big book written in this academic space. Allen Schaffer’s “Vito Marcantonio: Radical in Congress,” was published in 1966. Salvatore LaGumina’s “Vito Marcantonio: The People’s Politician,” came out in 1969. Gerald Meyer’s “Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician” was published in 1989. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Covello’s own “The Heart is a Teacher,” was released in 1958. “Leonard Covello and the Making of Benjamin Franklin High School: Education as if Citizenship Mattered (Michael Johanek and John Puckett) is the most recent effort with a 2006 publishing date. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">So, Cantore’s fresh scholarship is both needed and welcome. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">In “Harlem, Italia,” he revisits the largest Little Italy in the U.S. - East Harlem - during the first half of the 20th century, with a specific focus on Covello and Marcantonio. The former was a sociologist, educator and community activist, the latter, a famous radical congressman of the American Labor Party. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;">Said Cantore: “Despite having the possibility, they never left their troubled neighborhood behind for fancier parts of New York City. They lived all their lives in East Harlem. This is where their friendship started, and it is here where they started a project that did not merely revolve around themselves, but around the community in general. </span></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNH4Hi-2NTuBQRdCoEwfM5I56xSGLEwzA6jSpaB7OQ7bMjkRJGZDi5zVXbdQv_eICl7WyHocCGQ-3Yc7ih4sSo5n1ApETpk0wO8HxFEGGQdmS898PxOhkdVlcIMiIazgEsDMOAAfX2tK0aknEHfQvCuJyP1nS8jUq6HAn59G41CabLsgDRb0XE-MvHzw/s960/Cantore2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNH4Hi-2NTuBQRdCoEwfM5I56xSGLEwzA6jSpaB7OQ7bMjkRJGZDi5zVXbdQv_eICl7WyHocCGQ-3Yc7ih4sSo5n1ApETpk0wO8HxFEGGQdmS898PxOhkdVlcIMiIazgEsDMOAAfX2tK0aknEHfQvCuJyP1nS8jUq6HAn59G41CabLsgDRb0XE-MvHzw/s320/Cantore2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Renato Cantore</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">“Both became leaders in their respective fields, but never ceased to work for the East Harlem community’s emancipation.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Italian Americans, he noted, were an "unwelcome" people but grew, by the 1930s, into the largest ethnic community in East Harlem; figuring prominently in the political and social life of the neighborhood. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“My book,” said Cantore, “recounts that neighborhood life through significant events: the construction of the Madonna del Carmine Church on 115</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Street; the activities of Harlem House; Covello's struggle to have the Italian language taught in New York's schools; LaGuardia and Marcantonio shaking up Gotham politics; the idea of a multi-ethnic society based on mutual respect and collaboration; the pedagogical project behind the Benjamin Franklin High School - the first high school in East Harlem - where Covello reigned as principal for 22 years; the realization of a massive, social housing program for thousands; civil rights campaigns; Marcantonio's electoral campaigns, and his radical ideas in opposition to consolidated powers.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Cantore first encountered Marcantonio and Covello while studying Italian emigration. He had the good fortune of meeting with the preeminent Marcantonio scholar of the day, Gerald Meyer who argued that the importance of these two “giants” should be better known in their country of origin. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Meyer shared books, documents, memories and encouraged me to continue my research,” explained </span>C</span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;">antore. Gerald Meyer died in November 2021. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Cantore also studied LaGumina, Schaffer, Christopher Bell (“East Harlem Remembered” etc.), Robert Orsi (“The Madonna of 115th Street” etc.), and Italian cultural scholar Simone Cinotto (“The Italian American Table: Food, Family and Community in New York City” etc.) in constructing his story. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">“I read the newspapers of the time, consulted documents, met a lot of seniors from East Harlem, and also followed the activities of the Vito Marcantonio Forum and the blog “Marcantoniana,” said Cantore. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">The book, he stated, is aimed primarily at young people; school and university students, but also adults; especially those involved in education and politics. “They will be interested in knowing the story of Leo and Marc, and their long walk towards the integration of the Italian community of Harlem,” he predicted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Cantore is maintaining a brisk schedule of public appearances with key events in Picerno, where Marcantonio has his roots, in Avigliano, so well-depicted in Covello’s aforementioned memoir, and other municipalities in the province of Basilicata, where the story is truly rooted. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">“We are preparing a vast program of presentations in other Italian regions, literary fairs and colleges,” explained Cantore.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In the end,” Cantore said, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope that this book will render a tribute of gratitude to Covello and Marcantonio, in Italy, for what they have done. Their example is relevant, useful, and applicable to the times in which we live. We need a renewed commitment to the poor, the needy, the immigrants who remain on the margins of the community, just as it happened for the Italian-Americans of East Harlem.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier;"> <a href="https://a.co/d/frDDNMm">The Goodfather: A Novel by Stephen Siciliano</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-27938893953324174252021-06-09T13:56:00.005-07:002023-07-08T16:44:37.436-07:00Gil Fagiani in "Italian American Review" <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><i></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUziCi90rDiCRRSvaYmUrgufv5vvvdUxJlK-gBzIXAM2o8lUo0mtNOrGmRcS3Auh18hLsvVTF7lQ2Tx975dI_q5n-NGCrLq5D_YMYyDFEVUF_74H-y-K_iDgvdCYQcPMAoUHnRT47pn_T/s1999/IARcover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1999" data-original-width="1388" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUziCi90rDiCRRSvaYmUrgufv5vvvdUxJlK-gBzIXAM2o8lUo0mtNOrGmRcS3Auh18hLsvVTF7lQ2Tx975dI_q5n-NGCrLq5D_YMYyDFEVUF_74H-y-K_iDgvdCYQcPMAoUHnRT47pn_T/w445-h640/IARcover.jpg" width="445" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><i><br />Introduction to a series of remembrances about poet and Vito Marcantonio Forum co-founder <a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2018/04/gil-fagiani.html"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Gil Fagiani</span></a>, for the current edition of “Italian American Review,” which is created by the City University of New York’s Calandra Italian American Institute and published by University of Illinois Press:</i> </span><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Gil Fagiani: Objectively Speaking</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre asserted two modes of being: consciousness (</span><span style="font-family: courier; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pour-soi</span><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and object (</span><span style="font-family: courier; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">en-soi</span><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). The former, Sartre asserted, requires the latter; consciousness exists only in its relation to the objective world. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consciousness implies the objective world and its own existence as a question. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The questions Gil Fagiani asked, in an effort to know himself and give his existence meaning, can be sought in the ample and elevated body of work he left behind, as writer and poet, upon passing on April 12, 2018. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provincial Italy, New Left politics, addiction, redemption, romance, Latin-spiced urban streetscapes, are rendered in flavors only realizable in a man striving to understand the relationship between his consciousness and the objective world, a dialectic Sartre considered the foundation of knowledge and action.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this collection of remembrances, we make contact with Fagiani’s </span><span style="font-family: courier; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">en-soi</span><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, his consciousness as it existed to those around him -- remembrances confirming Sartre’s contention that “there can be no free </span><span style="font-family: courier; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pour-soi </span><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">save as engagement in a resistant world.” </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">For engaged the poet and activist was. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we have Fagiani’s lifelong friend, Genie Bild, recalling New York City’s anarchic 1970s, when the pair worked with the activist group White Lightning. Professor Gerald Meyer reviews a thirty-year friendship and collaboration rooted in recuperating the memory of radical Italian American Congressman Vito Marcantonio. Roger Harris harkens back to Manhattan’s riotous ‘60s and his work with Fagiani and the East Harlem Tenants Council, remarking on his comrade’s fateful link to the neighborhood. James Tracy’s research on a book brought Fagiani into his life, and in time he came to know “the multitudes within him.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">For Sartre, death was not annihilation but the lapse of one’s subjectivity out of the world. The meanings we leave behind are modified at the hands of others. Our consciousness exists, finally and solely, in the minds of those who perceive and remember us. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">In these writings of four men who can claim to have known him well, Gil Fagiani is not annihilated; rather, he exists and changes and endures. </span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">----Stephen Siciliano</span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Volume II, Number I of “Italian American Review” can be purchased here: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/iar.html. or from Clydette at </span></span><span face="YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">cwantlan@uillinois.edu</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio" can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">Marc Lives</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-48528405770502501592021-05-01T02:00:00.005-07:002023-07-08T16:45:57.206-07:00Christopher Bell's East Harlem<p> </p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4S6iSZKl4zxZ9ljB9c8kF2S1g4NkMz9a0pVwiat9cErBDzHXqXljhyphenhyphenTVoGGsvDIX5qA8BOfxCxOnn5-Ws4j-YHoFa7rLnA2PRZSSWWiI-zS_cbe5Y998mvc-WNdIb8q9_laHneE9IpIvD/s1920/EH1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1920" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4S6iSZKl4zxZ9ljB9c8kF2S1g4NkMz9a0pVwiat9cErBDzHXqXljhyphenhyphenTVoGGsvDIX5qA8BOfxCxOnn5-Ws4j-YHoFa7rLnA2PRZSSWWiI-zS_cbe5Y998mvc-WNdIb8q9_laHneE9IpIvD/w667-h237/EH1.jpg" width="667" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A recent article on the website </span><a href="https://medium.com/harlem-focus/harlems-hidden-history-the-real-little-italy-was-uptown-ac613b023c6b" style="font-family: courier; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red;">“Harlem Focus”</span></span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></a><span style="font-family: courier; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">details how the “real” Little Italy was not actually on the lower East Side, but uptown in East Harlem.</span></span><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An interesting report, it contains nothing that can’t be found in Christopher Bell’s <span style="color: red;">“<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/east-harlem-remembered-christopher-bell/1111754023"><span style="color: red;">East Harlem Remembered</span></a>,”</span> </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">which is not to criticize, rather to illustrate the need for the retelling of stories to keep them alive. </span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-9d3fa3fa-7fff-5916-08e6-91fa46257809"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">As such, we reconsider Bell’s work, which was published in 2013 ...to retell it, and review it in light of the time which has passed since and, perhaps, to mine it for further value. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><div><span><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b>Marc on Tap</b></span></span></div><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Of particular interest to this website is Bell’s inclusion of a stand-alone, chapter-length, mini-bio of Vito Marcantonio, establishing him as the emblematic East Harlemite “non pareil” in spite of a local constellation that includes folks like Burt Lancaster, Langston Hughes, or the most-contemporary Marc Antony. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">While addressed directly in said chapter, Marcantonio’s imprint upon East Harlem’s neighborhoods can be perceived throughout the book in passages where he is not mentioned by name. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Resident Felipe Luciano noted how in the 1960s and ‘70s the Young Lords Party had a group that, “simply advocated for people who need help to pay a ConEd Bill, or if they needed translation with the Welfare Departments or if you needed help with the homework.”</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1G6bF_IyWdHfxY8ndviFeXcOJNTYN90BBfgaAQHrLAdf8LWp4nBsq93n3LdyUbgYyGgcn47pvq4246eIrVEgbW105o_bhhtfYsMjoScwSxwuWez4fpkpSgtRi1LwW78AL6XT3zsRL-NVC/s499/Bellharlem.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="334" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1G6bF_IyWdHfxY8ndviFeXcOJNTYN90BBfgaAQHrLAdf8LWp4nBsq93n3LdyUbgYyGgcn47pvq4246eIrVEgbW105o_bhhtfYsMjoScwSxwuWez4fpkpSgtRi1LwW78AL6XT3zsRL-NVC/w429-h640/Bellharlem.jpg" width="429" /></span></a></div><p></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Such were the needs of Marcantonio’s constituents and the way in which he handled them became the blueprint for those who took up the tasks in the wake of his sudden departure. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Bell noted that, after World War II, the city’s housing and planning entities failed to engage neighborhood agents, “unlike before when Leonard Covello and the East Harlem community worked with Vito Marcantonio and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to bring the East River Houses to the neighborhood.” </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Which is a reminder that a locale doesn’t necessarily recycle good leaders in succeeding generations and that their presence is a matter of good fortune, their death, the opposite. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">A noteworthy achievement is the voice, the bullhorn even, “Remembered” gives to the residents of East Harlem. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b>The Written Words</b></span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">A cursory review of East Harlem literature brings to mind Patricia Cayo Sexton’s “Spanish Harlem: Anatomy of Poverty,” which contains testimonials from the neighborhood, but is an academic document that provides the uninitiated with an institutional and demographic topography of the area, moreso than the soul of a people. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poet Gil Fagiani’s </span><span style="color: red;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-blanquito-en-el-barrio-gil-fagianis.html" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red;">A Blanquito In El Barrio,</span></a></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red;">”</span> is rich in local idioms both visual and verbal, but the work is primarily in one voice, the poet’s -- with its shadow of the suburban Connecticut youth -- observing East Harlem as much as living it. Though Fagiani’s life was linked to the place in fateful ways, “Blanquito” is the voice of an eternal visitor delighting in exotic urban fauna. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Piri Thomas’s “Down These Mean Streets,” harnesses the power of literature to enmesh readers in a gritty personal drama with East Harlem as the backdrop, but it is a largely personal journey and, as with Cayo Sexton’s work, features portraits drawn primarily from the Puerto Rican community.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Michael Parenti’s <a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2015/10/michael-parenti-growing-up-in-east.html"><span style="color: red;">“Waiting for Yesterday:Pages from a Street Kid’s Life”</span></a> is a remembrance of the old haunts and characters via a singular voice--Parenti’s. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bell’s book is, still more, a lively pastiche of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">vox populi</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the purest presentation of East Harlem in its own words. Rife with colorful, colloquial recollections presented “as-is,” and homemade snapshots, “Remembered” hums with authenticity. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4b2Q6DM8PZPxwCiUV4t7WXBEkGxgzHDmBHkUp5frvOQy7D4AWN1iS8wwfX6UuGZ6J-XUFgUlvlpl2PhXF7cpoS1Bsfnzl-hOW-mvgsEK1Ee3dwbv6RsW48apNcyaFtAiYy9ZuObs8HS-b/s1000/EH2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1000" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4b2Q6DM8PZPxwCiUV4t7WXBEkGxgzHDmBHkUp5frvOQy7D4AWN1iS8wwfX6UuGZ6J-XUFgUlvlpl2PhXF7cpoS1Bsfnzl-hOW-mvgsEK1Ee3dwbv6RsW48apNcyaFtAiYy9ZuObs8HS-b/w400-h275/EH2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">These people were there and Bell was able to land some big fish such as author Thomas, and Raoul Abdul, a confidante of the poet Hughes, but these have nothing over the rank and file residents he rounded up for recollection. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is Piri Thomas describing Marcantonio:</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “I thought he was Puerto Rican because he helped everybody, all nationalities. The Puerto Ricans and Italians were always fighting and he was helping everybody out.”</span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Joe Monserrat remembered how Marcantonio’s mentor Leonard Covello,</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “believed Italians should have rights, and African Americans and Puerto Ricans should have rights too. Despite the tension and fights between the groups, Pop Covello was one of the first to recognize Puerto Ricans in the school [ Benjamin Franklin High School] and in the community. The school was a community center and it was a very nice place.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The Grassroots Perspective</b></span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">These are examples of how East Harlemites actually viewed such community leaders; not through a prism of left and right, or career arcs to be analyzed, but through neighborhood, political interaction and personal contact. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">With statements such as these we learn as much about Marcantonio as we do from an analysis of his legislative record or adherence to a particular party line. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In the following statement from Hortencio Morales, we learn of unique skills the city kid picked up during an apprenticeship on the streets:</span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Y</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ou had the fire hydrant, or the water pump, which we called </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">la pumpa</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The water pump was always open on every block in East Harlem. Someone in the neighborhood would get this big wrench to turn the water on. Next you found an empty can and scraped both sides of the can until both lids came off. With the water coming out of the hydrant at full blast, you placed the can in front of the nozzle and you had a powerful force of water gushing out.</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that’s </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">East Harlem</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> story. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Parenti’s remembrance marveled at the adaptability of street kids to their environment. Willie Lopez fills in the details, brings that spontaneous creativity to life. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BMETxOQQhn9DoXk3hqosFssB8hpG5Tnd9Namz9Io89Kk1X7ymBuAj63KGpcXmH_uLQ7JF6y6bdXlNXxsFgbYvVrQzX59WFyNZ5MGjaFX0tmC8nFmv_VBMGuuz2gPtpGQ81IohzyizbvD/s251/EH3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lopez recalled how stickball was: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“...played on every block….You pitched or bounced the ball once on the street and you have one swing. The batter runs into the ball and, hopefully, you hit a hard line drive down the street. If you hit it on the roof, that’s an out, but when you played on the block, you always had fire escapes. Your goal was to hit the fire escapes or the wall because, if it bounced down off the wall, that’s how you could get an extra run.”</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>A Disappeared World</b></span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The assembled oral accounts, a few of which harken back to the late 19th century, recall forgotten features of quotidian life, provide a description of James Bryants’ iceman [maybe it was Michael Parenti’s father], the icebox and its operation, an explanation of the prevalent use of dumbwaiters in tenement buildings. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: courier; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="251" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BMETxOQQhn9DoXk3hqosFssB8hpG5Tnd9Namz9Io89Kk1X7ymBuAj63KGpcXmH_uLQ7JF6y6bdXlNXxsFgbYvVrQzX59WFyNZ5MGjaFX0tmC8nFmv_VBMGuuz2gPtpGQ81IohzyizbvD/w400-h320/EH3.jpg" width="400" /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Bell gets into the weeds with the formation and history of local institutions, but this detail aids in spinning the web of relationships that make neighborhood a community; the wispy thread tying LuLu’s Candy Store to Joe Cuba’s vibraphone player. No group is slighted where their history and contributions are concerned. Bell even dug out a member of the small Greek community nestled among all the Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans and African Americans. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">None of the accounts deny the area’s poverty, but neither do they dwell on it. For all its poverty and crime, people looked back fondly upon pre-redevelopment East Harlem as a collection of neighborhoods with what Robert Stern, another of Bell’s subjects, called a “dense network of associations.” </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Said Morton Ross:</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “When I was a kid we threw away the key because we didn’t lock our doors in East Harlem. It was a “whose a dare?” system and anyone came in the building there was a superintendent or a janitor. And if someone came by your building that didn’t belong there, or if a person banged on the door, our Italian janitor said “whose a dare” and that trespasser ran like hell.”</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Carlos De Jesus recalled an “open community” of fluid exchange and relation between residents. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Bell, for his part, provides naught but the unvarnished truths where East Harlem’s afflictions are concerned, but even in an accounting of street-gang presence, something of an ebullient urban lexicon surfaces:</span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There were gangs all over the place. On 102nd Street the gang was called the Demons; 103rd Street gangs were the Dragons, and also the Copian (Copasetics) patrolled that area. No gangs existed on 104th Street until we started our gang, the Condemners. The Viceroys’ turf was on 110th Street and sometimes they came to 103rd Street to fight the Dragons on 105th Street was the Corsicans territory and on 106th the Colts ran that area.” </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Manny Segarra]</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The Public Housing Phantom</b></span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Bell tarries long on the identity imposed upon East Harlem via public housing policies decided beyond its confines; the immutable reality that transformed the area and erased its past save for voices like those archived here. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Remembered” is a guided tour through both the time and space that has been, and is, East Harlem, an excursion through successive East Harlems. Bell even applies a tour guide’s language, opening up one chapter: “Here we will read how one man’s vision...” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The author, while constructing a fair balance sheet on redevelopment’s record in East Harlem, is not afraid to render judgement, calling it, “The tenement carnage and relocation.”</span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arnie Segarra, resident of the Johnson Houses on Lexington Avenue, put things within the context of the times: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Housing projects were luxury housing back then and it was the first time anyone rode in an elevator and had a maintenance crew.” </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manny Segarra summoned the scars redevelopment left behind both on the landscape and individual psyches. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”Scores of tenements were destroyed, which left empty lots and this practice was commonplace throughout the city. I was ten years old and I kept thinking that everything would be OK. But I went downstairs and saw the empty buildings." </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Bell maintains a loose, progressively tinted narrative history of the United States throughout the arc of East Harlem’s tale, always tying what was happening in the neighborhoods to larger societal trends, while highlighting a community asserting its own relevance beyond the East River. </span></span></p><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio" can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">Marc Lives</a></span></div></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-68649572563594402312021-05-01T01:59:00.009-07:002023-11-03T16:07:15.466-07:00Vito Marcantonio Forum Kicks Off Rebel Girl Series with "Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Why Now?" <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3T2aMwUR-uQhzN3_kGNtrZfdYiTIShyU6Dwaw5m3DWRFOoYO3_be2NEHzTC3_bvLSB-4MpBMoT2C6QvgNUZaJseoshdMdQw7yvZEEuD4k8fq6nvrscLX_JgZ2EAmlC090reUP4jdHYFQY/s393/EGFJoanofArc.jpg" style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="393" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3T2aMwUR-uQhzN3_kGNtrZfdYiTIShyU6Dwaw5m3DWRFOoYO3_be2NEHzTC3_bvLSB-4MpBMoT2C6QvgNUZaJseoshdMdQw7yvZEEuD4k8fq6nvrscLX_JgZ2EAmlC090reUP4jdHYFQY/w597-h360/EGFJoanofArc.jpg" width="597" /></a></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Professor Mary Anne Trasciatti gave a March 7, talk launching the second edition of civil rights activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s “My Life as a Political Prisoner.” </span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-15abcd57-7fff-efb1-ba4d-1456cb6b208c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The zoom event represented a first collaboration between the Vito Marcantonio Forum and Claudia Jones School for Political Education; “two educational and cultural political organizations sharing a vision that history matters,” said moderator Maria Lisella. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Reissued by International Publishers', “My Life as a Political Prisoner. The Rebel Girl Becomes No.11710,” was first published as “The Alderson Story.” </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">Trasciatti, who is a professor of writing studies and rhetoric at Hofstra University, and president of</span> </span></span><a href="http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/" style="font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Remember the Triangle Coalition</span></a><span style="font-family: courier; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">,</span><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">is currently writing a book on Flynn for Rutgers University Press. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">She also contributed the forward to the new edition of Flynn’s prison memoir, which came out in 1963, one year before its author died. “Her experiences at the penitentiary for women is what the book is about,” Trasciatti told the online audience. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The professor began with a discussion of Flynn's life and work. Born in 1890, her parents were socialists and fighters for Irish freedom who moved in a radical milieu, which led to her youthful entry into the world of political activism.</span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The material conditions of her poverty and struggle, as well as the ideological education she received from her family and her friends,” Trasciatti observed, “were the foundations for Flynn’s deep understanding of the inequalities that pervaded U.S. society and politics </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of her broad international vision.” </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The professor spoke of a life divided in two parts; the first being “The Rebel Girl,” when Flynn adhered to syndicalist principles and direct action, rather than electoral politics. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiF5MVD0Dmhfvz_DMeauWDUkNfosKzQR_DBOMriPSy6oY9ygl1DUQXHZMe-U1VsJVkiXLbJ8AItPi_ZcRFK5OP7TjnsZm4RKetZUSli3oMFxbSDuRd0566Xtj0ujOV1JdIi-3BQ3GhuiLT/s512/Flynnportrait.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="397" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiF5MVD0Dmhfvz_DMeauWDUkNfosKzQR_DBOMriPSy6oY9ygl1DUQXHZMe-U1VsJVkiXLbJ8AItPi_ZcRFK5OP7TjnsZm4RKetZUSli3oMFxbSDuRd0566Xtj0ujOV1JdIi-3BQ3GhuiLT/s320/Flynnportrait.jpg" /></a></span></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">At 16, Flynn signed on with the Industrial Workers of the World union -- the Wobblies -- described by Trasciatti as, “an exciting and audacious group at the heart of some of the most important industrial labor actions of the early 20th century.” </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Flynn led free speech fights that shaped the IWW’s future campaigns on the issue. She played important roles in the Lawrence, Mass., “Bread and Roses” strike, the Patterson, N.J. silk strike, New York hotel workers job action, and the iron workers walkout on Minnesota’s Mesabi Range. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">She was arrested for being a member of the Wobblies when she had left the union and escaped imprisonment by petitioning President Woodrow Wilson; an experience which spurred her founding of the Workers Defense Union to help in similar cases, and which often represented the only legal representation such defendants could find. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Rebel Girl’s unique talent was bringing a fractious left to the table with the liberal establishment. “She was instrumental in forging the liberal-radical alliance historians note was at the heart of the post-war civil liberties movement in the United States,” Trasciatti asserted. </span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Flynn fought deportations and called, throughout her life, for political prisoner status in the U.S., where it does not exist. “Hence the title of her book, ‘My Life as a Political Prisoner,’” Trasciatti explained. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In 1920, Flynn helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) with which she worked for 20 years, before the association came to an end over her membership in the Communist Party of the U.S.A. (CP). </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In 1926, she suffered a breakdown when upon learning that her lover, the anarchist Carlo Tresca, had been romancing her younger sister and produced a child in the process. It was the last straw for a spirit exhausted from incessant advocating, agitating and traveling, according to Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">This precipitated a move to Portland, Oregon, where she lived quietly for 10 years with a friend before entering the second half of her career as a member of the Communist Party from 1947 to 1964. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“These are the years when Flynn is no longer a girl, but still a rebel,” said Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In 1961, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was elected to a three-year term as the CP’s first female chair. The fit between Flynn and the party was a natural one. In 1937, the CP was the most active, inclusive and exciting organization on the left, according to Trasciatti, who added, “She wanted to be in the fray.”</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">It helped that Flynn’s joining coincided with the Popular Front period during which coalition-building skills were at a premium. An anti-fascist going back to the 1920s, Flynn liked the CP’s dedication to that fight. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf0ETYDUfTTRXbCWU0I2JKdbRuY8E9vvyxF3IbNplgOmoEvEMB649vAZ1Cu8-VVki-LV6po7OaWxYzx-owSSkKfl2swvpleXN9uC8E7Sbd378GFw4ALq8d4xBHZylYj2FZdE8N2yGrMsUC/s200/Trasciatti.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="125" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf0ETYDUfTTRXbCWU0I2JKdbRuY8E9vvyxF3IbNplgOmoEvEMB649vAZ1Cu8-VVki-LV6po7OaWxYzx-owSSkKfl2swvpleXN9uC8E7Sbd378GFw4ALq8d4xBHZylYj2FZdE8N2yGrMsUC/w250-h400/Trasciatti.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Professor Trasciatti</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Trasciatti explained how the late 1930s witnessed a “little red scare”; a period of rising anti-communism between the first big red scare at the end of World War I and McCarthyism. </span></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">During the turbulence, anti-communists in the ACLU sought to dissociate the group from the Communist Party; to shed its radical past and embrace a politically neutral version of free speech, which many have applauded, but which Trasciatti characterized as “a problematic moment in the history" of the outfit.</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In Feb. 1940, the organization passed a “Commu-Nazi” resolution, asserting the two ideologies represented one side of the same seditious coin. Neither political animal could sit on the ACLU board, because these credos undermined their commitment to civil liberties.</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Flynn, the only communist on the ACLU governing body, was asked to step down, but refused; instead challenging the directors to both try and purge her, which they obliged in May 1940. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Ponder the irony,” Trasciatti observed. “Elizabeth Gurley Flynn had been an anti-fascist since 1923, before anybody else on the ACLU executive committee, and now the ACLU was telling her that her political ideas were as dangerous as fascism. That cut deep.”</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Her ouster, Trasciatti said, gave a liberal seal of approval to anti-communism and set the stage for everything that followed in its name. </span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In 1976, the ACLU expressed its organizational regrets over the move. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Also in 1940, Congress passed the Alien Registration Act; the first peace-time, anti-sedition law enacted since the Alien and Sedition Act of 1789. </span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Known as the Smith Act, the bill made it a crime to undermine the morale of the U.S. military or advocate overthrow of the government by violence, and required the registration and fingerprinting of all adults, noncitizen residents. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5F5GLSHhfjlX0lxHPwvVEs3wLZr4tbEdzNvurz2rvJkeo7VO2WXGz_RXP1vcyYbIaDkMF6-3aBKNB3NZXO2BnNkbzJEt4vj9vGErL7KrdN-2OWIQAXpS4510WiWdYso1sujiUUSltFVT/s1200/rebelgirl.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5F5GLSHhfjlX0lxHPwvVEs3wLZr4tbEdzNvurz2rvJkeo7VO2WXGz_RXP1vcyYbIaDkMF6-3aBKNB3NZXO2BnNkbzJEt4vj9vGErL7KrdN-2OWIQAXpS4510WiWdYso1sujiUUSltFVT/w400-h400/rebelgirl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“The path towards internment,” observed Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The CP opposed the law throughout its enactment as anti-immigrant, antithetical to civil liberties, and unAmerican. The party urged President Franklin Roosevelt not to sign it. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“The law proved a potent weapon against the left,” said Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The first significant indictments came in 1941, against 39 members of the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party. Some defendants were Teamsters and Trasciatti cited literature suggesting the union colluded with the government to remove them from the syndicate. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The trial, “a travesty,” according to Trasciatti, was one of political ideas that set a very low bar for seditious speech and resulted in 18 defendants being sentenced to a year, or more, in prison. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The Communist Party did not work on behalf of the defendants, as they were Trotskyists, but not long after World War II, it too became a target of Smith Act prosecutions. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In 1949, 11 CP leaders were arrested, tried and convicted. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn chaired the party’s Smith Act Defense Fund to raise money and generate sympathy, but “it was a really tough sell in that political environment,” Trasciatti remarked. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">In 1951, a second group was arrested, including Flynn, Jones, Betty Gannett and Marianne Baccarat. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">At trial, Flynn acted as her own counsel. “She had an interest in legal affairs, but more importantly, her book makes clear how nobody wanted to defend these people,” said Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Flynn’s speeches in court, she continued, “offer a stirring indictment of capitalist justice and defense of the right of Americans to their own political beliefs and opinions.” </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Memoirs</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, in 1953, all of the defendants were found guilty. Flynn’s sentence was 28 months in the Alderson Penitentiary for Women, and these months yielded the book under consideration. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The title, Trasciatti noted, reflects Flynn’s longstanding commitment to civil liberties. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“She acknowledges that there are political prisoners in the U.S., that we incarcerate people for their ideas, and for the things they say, not the things they do. That recognition is part of what sustained her through imprisonment,” said Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Flynn acknowledged her fellow political prisoners, the professor asserted, not to call attention to the plight of communists, or other imprisoned political activists, rather to highlight the inhumanity of what passed for justice in the U.S.,as experienced by the ordinary women she found herself surrounded by, and to call for change. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Many of the topics she addressed in the book make it feel like it could have been written yesterday,” Trasciatti observed. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">These included the dehumanizing effects of incarceration, the creep of militarization into the prison system, the class composition of the jailed population, and the understanding of incarceration as a racist institution. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">She railed against the exploitation of prison labor, and took the position that “addiction is a disease not a moral failure. A very forward thinking approach,” said Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“My Life As…" she added, presents a rare personal account of what it’s like to be a woman behind bars. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Trasciatti quoted Angela Davis who wrote in “Women Race, and Class,” “[The book] reveals a new political maturity and a more profound consciousness of racism. As a leader of the Communist Party, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn had developed a deep commitment to the black liberation struggle, and had come to realize that black peoples’ resistance is not always consciously political. At Alderson, she made friends more easily among the black women in prison than she did among the white inmates. And the black women, in turn, were more receptive to Elizabeth. Perhaps they sensed in this white woman communist an instinctive kinship in the struggle.”</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Although 28 months in prison were undoubtedly hard on an older woman, Flynn left unbowed, “formidable,” said Trasciatti. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Flynn died in Moscow in 1964. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">The presentation can be viewed in its entirety at<a href=" https://youtu.be/3BhN9Nvh3RQ"> </a></span><span style="color: white;"><a href=" https://youtu.be/3BhN9Nvh3RQ">https://youtu.be/3BhN9Nvh3RQ</a></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio" can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-14210666673384203902021-05-01T01:57:00.011-07:002023-11-03T16:13:21.503-07:00Marc on the Smith Act<p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Rep. Vito Marcantonio had no use for the Smith Act.</span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Marc told the House, in debate over the bill: “In a period as trying as this period, the test of democracy lies in the ability of that democracy to maintain its liberties, to preserve those liberties, and to have more freedom rather than less freedom.” </span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Rep. Joseph Gavagan (D-N.Y.) asked Marcantonio if a democracy didn’t have a right to defend itself, which was something like a fastball down the middle that wasn’t so fast. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“A democracy has a perfect right to protect itself,” said Marcantonio, “but remember this: you are not protecting democracy by this legislation. Spies and saboteurs will not register nor submit to fingerprinting… I believe spies and saboteurs and anybody who engages in illegal activity should be immediately apprehended and severely punished. You do not accomplish that end by this bill. You only undermine American freedom.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Law already existed to root out spies and prevent sabotage, Marcantonio noted.</span></p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In “Vito Marcantonio: Radical in Congress,” Alan Schaffer wrote that to the East Harlemite, the Smith Act was nothing more than an attempt at legislative intimidation of the politically unpopular, especially that </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">běte noire</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChSgU_7pwZL4hmek5w6zemxo3OjXkpDPNo4obi7-O58DiJwyDDPBcUQhKaah1MvuVn_ggL2kXBi7mg4LTcqsICGGb1cF0wNONbyq8WV_DY2mUXQu1xSnreLX_Nij3b0UKB-u6BZfzgv0k/s600/newMARC.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="483" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChSgU_7pwZL4hmek5w6zemxo3OjXkpDPNo4obi7-O58DiJwyDDPBcUQhKaah1MvuVn_ggL2kXBi7mg4LTcqsICGGb1cF0wNONbyq8WV_DY2mUXQu1xSnreLX_Nij3b0UKB-u6BZfzgv0k/w323-h400/newMARC.jpeg" width="323" /></a></span> of the Congress, the radical left.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The imprisonment of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, among others, under the act confirmed Marcantonio’s suspicions. </span></p><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>Marc was one of four congressmen who voted against the bill. </span></span><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Nothing illustrates the temper of the times more than that overwhelming defeat,” Schaffer concluded. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><p></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-51783336747066611562021-05-01T01:56:00.008-07:002023-07-08T16:54:33.999-07:00Fiorello La Guardia and the Social Democratic City<p> </p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1rlMtfS7P8FtK03yd6pf1mJ68b581MQ800jHC0D787ye4nBwpoGTmd7_lsyCNZ3yWj272moc3ZnLVIy1Z_-OMWLjahyphenhyphenNI3o5gHJw_YFto221vOh3dWmZ-M-g7dlyFroMXHgcqZkAhcsp/s600/radioFIORELLO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="600" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1rlMtfS7P8FtK03yd6pf1mJ68b581MQ800jHC0D787ye4nBwpoGTmd7_lsyCNZ3yWj272moc3ZnLVIy1Z_-OMWLjahyphenhyphenNI3o5gHJw_YFto221vOh3dWmZ-M-g7dlyFroMXHgcqZkAhcsp/w640-h396/radioFIORELLO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The exclusion of Fiorello La Guardia’s leftist brand from his biography represents a gross distortion to the image of America’s greatest mayor, according to professor Gerald Meyer. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e2e4562d-7fff-effc-f5be-4b08c5f2052d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">New York City’s La Guardia is a beloved figure, Meyer stated, “But what’s left out his story is his leftism.” </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">Meyer, a professor at Hostos Community College in The Bronx, N.Y., is co-editor of “The Lost World of Italian Radicalism,” and author of</span><span style="color: red;"> </span><span><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/01/vito-marcantonio-radical-politician-by_22.html"><span style="color: red;">“Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician</span></a><span style="color: white;">."</span></span><span style="color: white;"><span>S</span><span>o he has some experience with cases like La Guardia’s. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The educator spoke March 18 at the New Haven Free Public Library’s “Books Sandwiched In:Virtual Author Talks,” on the subject, “Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and the Left.” </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The Little Flower’s leftism, Meyer asserted, was his motivating force, but in the retelling of his political career, across many biographies, is unfailingly cast aside. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“It is also very belittling to La Guardia,” said Meyer. “It’s as if he didn’t have ideas when he was actually a brilliant man. He was an ideologue. His demands in Congress presaged the entire New Deal.”</span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The omission leaves an incomplete picture of the man as thinker, as visionary, and as an effective politician, Meyer stated. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The talk tracked La Guardia’s life chronologically, and was divided into phases; the first being from his birth in 1882 until 1910, when he traveled to Europe and landed a job in Trieste. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Youth as Key to Understanding </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Meyer contended that, more so than other larger-than-life historical figures, the keys to La Guardia’s formation are found in his youth. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">His father was an anti-clerical Jacobin and his mother an Italian jew with roots in Sephardic Spain. Upon arriving in America, the family Americanized; joining the Presbyterian Church and moving to Prescott, Ariz., where father played music in a U.S. Army ensemble. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">There, Meyer noted, La Guardia saw discrimination against Native Americans and immigrant laborers alike. His own indignities suffered as the lone Italian at school made him aware of what it meant to be an outsider, and to the fact he himself was an outsider. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsEBcy4WvDzfziOb-7tTPSra5O-0hdWtpzR2sGnZjiHC8j8X2u9PTIfRc0hvhiNVj331nid7JumJzXjC75vZouxLChN_8_ftWGTFIcW7ouw96a93caBnRFSU0tmcvcM0By2wD5FRZMog7I/s534/Fiorello2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsEBcy4WvDzfziOb-7tTPSra5O-0hdWtpzR2sGnZjiHC8j8X2u9PTIfRc0hvhiNVj331nid7JumJzXjC75vZouxLChN_8_ftWGTFIcW7ouw96a93caBnRFSU0tmcvcM0By2wD5FRZMog7I/s320/Fiorello2.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">When the Spanish-American War ignited, La Guardia’s father, Achilles, was stationed in Tampa, Fla., where he contracted food poisoning from military rations that ultimately killed him. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“La Guardia comes to view the system as responsible for his father’s death,” Meyer explained. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The remaining family returned to Europe. La Guardia signed on at the U.S. Consul in Trieste and morphed into a linguist who could speak Croatian, Italian, and Yiddish. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“It’s all going to make him a great man and a radical,” said Meyer. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Against the Grain</span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Highlighted was one little-known incident that would foreshadow La Guardia-in-the-making. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Trieste was an embarkation port for New York-bound immigrant passage. Those who trekked to the Adriatic coast had often broken themselves economically to get on the boat to America. Many times, Meyer noted, they were unceremoniously shipped home for not having been cleared medically, ruined. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Without permission, La Guardia wouldn’t let anyone on the boat who hadn’t had a physical, to prevent them from making the journey only to impoverish themselves,” Meyer recounted. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The anecdote illustrates La Guardia’s ability to work against the grain, to do right, to find ways to benefit ordinary people, said Meyer. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Upon his stateside return, La Guardia took a law degree and fell in with the radical literati who populated his Greenwich Village neighborhood. He ran for Congress and won, though he was not yet La Guardia fully formed. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">His primary influences, Meyer stated, were from the southwest: “Populism is ingrained in him. It was pro-people, not class-oriented, and didn’t seek the abolition of private property.”</span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">After serving two terms in Congress, La Guardia enlisted to fight in World War I. </span></span><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">He reentered politics upon his return as a New York City Alderman before launching a second run at Congress, this time from a district in East Harlem. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">With the Democratic Party city machines being the natural enemy of populists, and the Irish pols that ran them hostile to Italians, La Guardia signed on with the Republican Party and campaigned to victory. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">But the needs of his working-class district pushed La Guardia leftward, toward socialism. “And he took to it like a fish to water,” said Meyer. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGIqDoDC5gfDVorOjkqxgeye89tDFv1p56Nr-TnfwlgUrkpjdlizm-MerIajoZV1CZRy5Yna7cbsOVH-phzM4YkTPipgB2aPtWd-w-l0fBRBboeo5IM6Y2Y7SjEgdKnIxMKbRsWYc4wAW/s720/laguardiaandfdr.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="clear: left; color: red; float: left; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="720" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGIqDoDC5gfDVorOjkqxgeye89tDFv1p56Nr-TnfwlgUrkpjdlizm-MerIajoZV1CZRy5Yna7cbsOVH-phzM4YkTPipgB2aPtWd-w-l0fBRBboeo5IM6Y2Y7SjEgdKnIxMKbRsWYc4wAW/w400-h283/laguardiaandfdr.jpg" width="400" /></span><span style="color: white;">La Guardia’s hybrid ideology of urban populism focused on the regulation of corporate activity. “There really isn’t another like him,” Mayer stated. “His uniqueness was very valuable, but also hurt him, because he was, again, an outsider.”</span></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">That status meant La Guardia was starved of meaningful committee work. “So he took to the floor of the House and became a great orator, speaking on every imaginable issue, including agriculture. And there are no farms in East Harlem,” emphasized Meyer. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“His radical voice becomes stronger and stronger,” he continued. “It’s about protecting. He talks about happiness and how people have a right to happiness. It’s not just materialistic. It’s humanistic in a very deep way.” </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Effectively ceding his seat to Vito Marcantonio, La Guardia ran for mayor of New York City on a Republican-Fusion-Progressive ticket, and won. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">Left Turn</span><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“His actions are quite remarkable,” said Meyer. “His arrival as mayor coincides with the Great Depression and his marvelous collaboration with Franklin Roosevelt. His vision is breathtaking. He creates a social democratic metropolis, piece by piece.”</span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The great patrician, Roosevelt, "was crazy about La Guardia," Meyer noted. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The mayor could see the value in New York’s surplus of very talented, unemployed persons, which made it a perfect recipient for the Works Progress Administration money. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“New York was a demonstration project which showed that government can work, that the money is not wasted,” said Meyer, who highlighted achievements in public housing, subway extensions, playgrounds, swimming pools, an opera house, sanitation strategies, and sewage infrastructure. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Nothing was left untouched and New York was transformed into the magnificent city we still have,” said Meyer. </span></span></p><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRn-HdkDVlBvBb8CYf4k-AAyof5nAHlyBYYRQ04vDGDfFj6LPJEYikQQnwChUtwL7D6DtwDlDazcxAS1-1112FIRrsjt9E_hLX8SWt07tguU5b_oEUT5J3QBDyHZfOL0mDZYtCQT27Thsj/s320/jerry.jpg" /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">The year 1936 saw the formation of the American Labor Party as a way of capturing socialist votes that would not otherwise go to the Democrat Roosevelt. </span></span></p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Meyer suggested the American Labor Party (ALP) was the most important third party in American history. Until it’s demise in 1950, with Marcantonio’s defeat, the ALP garnered about 15 percent of the vote, which gave it tremendous leverage on Gotham’s political playing field. </span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier;"><br /></span></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“In East Harlem it was a majority party and the second largest in the Bronx,” according to Meyer. “La Guardia immediately joins up, along with Marcantonio: A fact so unknown, it is just shocking. Why wouldn’t the history books and biographies mention this?” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: x-large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Professor Meyer’s talk can be viewed in its entirety by clicking on the link below</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTlz7EUpvx8" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Gerald Meyer Discusses Mayor Fiorello La Guardia | Books Sandwiched In - YouTube</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather(A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-11280347277046322272021-05-01T01:55:00.007-07:002023-07-08T16:55:38.838-07:00Ranks and Files<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLHFEbcNR-1B5sY_iXiCQ64ECPuVcctFoUOQ_e3WzXfABuzLZj5m9i1WB5BDCRTMIilQayXLRrKX084jUaORw6wRh7Q2UW3UlLxYyq3QNGP5N57yhRC9BY9I7cjd9LXTC5M-EtA2Sh4qt/s305/Centro.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="305" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLHFEbcNR-1B5sY_iXiCQ64ECPuVcctFoUOQ_e3WzXfABuzLZj5m9i1WB5BDCRTMIilQayXLRrKX084jUaORw6wRh7Q2UW3UlLxYyq3QNGP5N57yhRC9BY9I7cjd9LXTC5M-EtA2Sh4qt/w677-h165/Centro.jpg" width="677" /></a></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><b>The Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) has joined the resistance to closing an important cultural/education institution: </b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dear Friends, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Center for Puerto Rican Studies has served our communities as a leading research and policy institution and a model for connecting academic work with community needs. Its library and archives document the NYC Puerto Rican Diaspora. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The City University of New York (CUNY) is now trying to cut Centro one piece at a time, which is alarming, especially in a period of renewed social movement for racial and economic justice. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please click on the link to sign the petition. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gerald Meyer, VMF Co-Chair </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><a href="https://vitomarcantonioforum.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fd9bb510ae570a46f10c5003e&id=b2daf7a57d&e=ccf273cd35" style="text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tiny.cc/savecentro</span></a><span style="color: #202020; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">VMF members continued, throughout the pandemic, to emphasize the links between cultural expression and political activity with forays into journalism, poetry and criticism. Such activity was not limited to the members and works mentioned forthwith.</span><span style="color: #202020; font-family: courier; font-size: large; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gerald Meyer’s piece, </span><a href="https://indypendent.org/2021/04/alice-neel-painting-people-left-out-of-the-picture/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alice Neel: Painting People Left Out of the Picture | The Indypendent</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red;"> </span>in “The Indypendent.”</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">VMF members Roberto Ragone and Stephen Siciliano penned for a March 20 edition of L’Idea Magazine, </span><a href="http://lideamagazine.com/italian-americans-the-progressive-tradition-reflections-on-gerald-meyers-presentation-at-the-new-haven-public-library/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Italian Americans: The Progressive Tradition-Reflections on Gerald Meyer’s Presentation at the New Haven Public Library</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">VMF member Maria Lisella conducted a six-week workshop, “A Prompt, a Poem, and Poets," which appears to have resulted in the subsequent formation of a “Thursday Morning Poets” group buzzing with ideas and plans. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The sessions were done in conjunction with the Queens Public Library. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Zoom meetings ran 90 minutes and attendees warmed up with a read poem, a brief writing exercise in response to a prompt, and then 30 minutes to write a poem from a second prompt. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those who chose to share, and most did, were the recipients of commentary, if there were any and the energy was friendly, positive and, at times, emotional. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Hit us up with your projects highwayscribery@sbcglobal.net</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-90503081089175825292020-02-21T01:35:00.002-08:002023-07-08T16:56:37.507-07:00Vito Marcantonio Forum to Reprise "Martyrs of McCarthyism" Saturday at Mulberry Street Library <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMRBdghtbR-r-LIdRrlM0oENj7SqCUdURCqD9Ix3Q0SUf-3HqQplBU_km1SP4T85o7UwE2YonWZKM2xFDzJWzMaGgTZY07W7O4gG0yGqkwYq9QOD9QYbkZa4O15tTt2Z2-5Vmm2UxDl0x/s1600/Trio.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="768" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMRBdghtbR-r-LIdRrlM0oENj7SqCUdURCqD9Ix3Q0SUf-3HqQplBU_km1SP4T85o7UwE2YonWZKM2xFDzJWzMaGgTZY07W7O4gG0yGqkwYq9QOD9QYbkZa4O15tTt2Z2-5Vmm2UxDl0x/s640/Trio.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">From left to right: Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Rep. Vito Marcantonio.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://vitomarcantonioforum.org/"><span style="color: white;">Vito Marcantonio Forum</span></a> (VMF) will reprise its multimedia event "Paul Robeson and Vito Marcantonio: Victims of McCarthyism," Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Mulberry Street Library. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The event, which entails a screening of a Dec. 7 symposium convened by the VMF and held at Penn South, will feature a question and answer section afterward. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The symposium included a lecture, theatrical reenactments, and music. Maria Lisella acted as moderator. Stephen Siciliano gave a talk entitled "Paul Robeson and Vito Marcantonio: Fighters from the Start." </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Professor Gerald Meyer followed with a discussion and sampling of Paul Robeson's interpretation of Negro spiritual and "sorrow songs." </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Actor Roberto Ragone rendered a speech by Marcantonio defending Dalton Trumbo and his cohort in the Hollywood Ten. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Ragone then joined actors Art Bernal and Bernard Johnson in a reenactment of Robeson's appearance before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Johnson followed with an interpretation of Robeson's eulogy at Marcantonio's funeral. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">It was all captured on film and its viewing is open to the public. The event runs from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The address is 10 Jersey Street, New York 10012. </span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="color: black; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"The Goodfather (A Novel: The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></p></span></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-56261843111546237222020-02-20T17:28:00.005-08:002023-11-07T15:00:10.343-08:00Rubinstein on the Harlem Renaissance<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-57bc709f-7fff-3387-9c80-f6e47364c964" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhck4QQpdY5RwimvnZfN8FF-Qe5pgjY8kr3Ixjtwwuy5D07z5s1dsLKRyb8q7uURPH2P5IIHcrTGzjA_Td4l1_qyBbWrExIlYWMQjlEeNkWAhMIrEUQMZciwdKnQgXLlphkhbEPE0mjjEzb/s1600/swingLANDSCAPE.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="402" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhck4QQpdY5RwimvnZfN8FF-Qe5pgjY8kr3Ixjtwwuy5D07z5s1dsLKRyb8q7uURPH2P5IIHcrTGzjA_Td4l1_qyBbWrExIlYWMQjlEeNkWAhMIrEUQMZciwdKnQgXLlphkhbEPE0mjjEzb/s640/swingLANDSCAPE.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">"Swing Landscape" by Stuart Davis, 1938.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">American Literature Root and Flower</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Annette Rubinstein conducted an wide review of Harlem Renaissance writers, which </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marcantoniana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> reprises here in recognition of Black History Month. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Rubinstein, it must be noted, appears here by virtue of her role as an important lieutenant to Rep. Vito Marcantonio, a candidate on the American Labor Party line, and a prolific literary critic much-influenced by Marxist cultural scholar, Georg Lukács. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As a regular player in Marcantonio’s East Harlem bailiwick, Rubinstein not only read her way through the literary Renaissance blossoming at the upper part of Manhattan Island, but can be suspected of having lived bit of it, too. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Booker T.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Rubinstein rolled out her analysis by describing the cultivated soil from which Harlem Renaissance writing sprung, starting with Booker T. Washington (1859-1915) whose autobiography, she wrote, “was probably read by, and to, more Blacks than any other single book except the bible.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In that book Washington wrote that, “No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we allow our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">W.E.B.</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Some educated Negros, Rubinstein said, “resented [Washington’s] stereotypical image of the black man as, at best, a childlike and simple creature destined to be a hewer of wood and drawer of water, and unable to appreciate or desire an intellectual life.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UTr7XVJ1WkZH26AGhm4zAWl8xupgqpQ0v_MbdIi_JXiCiYfoLxzhL6by0GBcP8xB8N85jRmgDUtkEropGxrh_kauPZhgYKZX7RjziyJ2SjfUlfJIX0OOqIycz9sAzH0eKRIxTz0zgTUV/s1600/gwen2.jpg" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The leading spokesman for this posture was W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963). He was born in Massachusetts to a family not enslaved, but attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the “Athens of the South,” where he became familiar with the more common plight of his race.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I heard too in these days,” he recalled in his autobiography </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dusk at Dawn</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, “for the first time the Negro folk songs. I was thrilled and moved to tears and seemed to recognize something inherently and deeply my own.” </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">His chapter on what he termed “The Sorrow Songs,” begins: “They that walked in darkness sang songs in the olden days -- Sorrow Songs -- for they were weary at heart. And so before each thought that I have written in this book I have set a phrase, a haunting echo of these weird old songs in which the soul of the black slave spoke to them.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The difference in the two mens’ approaches to Black advancement was creatively summarized in a poem by Dudley Randall (1914-2000) and cited by Rubinstein:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“It seems to me,” said Booker T., </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“That all you folks have missed the boat </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Who shout about the right to vote. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">And spend vain days and sleepless nights</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In uproar over civil rights. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Just keep your mouths shut, do not grouse, </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">But work, and save and buy a house.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span>
<span style="color: white;">“I don’t agree,” said W.E.B. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“For what can property avail</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">If dignity and justice fail? </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Unless you help to make the laws. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">They’ll steal your house with trumped-up clause. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A rope’s as tight, a fire as hot. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">No matter how much cash you’ve got. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Speak soft, and try your little plan.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">But for me, I’ll be a man.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span>
<span style="color: red;">James Weldon Johnson</span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Root and Flower </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">treats essayist and editor James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) as someone who, “somewhat bridged the gap between Dr. Du Bois’ rather formal academic taste and the deliberate unconventionality of the new bohemian Harlem</span><span style="color: white;">.”</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to Rubinstein, Weldon Johnson’s novel, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, aroused little interest when published anonymously in 1912, but made lots of waves when reissued under his true name in 1927. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96FdYHIcGyUI64fpidMMdwE2ikw4gylha7x7rhua195P0Hz6oX0WaMhHhRwxoabsTtQO91V3abyMDHPKisin6nQ7aDuKsprLIilO9QLQVR9hXK9UYa13CSvpwqvLphUSj04Tu8RIfSilF/s1600/royJAZZ.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="260" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96FdYHIcGyUI64fpidMMdwE2ikw4gylha7x7rhua195P0Hz6oX0WaMhHhRwxoabsTtQO91V3abyMDHPKisin6nQ7aDuKsprLIilO9QLQVR9hXK9UYa13CSvpwqvLphUSj04Tu8RIfSilF/s400/royJAZZ.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: small;">By Ralph DeCarava</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The title refers to a light-skinned Negro who is an accomplished musician with a dream to develop Negro folk music through the application of his classical formation. Touring the American South, he is witness to a lynching and sickened by the occurrence, yet ashamed of belonging to a people so cruelly degraded. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">His light-skin tone permits the protagonist to take a “pass” on blackness and, instead, blend into the white world wherein he enjoys an empty and purposeless success. The novel, Rubinstein explained, was autobiographical only to the point where the protagonist takes the opposite tack to Weldon Jones’ real-life journey. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Harlem in the ‘20s</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">According to Rubinstein, Du Bois and Johnson both prefigured, and played parts, in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Having treated the precursors and bridgers, she next detailed the environment in which African and African American arts thrived for a brief period. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Harlem, she noted, was a final destination for many blacks drifting across America upon their return from World War I.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“They found,” Rubinstein wrote, “an already large black population, service jobs within easy reach of ‘downtown,’ a comparatively secure group of Negro longshoremen, the headquarters of the only substantial Negro union in the United States, the all-black Brotherhood of Pullman Porters, and a variety of jobs created by the almost two-hundred thousand person community itself.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">There was, the critic observed, another “grimmer reason” for one specific influx of young southern black men into Harlem and that was their unwillingness, after having risked their lives in battle and experienced the pleasures of a desegregated France, to accept Jim Crow conditions on the homefront. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In 1919 and 1920 there were 125 “recorded” lynchings across the United States, many of them involving the returned war veterans, and this stark reality also drove blacks seeking safety in numbers to Harlem. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Race Welding</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Geographically insignificant in terms of size, Harlem, nonetheless, became a place where African American identity started taking shape. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Alan Locke (1886-1954), a literary critic and student of African and African American culture, saw in Harlem, “the laboratory of a great race-welding.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Locke wrote that, “Hitherto, it must be admitted that American Negroes have been a race more in name than in face, or to be more exact, more in sentiment than experience. The chief bond between them has been that of a common condition rather than a common consciousness, a problem in common rather than a life in common.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">One of the major factors [affecting the Renaissance] was a new attitude toward, and support for, black art, a new willingness to publish black writing and a new respect for both African and Afro-American folk material on the part of sophisticated, affluent whites. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Much of the new respect for spirituals was due to the talent and powerful personality of singer, actor and Harlem resident</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/(Robeson%20link)%20https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2017/08/paul-robesons-fight.html"><span style="color: red;">Paul Robeson</span></a>, </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">who reintroduced them to the cultural world in Greenwich Village and England, though his enthusiasm was not always matched by other artists working to actualize the “New Negro.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPvE7YZVKhJOeC5-obOlcVP0w5cx9lbc0Y1zMtM6jMF-lWnOVtq7WrZQz4TXzGz0jaFHOZmRDjfaBR5oz2x-ugP9OAMBVTS50XEuddsu8BrfYcyPYaR5EK1OQ4u0qbgn66_ZfDu8wkUWU/s1600/ROY3.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="265" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPvE7YZVKhJOeC5-obOlcVP0w5cx9lbc0Y1zMtM6jMF-lWnOVtq7WrZQz4TXzGz0jaFHOZmRDjfaBR5oz2x-ugP9OAMBVTS50XEuddsu8BrfYcyPYaR5EK1OQ4u0qbgn66_ZfDu8wkUWU/s400/ROY3.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">By Ralph DeCarava</span></td></tr>
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<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Wrote Robeson: “I found a special eagerness among the younger, and I am sorry to say the more intelligent Negroes, to dismiss the Spiritual as something beneath their new pride in their race. It is as if they wanted to put it behind them as something to be ashamed or - something that tied them to</span><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">a </span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">past in which their forefathers were slaves.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Literary Debates</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Harlem Renaissance writing was not monotone. The same skin color did not equate to the same set of ideas. There was debate regarding what the aims of black writers should be. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“One of the most consistent was that centering about the responsibility of the writer to his people,” noted Rubinstein. “Here the ‘old guard’ had no doubt that a black writer must be concerned with the race image his books presented while many of the next generation revelled in the new freedom to write without regard to general conventions.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Yet youth did not translate into a common intellectual bond, either. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Some rejected the idea of drawing on either African or Afro-American folk material,” Rubinstein dissected the shifting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">zeitgeist</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. “Some felt that their poetry spoke for their people while others declared they were not Negro poets, but simply poets.” </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among those she focused on was Claude McKay (1890-1948), author of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Home to Harlem</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Banjo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Banana Bottom</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is about life in Jamaica and his best effort in Rubinstein’s estimation.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">McKay, also a poet of note, ran with radical white writers in New York City, and wrote for communist periodicals only to later express disenchantment with the movement in a posthumously discovered, unpublished novel, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amiable with White Teeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Countee Cullen (1903-1946) produced four volumes of poetry including </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Black Christ</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the novel </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One Way to Heaven</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, an interpretative version of the Greek drama. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Arna Bontemps (1902-1973) wrote the poem, </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">A</span> <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47539/a-black-man-talks-of-reaping"><span style="color: red;">Black Man Speaks of Reaping</span></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span style="color: white;">and served as chief librarian at Fisk University for 20 years. He also published the novel </span></span><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God Sends Sunday</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, several volumes of black history, and the historical novel, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Black Thunder</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Crash</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Renaissance flourished until the Depression dawned. “When the crash came in 1929,” wrote Langston Hughes (1902-1967), “white people had much less money to spend on themselves and practically none to spend on Negroes.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Hughes saw irony in life returning to a diminished default setting for African Americans when the party abruptly ended. “I was there and we had a swell time while it lasted,” he wrote. “But some Harlemites thought the millennium had come. They thought </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">the race problem had been solved through Art.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“I don’t know what made any Negroes think that,” Hughes continued, “except that they were mostly intellectuals doing the thinking. The ordinary Negroes hadn’t heard of the Negro Renaissance. And if they had, it hadn’t raised their wages any.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Harlem Moves Left </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The long-time Marcantonio staffer asserted that, in its heyday, the Harlem Renaissances’ artistic output did not much concern itself</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">with socioeconomic issues, but that in the radical ’30s such awareness was inescapable. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“By 1932,” reported Rubinstein, “almost half the families in Harlem were on relief. The hunger, homelessness, broken families, misery on every side, forced any sensitive or thoughtful writer to a new concern with the daily life of his people.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">She cited James Weldon Jones who wrote, “There are dramatic values in Harlem too; but they have hardly been touched. Writers of fiction, white and black, have limited their stories to Harlem as a playground, and have ignored or not recognized the vital forces at work and efforts to cope with them.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Rubinstein’s critique put great stock in realist writers, which she defined as those, “Who know and are concerned with the vital current which moves steadily beneath the innumerable eddies and confusing crosscurrents of life’s surface.” </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimkz3Dvn_bxI2S7g-dQeefY0nMHoADOcKEq2rzoLptKAeqvMVPpS3ths1YX6ZlC7mpSD1NyhV9EazM4HrMMiaifPC5FStEAWnL4mxOxDYyN-TxP6hZ43z9Fz9T9phK7tGd604qKxlZKl0V/s1600/AmericanHunger.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1102" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimkz3Dvn_bxI2S7g-dQeefY0nMHoADOcKEq2rzoLptKAeqvMVPpS3ths1YX6ZlC7mpSD1NyhV9EazM4HrMMiaifPC5FStEAWnL4mxOxDYyN-TxP6hZ43z9Fz9T9phK7tGd604qKxlZKl0V/s400/AmericanHunger.jpg" width="275" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The ’30s brought to Harlem the marked presence of the Communist Party. This represented, Rubinstein asserted, the first time a large and disciplined group of radicals had concentrated its attention upon the black community in the United States. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“This awareness,” she explained, “led the Communist Party to encourage black artists, inviting their membership in the radical John Reed writers’ clubs and opening the pages of such publications as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The New Masses</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Daily Worker</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to Negro writers.” </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Among them was Richard Wright (1908-1960), described by Rubinstein as a writer who was “the first to introduce the blues and other folk material into written poetry and who had never really lost touch with the everyday life of his people in the streets and tenements.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We see again the importance Rubinstein placed on Lukács’ assertion in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Historical Novel</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"> that, “A writer’s relation to history is not something special and isolated, it is an important component of his relations to the </span><span style="color: white;">whole of reality and especially society.” </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In the autobiographical “American Hunger,” Wright wrote that, “With the exception of the church and its myths and legends, “there was no agency in the world so capable of making men feel the earth and the people upon it as the Communist Party.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">He joined in 1933, also adhering to the Chicago branch of the John Reed Club. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wright wrestled with party discipline and the complexities of its internal politics while standing firm throughout the ’30s, until 1940 when he published his most famous work, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Native Son</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which Rubinstein noted, “made literary history.” </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A publishing success, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Native Son</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was criticized by the Communists for its depiction of protagonist Bigger Thomas, which they argued strengthened prejudicial stereotypes. Wright eventually left the Communist Party, detailing the rupture in “American Hunger:</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“There existed in the Western world an element that baffled and frightened the Communist Party: the prevalence of self-achieved literacy. Even a Negro, entrapped by ignorance and exploitation - as I had been - could, if he had the will and love for it, learn to read and understand the world in which he lived. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“And it was these people the Communists did not understand. The American Communists, enjoying legality, were using the methods forged by the underground Russian Bolshevik fire, and therefore had to have their followers willing to accept all explanations of reality, even when the actual situation did not call for it.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Three New Strains </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Rubinstein identified three new strains of thought laced throughout the work of Harlem’s black writers in the 1930s. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">She noted how Alan Locke had spoken caustically in the ’20s of Negro writers, “who got jazz-mad and cabaret crazy instead of getting folk-wise and sociologically sober.” </span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa3kEzQrjyFNbLgkh49OfnoIJr7ff6PBtEz-ol-bemEuovgTMZ1RtwAY9ObGZp1OPSle-fwKBULPkBLd1_XxBH_OnfWZ0OL-vStte6EyBuqbMY7tfdXuJ8365Xj6-NLBx4yGBwlOgbgqO/s1600/gwen2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="197" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa3kEzQrjyFNbLgkh49OfnoIJr7ff6PBtEz-ol-bemEuovgTMZ1RtwAY9ObGZp1OPSle-fwKBULPkBLd1_XxBH_OnfWZ0OL-vStte6EyBuqbMY7tfdXuJ8365Xj6-NLBx4yGBwlOgbgqO/s400/gwen2.jpg" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Gwendolyn Brooks</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The first current addressed this bohemian bent by offering “a more intimate, realistic and respectful concern with the ordinary day-to-day life of black people in northern cities as well as in the rural south.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) became emblematic of this ap<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">proach. </span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is an well-known example of the brand:</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">We real cool. We </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Left school We</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Lurk Late We</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Strike straight We</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Sing sin We</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Thin gin We</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Jazz June We</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Die soon. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Brooks’ career would be capped by President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 appointment of her as U.S. Poet Laureate.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“The second theme that emerged with new force was history,” said Rubinstein “There was a great increase in serious Negro scholarship indicated by the establishment of such academic publications as the “Journal of Negro Education” and the “Negro History Bulletin.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">This interest was reflected in the works of poets such as <a href="https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/nigger-0"><span style="color: red;">Frank Horne</span></a> (1890-1974) and <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56031/a-song-for-myself"><span style="color: red;">Melvin Tolson</span></a> (1898-1966).</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Third Theme was interracial cooperation, the most important and most characteristic of the “Red Decade,” and symbolized by white Communists joining blacks who were risking their lives in trying to organize a sharecroppers’ union in deep Dixie. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In this heyday of black-white cooperation on the left there were a substantial number of Negro members in the industrial unions,” Rubinstein explained. “When a strike was called in the steel mills immediately after the war the management tried to hire black workers as scabs as they had done after the First World War. Instead of permitting themselves to be used that way, the black workers supported the union.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Wright would enjoy further success with “Black Boy,” but America denied him any interracial harmony he might have hoped for so that he moved to France where he fell in with the Parisian existentialists who, led by Jean Paul Sartre, were trying to map a European path that avoided Soviet communism and American capitalism alike. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Beat Poet Jack Kerouac called the Negro, “the essential American.” In Wright’s work, and in that of those named above, and still others, not only is the veil lifted on what lies in “the souls of black folks,” but in the soul of America itself.</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><div><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-4330904592677501762019-10-05T23:53:00.004-07:002023-07-08T16:59:08.734-07:00From Marc to Cuch: The Evolution of Italian American Attitudes About Immigrants<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStCNSRmlRhzfSEhQEvc94EaZKViPkOL3rwxn5L4GWufgI2oD7w84cq2DCym-YPZZCdAoVNnPJnDRrBGs47ml49OZtptPla7LfZYJGupZ4vYWze6X03-Fu_eXexC4B4W6JPQAH0hF5Gl6s/s1600/MarcandCucc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="1102" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStCNSRmlRhzfSEhQEvc94EaZKViPkOL3rwxn5L4GWufgI2oD7w84cq2DCym-YPZZCdAoVNnPJnDRrBGs47ml49OZtptPla7LfZYJGupZ4vYWze6X03-Fu_eXexC4B4W6JPQAH0hF5Gl6s/s640/MarcandCucc.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Rep. Vito Marcantonio (left) and Trump administration immigration official Ken Cuccinelli.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-e31185e2-7fff-1be8-c5f4-777f31a49bdf" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Rep. Vito Marcantonio was born in the United States, son of a family hailing from Basilicata, the hill town of Picerno, in southern Italy. His grandmother and parents traversed Ellis Island on their way to establishing a difficult life in New York’s East Harlem. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Ken Cuccinelli is the Trump administration’s Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, descendant of Italians who also passed through Ellis Island on their way to establishing a life in America. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The two men’s roots are similar, but their attitudes toward the immigrants who came after their own families did, are not. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Marcantonio was more than a defender of immigrants’ rights. He was a proponent of expanding them. Cuccinelli’s policy goals are to limit and rescind. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A September 5,</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/us/politics/ken-cuccinelli-immigration-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“New York Times”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> article noted that Cuccinelli</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">imposed a rule to deny immigrants legal status if they were deemed likely to use government benefit programs. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One day after announcing the policy, “The Times” reported, “Mr Cuccinelli revised the iconic sonnet on the Statue of Liberty to read, "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge." </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Cuccinelli’s hard-hearted revision of Emma Lazarus' magnificent poem indicated just how far many Italian Americans had drifted from their roots as immigrant stock. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“Mr. Cuccinelli,” noted The Gray Lady, “tends to tailor his views based on whether the legal immigrants in question are fleeing desperation south of the border or, like his ancestors, escaping Europe.” </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In “Vito Marcantonio: The People’s Politician,” Salvatore LaGumina noted that, in his first term as congressman, the East Harlemite legislated to humanize the immigrant experience. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“These bills, designed to prevent the separation of families were especially important to his constituents since so many Italo-Americans were affected,” wrote LaGumina. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In addition to his legislative efforts, Marcantonio often interceded with the commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization (today’s ICE) on behalf of the aliens drawn from his Italian constituency. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was walking a path hacked out by his mentor, Fiorella LaGuardia who, as congressman, battled the Johnson-Reed Act, aka, the</span><a href="https://www.lagazzettaitaliana.com/history-culture/8343-the-u-s-italian-community-and-the-immigration-act-of-1924?fbclid=IwAR2BTBZbJW3nD2kdCPsnGCMvVACf-xc6UChJgq1V6hAnYDuF7w49pEEdIVg" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Immigration Act of 1924</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Signed by Calvin Coolidge, it reduced quotas for Italian, Jewish, Japanese, Slavic and Greek immigrants by 90 percent, while opening the door for those from “Nordic” countries. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Traces of this sentiment that northern Europeans are, if not more superior, at least more desirable than the swarthy hordes from southern and eastern Europe, streaked across the national landscape when</span><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/12/577673191/trump-wishes-we-had-more-immigrants-from-norway-turns-out-we-once-did" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> President Trump lamented</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that today’s immigrants don’t come from places like Norway. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In “LaGuardia: A Fighter Against His Times,” author Arthur Mann observed that, in the 1920s nationalistic arguments, “made a wide appeal, namely, that before America had been free of vice and crime, of slums and drunkards, that is had been, in short, a paradise of Protestant Nordics living on farms and in small towns.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">LaGuardia took the Johnson-Reed bill personally, wrote Mann, “for it placed a stigma on the American-born children of the new immigrants as well as on the immigrants themselves.”</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjyk1zq0pPLdUtH2V_orJ9H4VeSlpCHOMXuT-Md7xafSMMNlOBrrCKpOZgy16tSKpo76A7pIhPEx4KDsBf2LBQcaxxk8nssF5_BMYY3Qn-eF_8x5ZHdCso-OBdA8AKmdcSzbv9GPtEkaR/s1600/tamburri2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="960" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjyk1zq0pPLdUtH2V_orJ9H4VeSlpCHOMXuT-Md7xafSMMNlOBrrCKpOZgy16tSKpo76A7pIhPEx4KDsBf2LBQcaxxk8nssF5_BMYY3Qn-eF_8x5ZHdCso-OBdA8AKmdcSzbv9GPtEkaR/s640/tamburri2.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Being "legal" didn't make Italian immigrants feel more welcome. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">With no way to prevent its passage, The Little Flower thought it best to dignify his cause by dragging the fight out until the bitter end. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">He tangled with the likes of Republican Rep. Jasper Tincher from Kansas who told the House, “On the one side is beer, Bolshevism, unassimilating settlements, and perhaps many flags. On the other side is constitutional government; one flag, the Stars and Stripes; America, ‘a government of, by, and for the people’; America our country.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A decade later, with Marcantonio occupying LaGuardia’s congressional perch, the leading restrictionist, Rep. Martin Dies of Texas stated, “There is no middle ground or compromise. Either we are for or against America. If we are for America, we must be for the exclusion of these new-seed immigrants and the deportation of those unlawfully here.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So Marcantonio was filling his mentor’s shoes when he took up cudgels on behalf of newly-minted Americans against men of this particular ilk; Cuccinelli’s political antecedents. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Cuccinelli has taken up cudgels on behalf of a not-insignificant Italian American contingent who have no truck with today’s immigrants and dismiss any comparison of them with the Italians who came prior. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their forebears, this block contends, were a different breed than today’s immigrants. They came to work, not for a</span><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2018/03/bread-of-poor.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">handout</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. They were legal. Integrating quickly, Italians learned English, never waved Italian flags, and strained not the social fabric. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In his time, Marcantonio was the most politically prominent Italian American congressman. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It was Marc’s job to look after not only his constituency, but his people, and the hard copy record of those efforts details what Italian Americans needed from their government and what they didn’t need. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">His advocacy reflected the material circumstances Italians, and their American-born children, endured throughout Marcantonio's congressional tenure, representing a district that encompassed the largest Little Italy in America. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“It is important to observe that since many of his constituents were Italo-American immigrants, people characterized by a rather strong resistance to naturalization,” LaGumina pointed out, “it behooved him to be sensitive to any matter concerning them.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Rather than morph into good and obediant naturalized citizens, Italian Americans, La Gumina noted, were slow at melting into the pot, remaining as aliens for a longer period than any other immigrant group. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In Marcantonio’s time there was continued nationwide agreement as to the need for limitations on immigration.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One of the freshman congressman's first speeches addressed immigration policy that separated families.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">On Feb. 19, 1935, a congressional colleague proposed barring extra-quota admissions to resident aliens’ wives and children and Marcantonio bolted down to the House Well. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He responded, “Does the gentleman believe it is wrong for families to be reunited, and unAmerican and detrimental to the economic welfare of this nation?” </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Breaking up families by deporting one or more alien parents was not only being cruel, he argued, it would increase relief expenditures by the nation’s obligations to their dependents, who were citizens. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“You cannot deport them,” Marcantonio railed. “You have no right to. They are not cattle. Starve the father and you starve the American child.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Some weeks later, on March 4, 1935, the radical congressman excoriated a bill empowering the Secretary of Labor to deport aliens promoting propaganda “hailing from foreign soil.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“This bill is vicious,” spat Marcantonio. “It would carry an avalanche of alien and sedition legislation and further persecution of aliens. Let us remember that we are living in 1935 and not in 1917. Let us legislate not by hysteria, but by common sense.” </span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin4ACOYHgLH5IL-JHveKWsURZkC8FQjFozrFFMz81r1NBLwUrNfmI5AGMvhHWKHY-0UlFoOtHOoh_G-9z1XXC7-sA0aFIfg-A95_WId0WCHSwv8ad8PBAsteA3emx6jBHAjqc0o_IusgHc/s1600/Scottbaio.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="767" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin4ACOYHgLH5IL-JHveKWsURZkC8FQjFozrFFMz81r1NBLwUrNfmI5AGMvhHWKHY-0UlFoOtHOoh_G-9z1XXC7-sA0aFIfg-A95_WId0WCHSwv8ad8PBAsteA3emx6jBHAjqc0o_IusgHc/s400/Scottbaio.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Cuccinelli Creed.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Pilloried as “Stalin’s Stooge” and used as a kind of Red measuring stick by which his collaborators were identified and impugned, Marcantonio’s arguments were based on the nation’s sacred texts. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In a May 23, 1939, radio address Marcantonio leaned upon the Constitution in skewering H.R. 5643. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Hobbs Bill established that any alien ordered deported, but whose deportation was not effectuated within 90 days, should be detained and confined until such time as deportation was feasible. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reading between the legislative lines, Marcantonio construed this as meaning </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">indefinite</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> detention and deemed it a “concentration camp” bill. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“Nowhere in this bill is any provision found for due process; for any kind of a trial, with or without a jury,” Marcantonio told his radio audience. “What constitutes a concentration camp, what constitutes a Bastille, is the method by which persons are sent to those places.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Such imprisonment, he noted, can be provided for by Congress only in accordance with the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth constitutional amendments.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“The language of the amendments, please note,” he emphasized, “uses the word ‘person’ and not ‘citizen.’ This clearly establishes that the constitutional guaranties are as equally applicable to aliens as they are to citizens.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Marcantonio again hit the radio waves on July 30, 1940, over a bill requiring noncitizens to be fingerprinted and registered. In this instance he drew the force of his argument from another document essential to the nation’s democratic DNA. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Remember when the Founding Fathers said in that everlasting document, the </span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal? They did not say that all men are created equal except Italians. They did not say that all men are created equal except Jews. They did not say that all men are created equal except Negroes,” he hammered away, “nor did they say that all men are created equally except noncitizens. They said that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">men are created equal. By this they meant no discrimination, no segregation, and no persecution of the foreign-born.” </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This is a posture far afield from that found in Cuccinelli's policies, which focus on the paper status of his deportation targets.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Wrote LaGumina: “He was attempting to teach the moral that minorities must be protected regardless of their citizenship status. He fought vigorously for the right of aliens who were faced with deportation on the grounds that they had entered the country illegally, but who were otherwise of good character.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Marc laid the foundation for an argument that held American rights to be universal and worthy of being extended wherever possible. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">His support of the Second World War was contingent upon more democracy at home as recompense for the Americans dying in its name overseas. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As the war took center stage, Marcantonio addressed the House on Feb. 28, 1942, over a policy still with us today: </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“On the one hand we draft the foreign-born who is not a citizen, and on the other hand we now seek to prevent the endowment of citizenship on the foreign-born who wears the uniform of our country and who is ready to fight and lay down his life for our country. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“What greater requisite for citizenship can there be than that of service in the armed forces in time of war?”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">His efforts were trans-ethnic, for Marcantonio’s life experience in an immigrant ghetto opened him to those grappling with the same kind of experience.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Marcantonio used the stated democratic objectives of the war as opportunities to eliminate other vestiges of discrimination against the undocumented. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In one instance he extended a helping hand to Filipinos living in the U.S. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Philippines’ stand against Japanese aggression had earned the admiration of Americans who were largely unaware of the harsh discrimination Filipinios suffered in Western states Filipinos or that they were denied citizenship given their classification as “Asiatics.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">When the U.S. finally gained control of the Philippines, efforts to naturalize Filipinos living in the U.S. were launched, but did not prosper. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In 1939, Marcantonio introduced the first such resolution, but it was shelved by the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. He offered similar resolutions three times more during the war on behalf of these nonItalian immigrants. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Marcantonio’s position,” wrote LaGumina, “was so unique and so radical that one is led to believe that even if no immigrants resided in his district, he would have espoused their cause, just as he did for the miners of</span><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-cityhad-that-hard-concrete-cold-and.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">West Virginia</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or the marble workers of Vermont - neither of whom votes in East Harlem.”</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwMu7ZNggHA3HidheukoMcgRvKrHLBDJKc3kf0FWNr5-_s4cqggUMW6KpadkY_VJf0uOvoOBjDyp0DnHTT6OFzva9GKUDZrFLqYi_0nn0Xh-eCcIJu-5DnoSYqCiXwMELB5AKZXIVsdcr/s1600/tamburri3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="237" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwMu7ZNggHA3HidheukoMcgRvKrHLBDJKc3kf0FWNr5-_s4cqggUMW6KpadkY_VJf0uOvoOBjDyp0DnHTT6OFzva9GKUDZrFLqYi_0nn0Xh-eCcIJu-5DnoSYqCiXwMELB5AKZXIVsdcr/s640/tamburri3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Where, or when, did Italian Americans diverge from the kindred spirit evident in Marcantonio’s empathetic approach to the immigrants and move toward Cuccinelli’s hairsplitting new arrivals into classifications of desirability?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“How did Italian Americans end up identifying themselves, and being identified, with such conservative values and reactionary political forces?” asks Marcella Bencivenni in a 2006 discussion of “</span><a href="https://monthlyreview.org/2006/01/01/lost-and-found-the-italian-american-radical-experience/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lost World of Italian-American Radicalism</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” in the “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Monthly Review</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book edited by Philip Cannistraro and</span><a href="https://vitomarcantonioforum.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vito Marcantonio Forum</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Co-Chair Gerald Meyer, “shows that, despite their present conservative image, Italian Americans have a vibrant and rich radical past,” she wrote. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bencivenni noted the important role Italian immigrants played in early 20th century working-class struggles such as the Lawrence textile strikes (1912 and 1919), the Patterson silk strike (1913), the Mesabi Iron Range strikes (1907 and 1916), and the New York City Harbor strikes of 1907 and 1919. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“For most Italian Americans the radical past of their families still remains impenetrable - buried by their own parents’ and grandparents’ fears of ethnic discrimination and political persecution,” wrote Bencivenni.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">She posited that Italian American radicalism was dismantled by the Red Scare of 1917-20 with its thousands of arrests and deportations. The 1927 execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, she added, demoralized American Italians, driving many to bury aspects of their radical past for fear of political persecution. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Later, the Red Scare of the 1950, Bencivenni wrote, “further distanced Italian Americans from their radical past.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And made way for Ken Cuccinelli and his caucus of anti-immigrant descendants of immigrants. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Analyses of Marcantonio’s fall tend to focus on his leftism, but his supporters would have been justified in thinking he was just as likely ruined for being Italian as for being Red.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><p dir="ltr" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel: The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-7921470294363997562019-10-05T13:59:00.005-07:002023-07-08T17:00:20.356-07:00Linking the New World Marc with the Old World Marc: VMF to Picerno!<div style="text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qXaaeXcOjseZWt-hkQffshjXJXXSGn69gua_FfF6Yyy_U_mLPQR_syoxo00-i0UtnBQhWwCJw4uFoeKIFe4UDo7uCYKLqTSkEKkxTCbY3E2nSOB9mx1mlF1oLn2238PbBLFx0NDGNy_E/s1600/Picerno1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qXaaeXcOjseZWt-hkQffshjXJXXSGn69gua_FfF6Yyy_U_mLPQR_syoxo00-i0UtnBQhWwCJw4uFoeKIFe4UDo7uCYKLqTSkEKkxTCbY3E2nSOB9mx1mlF1oLn2238PbBLFx0NDGNy_E/s400/Picerno1.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Vito Marcantonio Forum’s efforts at bringing lif<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qXaaeXcOjseZWt-hkQffshjXJXXSGn69gua_FfF6Yyy_U_mLPQR_syoxo00-i0UtnBQhWwCJw4uFoeKIFe4UDo7uCYKLqTSkEKkxTCbY3E2nSOB9mx1mlF1oLn2238PbBLFx0NDGNy_E/s1600/Picerno1.jpg" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qXaaeXcOjseZWt-hkQffshjXJXXSGn69gua_FfF6Yyy_U_mLPQR_syoxo00-i0UtnBQhWwCJw4uFoeKIFe4UDo7uCYKLqTSkEKkxTCbY3E2nSOB9mx1mlF1oLn2238PbBLFx0NDGNy_E/s1600/Picerno1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>e to East Harlem’s </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">treasure recently yielded results across the Atlantic in the place of his maternal and paternal families - Picerno, Basilicata, southern Italy. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The realization in January 2018 of the VMF’s goal of a street sign with the congressman’s name on it, somewhere relevant in New York City, emitted waves that reached Italian shores. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Specifically, it was a story about the posting of a </span><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-vito-marcantonio-lucky-corner.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vito Marcantonio “Lucky Corner”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sign up in East Harlem from this very website. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQ8VCXJPcjtS7LjXReQ8LRBkaE3iPMmL6tjQ0JPEgED2ublxIVQHI1r62FabHCsx08unigeT49IAYlsOO1ZAQuvTXlPsRynO5mw7spLSN21kOpPz1G1NW7CN3CE2JjNjYmtbWDCIkTmqa/s1600/Picerno4.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQ8VCXJPcjtS7LjXReQ8LRBkaE3iPMmL6tjQ0JPEgED2ublxIVQHI1r62FabHCsx08unigeT49IAYlsOO1ZAQuvTXlPsRynO5mw7spLSN21kOpPz1G1NW7CN3CE2JjNjYmtbWDCIkTmqa/s400/Picerno4.jpg" width="300" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Picerno municipal government had obtained funding for a three-day conference with sidebars about Marcantonio’s life and times. Through Saverio Romeo, who was raised in Picerno and works in London, the VMF was invited to send a pair of delegates. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Chosen were VMF co-chair Roberto Ragone and member Gary Bono. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their cultural and educational sojourn took them to the presentation of “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etica del Dialogo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” by Gennaro Curcio, a local author, that included a panel involving the author, and VMF member in Italy, Renato Cantore. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qXaaeXcOjseZWt-hkQffshjXJXXSGn69gua_FfF6Yyy_U_mLPQR_syoxo00-i0UtnBQhWwCJw4uFoeKIFe4UDo7uCYKLqTSkEKkxTCbY3E2nSOB9mx1mlF1oLn2238PbBLFx0NDGNy_E/s1600/Picerno1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"></span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Curcio is also the author of a two-part tome summarizing Gerald Meyer’s </span><span style="color: red;"><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/01/vito-marcantonio-radical-politician-by_22.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and discussion of selected speeches from </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2015/09/i-vote-my-conscience-primer-of-primary_3.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I Vote My Conscience.” </span></a></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbT_qbdz0BEyJsiyzvvXGRyppz2XKX3UYPDDFrda5W8n4dCZ28KcRuwPpXZykdaEDnZlbSY-kbiiVZdlnzFJfJrBprKjAzbXw9PEH9uGVVsbbtq7c7lFV-GE1MSLZJ0PRI0UD0cnLr2vX/s1600/Picerno3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbT_qbdz0BEyJsiyzvvXGRyppz2XKX3UYPDDFrda5W8n4dCZ28KcRuwPpXZykdaEDnZlbSY-kbiiVZdlnzFJfJrBprKjAzbXw9PEH9uGVVsbbtq7c7lFV-GE1MSLZJ0PRI0UD0cnLr2vX/s400/Picerno3.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The duo visited the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Associazione Insieme Onlus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Together Nonprofit Organization), an advocate group for the disabled, that had curated an exhibit explaining the political particulars of post-World War II Italy. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbT_qbdz0BEyJsiyzvvXGRyppz2XKX3UYPDDFrda5W8n4dCZ28KcRuwPpXZykdaEDnZlbSY-kbiiVZdlnzFJfJrBprKjAzbXw9PEH9uGVVsbbtq7c7lFV-GE1MSLZJ0PRI0UD0cnLr2vX/s1600/Picerno3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The event included a pure VMF panel featuring the American guests, and Cantore, each of whom held forth on some aspect of Marcantonio’s significance and influence. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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The rigorous schedule soon put Ragone’s thespian talents to good effect with his rendering of a July 1942 speech defending Italian Americans against discrimination in employment during the war years. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The two </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Americani</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were interviewed for a radio show/podcast, visited the Albert Einstein Technical School, and the environs of provincial Basilicata. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The final day included a tour of nearby Matera, featured in Carlo Levi’s classic, “Christ Stopped at Eboli,” an appropriate stop linking the radical traditions of 20th century New York and Italy. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ragone, who declared the Vito Marcatonio Forum a "transnational organization" upon his return, has written an account of the sojourn that can be found at </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://vitomarcantonioforum.com/from-old-neighborhood-to-old-country-vito-marcantonio-goes-transnational/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vitomarcantonio.org</span></a></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0KwZ1oO1jWTlyFpI3Up7utHag1M1aJveRqv12DDvG7pzQIsH8aG_lD4_YgMA5ePf_HSSfif6ASmkvNw8JIsi_fBkcnFVcZ_Ygl7SwYqdfy6vJeGcnPMswIhUoZgqvD_5UebNmlXEqmEh/s1600/Picerno2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: red;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0KwZ1oO1jWTlyFpI3Up7utHag1M1aJveRqv12DDvG7pzQIsH8aG_lD4_YgMA5ePf_HSSfif6ASmkvNw8JIsi_fBkcnFVcZ_Ygl7SwYqdfy6vJeGcnPMswIhUoZgqvD_5UebNmlXEqmEh/s400/Picerno2.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-89567968962878776342019-10-05T13:58:00.003-07:002023-07-08T17:01:22.627-07:00VMF Hits The Boards with Ragone’s “Purgatory Trial” <span style="color: #005000; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitW0NNy9AxhtNQsU7T8pepLzzHSNSBJAWXunGl-wkFmF8BItDfw0EnSf62zioM1PQL4_ehT5tEXzCcX0qJaD3C4n33vQxVlubcsKNJYj2Ic2DwF6xvv_buTUfOBU2Nd8XrxCzQMKcpsZQJ/s1600/Roberto1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitW0NNy9AxhtNQsU7T8pepLzzHSNSBJAWXunGl-wkFmF8BItDfw0EnSf62zioM1PQL4_ehT5tEXzCcX0qJaD3C4n33vQxVlubcsKNJYj2Ic2DwF6xvv_buTUfOBU2Nd8XrxCzQMKcpsZQJ/s320/Roberto1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span><b></b><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>he</b></span></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF), which has employed street art, poetry, film musical spoken work, and speech dramatizations in reviving the forgotten radical congressman, recently expanded its repertoire with a one-man theatrical </span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">production written and rendered by founder and co-chair Roberto Ragone. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The VMF, in collaboration with World of Art Productions presented “The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio” at the Producers Club Theaters and Bar on Manhattan's West 44th Street. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Ragone also wrote the play, the presentation of which was prefaced by remarks from VMF co-chair Gerald Meyer. Art Bernal, no stranger to VMF art happenings, directed. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br style="font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Marcantonio endured epithets throughout his life, but at least he was able to defend himself, a task he embraced and executed abley. The arch conservative Cardinal Spellman chose the dark moment of Marc’s death to heap another idignity upon him by denying burial in a Catholic cemetery. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2DQVdYmcFT2ZDPfMrJveAHeMSyj45qZTkOh-ARbiYdNMkdBMfuy6fa3Ef3OQtAoh2ChDU1pyNet8dFE-eDp7NQk0TiXuOGDmDzfceDsBSCk1jCP8KHFEw9SnHjuyQkcTu4RxQsQVy2f5/s320/Roberto3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Roberto Ragone as Congressman Vito Marcantonio.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ragone’s work reopens the case and gives Marcantonio the chance to defend himself in purgatory against Spellman’s cowardly act that was denied him in the material world. “Purgatory” </span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reproduced a Marcantonio eager to train the verbal and tactical skills that could cow his opponents in life, on his case for entry to heaven. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Ragone’s work included excerpted speeches Marcantonio gave to Congress and dramatized specific incidents in his life. The texts are carried in a lawyer’s portfolio, for Marcantonio was a barrister, and each makes a case for the Christian deeds easily read into his political work. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9doIXEgQTuDCv-caz-DGOOWfkgEs_8k7Md4QyM1ZlCzNmYeiT0MMMYBFavEM9m0yvEb-gpGzNe7yINicyjV8dVDw00Ula10c7xkWRihFQOp9nG3GoZYPGGDIa4CjrxUuKcIF97JQpNg8/s1600/Roberto2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9doIXEgQTuDCv-caz-DGOOWfkgEs_8k7Md4QyM1ZlCzNmYeiT0MMMYBFavEM9m0yvEb-gpGzNe7yINicyjV8dVDw00Ula10c7xkWRihFQOp9nG3GoZYPGGDIa4CjrxUuKcIF97JQpNg8/s320/Roberto2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The play includes Paul Robeson’s eulogy to Marcantonio, a back-and-forth with his childhood acquaintance, mobster Tommy Luchesse, and his successful courtroom defense of W.E.B. DuBois who had been accused of being a foreign agent at the height of the Red Scare.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2DQVdYmcFT2ZDPfMrJveAHeMSyj45qZTkOh-ARbiYdNMkdBMfuy6fa3Ef3OQtAoh2ChDU1pyNet8dFE-eDp7NQk0TiXuOGDmDzfceDsBSCk1jCP8KHFEw9SnHjuyQkcTu4RxQsQVy2f5/s1600/Roberto3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A news report from a Marcantonio campaign rally at 116th Street and Lexington Avenue - Marc’s Lucky Corner - are all part of the tapestry woven by Ragone in telling the congressman’s remarkable, breathless story. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A review written by VMF members Gary Bono and Gabe Falsetta was run in</span><a href="http://www.lavocedinewyork.com/en/arts/2019/02/08/the-purgatory-trail-of-vito-marcantonio-a-play-on-the-progressive-politician/?fbclid=IwAR1BgVFFiulCe7d0HelE1LJIy5-LPMsW7Sjr_TJl6sU2N4T-uO5FuOWI_8w" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“La Voce di New York”</span></a><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and subsequently picked up by other outlets such as “We the Italians,” "The Indypendent," and "People's World."
Meyer and World of Art Productions pledged that "The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio will soon be revived for a longer run.
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ragone, who along with Bono, also represented the VMF at a conference on Marcantonio convened in Picerno, Italy, birthplace of his mother, has had a year of living daringly, also had an article profiling is broad-gauge efforts as an artist in </span><a href="http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-man-an-exclusive-interview-with-roberto-ragone/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“L’Idea Magazine</span></a><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">All of which transpired in the wake of his father Arsenio Ragone’s death in November 2018. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<div dir="ltr" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 21pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“My father was passionate about life and brought a certain artistry and entertainment value to his singing, dancing, banter/comedy, and even his merchandising, whether it was transacting over livestock as a young man in Teggiano, Salerno, Italy or selling imported Italian shoes to customers in the Bronx,” said Roberto in announcing his loss. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBUNcww7UbrR2rYK5G6OM5fNdznylGG6wzlpS2xybtaKOxtROInZX0gCJBxIcQ-I7QMN_JFRGehdpy4sodzqT88lIWmO95Nl_lUAPtcINRXIO0hQQ7M7ByRs-9VdsMBMw1W5_7E11lXos/s1600/Arsenio.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBUNcww7UbrR2rYK5G6OM5fNdznylGG6wzlpS2xybtaKOxtROInZX0gCJBxIcQ-I7QMN_JFRGehdpy4sodzqT88lIWmO95Nl_lUAPtcINRXIO0hQQ7M7ByRs-9VdsMBMw1W5_7E11lXos/s1600/Arsenio.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Arsenio Ragone</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">June 7, 1924 - November 29, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: quot;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: quot;"></span></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES.</a></span></span></p><div style="font-family: quot; font-size: 18pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div>
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</span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="background-color: black;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-56857031332668801272018-10-30T01:39:00.005-07:002023-10-14T23:52:57.378-07:00Marc on the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWYGKWmVTLEcimvblIp47uoB2D1mY3cCjzqVY9gDm4KFKUbzdyBYCkOKNQj8FvQ4ywpe9iZcgkzK9hfFMoydHvpJFOtrJHs2tj4e582S8AGRRsC4pCSyFf8qfqHHdII1C0tFN82fO3YkN/s1600/Levitt2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="942" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWYGKWmVTLEcimvblIp47uoB2D1mY3cCjzqVY9gDm4KFKUbzdyBYCkOKNQj8FvQ4ywpe9iZcgkzK9hfFMoydHvpJFOtrJHs2tj4e582S8AGRRsC4pCSyFf8qfqHHdII1C0tFN82fO3YkN/s640/Levitt2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><i>“Intoxication comes over the man who walks long and aimlessly through the streets.” </i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;">Walter Benjamin </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Speaking from the House well <a href="https://youtu.be/5MUhPxURzCk"><span style="color: red;">on Aug. 3, 1939</span></a>, Rep. Vito Marcantonio identified himself as: “one who was born in the slums, who was raised in the slums, and who still lives in the slums…”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Alan Schaffer wrote in <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vito-Marcantonio-Congress-Alan-SCHAFFER/dp/B0010SC73O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540840841&sr=1-1&keywords=Alan+Schaffer+Vito+Marcantonio"><span style="color: red;">“Vito Marcantonio: Radical in Congress”</span></a> </span>that, “Few men in public life have been so intimately linked with a particular urban neighborhood.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Born and reared in East Harlem, Schaffer noted, “Marcantonio’s permanent home was never more than four city blocks from his place of birth, and for 14 years he represented the district and its people in Congress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In many ways the man was the product and personification of the neighborhood.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Salvatore LaGumina, in <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vito-Marcantonio-Salvatore-John-LaGumina/dp/0840300441/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540840897&sr=1-1&keywords=Salvatore+LaGumina+Vito+Marcantonio"><span style="color: red;">“Vito Marcantonio: The People’s Politician,”</span></a> </span>envisioned Marc, “either as a three-year old riding his tricycle on the crowded sidewalks, or as a young teenage boy swimming in the garbage-polluted East River.” </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="717" data-original-width="943" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixArtytRq4LJt5I4rj8CVyJuQ5EtKmpsyESSshJ0-8dYBF6rHlNql9l9RiOeYUZTDakT057MM5r_iogGdy5Rue2cJrNww6YZe8qtEY3xj7cVSlLzT9l6whkf6uf7hbVZ4I4zTi69fB3r-X/s400/Levitt3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">All images from "In the Street," </span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">by Levitt, Agee and Loeb.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixArtytRq4LJt5I4rj8CVyJuQ5EtKmpsyESSshJ0-8dYBF6rHlNql9l9RiOeYUZTDakT057MM5r_iogGdy5Rue2cJrNww6YZe8qtEY3xj7cVSlLzT9l6whkf6uf7hbVZ4I4zTi69fB3r-X/s1600/Levitt3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span></a><i><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“The streets of a poor quarter of great cities are above all a theater and battleground. There, unaware and unnoticed, every human being is a poet, a masker, a warrior, a dancer and in his innocent artistry he projects against the turmoil of the street, an image of human existence.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">So reads the inter-title of <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://youtu.be/z7sfv038seA"><span style="color: red;">“In the Street</span></a>,"</span> a short film by Helen Levitt, James Agee and Janice Loeb, which captures the sidewalks of Marcantonio’s East Harlem, his boyhood turf, his congressional district. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Filmed in 1948, when Marc was still in office, the landscape of “In the Street” is, “haunting because it is at once part of the banned city as well as intensely used by the residents,” wrote urban planner Vojislava Filipcevic. (<i>“In the Streets of Harlem: Race and Textures of Space in Helen Levitt’s New York Photographs and the Levitt-Agee Documentary Films,” Columbia Journal of American Studies</i>). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Said Filpcevic, “The East Harlem block is an<i> ‘</i>agitated social space’ and an ‘immobile physical space’<i> </i>of abandonment left to decompose as an area of urban blight.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The film, she said, is set in what could be termed “an abandoned city,” defined by political theorist Herbert Marcuse as, “the ‘place for the very poor, the excluded, the never employed and permanently unemployed, the homeless and the shelter residents where crumbling infrastructure, deteriorating housing, the domination of outside impersonal forces, direct street-level exploitation, racial and ethnic discrimination and segregation, the stereotyping of women, are everyday reality.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Yet Marcantonio’s biographers note how East Harlem was humming with humanity and buzzing with small scale commerce; not all ghetto darkness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In the Street,” is a roving, secret camera that captures peddlers’ carts, meaty armed Italian “mamas,” toddlers in rough-hewn gowns, roving cool-dude dogs, mean and gamboling boys, gossiping grandmas, fedora-sporting gangster types, disconcerting Halloween masks, and children and children and still more children. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In the Street,” stated Filipcevic, reveals the slum as, “a place of camaraderie and a space of creativity — a set of neighborhoods in which children felt impelled to make various marks upon a given world…”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">This claim upon the streets — the same claim Marcantonio made with his tricycle — results from, “a lack of space — for playing, growing up, and learning; the activities of children are displaced on the street as a form of appropriation of space,” said Filipcevic. </span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace;">Michael Parenti recalled his East Harlem childhood in </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace;"><a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2015/10/michael-parenti-growing-up-in-east.html"><span style="color: red;">“Waiting for Yesterday”</span>:</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In whatever way we could, we tried to accommodate ourselves to an unaccommodating environment…We kids lived in the neighborhood’s interstices, constantly inventing and reinventing spaces of our own: empty lots, stoops, cellars, backyards, street corners, and the fronts of abandoned stores.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Visualizing the street as “theater” and also a “battleground,” the film showed the East Harlem dwellers’ assertion of urban existence through everyday expressions of uniqueness, said Filipcevic. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">East Harlem was a cheap labor reservoir from which people issued forth, each day in the manner depicted in this passage from Thomas McGrath’s, <span style="color: red;">“<a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2016/03/book-report-this-coffin-has-no-handles.html"><span style="color: red;">This Coffin Has No Handles</span></a>”:</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“A million workers charge down the dusty shutes of the cold water apartment houses, are siphoned off and sucked away into the subways. The bottom has fallen out of the barometer of sleep. Adjustments are made: in the fur district the pressure of industry is rising; and through the fog of bricks and stone , the steel bones of the skyscrapers downtown, you see the thin red line of humanity and profit rise in exact ratio to the falling line on sleep’s soiled glass. Up and down.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio slid those dusty shoots, was as much a part of larger Gotham as he was of East Harlem. As Schaffer observed, “Each school day for four years, young Marcantonio made his way across the city to DeWitt Clinton High School at 59th and Tenth Avenue." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In “<a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/01/vito-marcantonio-radical-politician-by_22.html"><span style="color: red;">Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician</span></a>,” Gerald Meyer stated that Marc, and the only other kid from East Harlem going to high school, generally walked the four miles to save a nickel trolley fare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc’s first foray into active politics was a tenants’ rent strike in 1920. Perusal of his collected speeches in <span style="color: red;">“<a href="https://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2015/09/i-vote-my-conscience-primer-of-primary_3.html"><span style="color: red;">I Vote My Conscience,</span></a>”</span> or the “New York Times” of his day, reveal a consistent concern for housing and the urban environment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The “New York Times,” for March 12, 1936, headlined a piece with “Tenants’ Strike Urged,” in which Marc asked members of the City-Wide Tenants League to show their sympathy with the striking building service employees by going on a rent strike. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc called for action against “the Bourbons and Tories,” linking the issue of housing with wages; the people who lived in buildings with those that cleaned them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The “New York Times,” for December 4, 1948 ran the headline: “Harlem Dirt Laid to Many Causes” above an article covering a conference addressing the garbage patch that East Harlem could be in places. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Mr. Marcantonio,” the article reads, “declared that the overcrowded tenements in the neighborhood fundamentally were at fault. Nothing more can be expected… while people are compelled to live in these tenements.’” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“New York Times,” Nov. 30. 1950, “18 Families Shiver in Mass Evictions,” reveals the congressman’s response to the sudden, and forced displacement of his constituents. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Three of the families,” the article said, “went last night to the office of Rep. Vito Marcantonio at 1455 First Avenue. They brought with them a total of 18 children. There they were told that might remain until they could arrange for more permanent shelter and food was prepared for them.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">On March 16, 1948, he railed in Congress against a bill reducing rent controls. “Speak about property rights; how about the property rights of the 50,000,000 tenants who are going to lose, as a result of this bill, whatever small protection they have heretofore had?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">And so on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">East Harlem became the starting point in America for successive waves of immigrants that boosted the population and overwhelmed existing housing stock. Modern block towers in park settings were considered the solution and the wholesale wiping out of what many considered “perfectly good housing” was unleashed under the rubric of slum clearance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Wrote Nathan Glazer in <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.city-journal.org/html/letter-east-harlem-12740.html"><span style="color: red;">“City Journal</span></a>"</span><span style="color: white;">(</span>Autumn 1991), “A speech from New York City’s greatest mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, in 1944, captures the enthusiasm of a whole generation of urban reformers:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“‘Tear down the old,’ he said. ‘Build up the new. Down with the rotten, antiquated rat holes. Down with hovels. Down with disease. Down with crime! Down with firecraft. Let in the sun. Let in the sky. A new day is dawning. A new life. A new America!’” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">On March 3, 1940, “The Times” ran the headline “Housing Project In 1st Avenue Started,” about the groundbreaking for the East River Housing Projects, secured by Marcantonio and the Harlem Leadership Council, with an assist from his mentor, La Guardia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc, it was reported, described the occasion as significant not only as an extension of low-cost housing in Harlem, but as “a victory of the citizens of East Harlem in their fight to preserve their riverfront.” </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;">Marc at the dedication of <br />Benjamin Franklin High School.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">There is a foreshadowing of things to come in the critical voices quoted in the article, raising questions about the wisdom of placing such projects in “outlying areas” and potential pitfalls associated with crowding too many people into block towers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The renewal of East Harlem has been deemed as, Glazer noted, “one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of postwar American urbanism.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The myriad empty lots documented by “In the Street,” Filipcevic wrote “recall the cinematic city ruins of the bombed European cities [after World War Two.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Indeed, urban activist Jane Jacobs observed that, “The war brought with it a tabula rasa that was an essential exercise of modern planning.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">According to Glazer, East Harlem has been a competing ground for schools of urban planning and subjected to waves of fashion in that field. “For years,” he said, “public housing was not just another social program but part of a utopian vision — the embodiment, in stone and mortar, of the good society.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In the 1930s and ’40s, the tight grid of streets typical of New York City was replaced by the “superblock,” with the buildings set at an angle to the street grid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“The reasons for this unusual site placement were partly ideological,” opined Glazer. “[Architecture critic] Lewis Mumford had denounced the uniform grid, indifferent to features of topography and landscape, as the soulless invention of commercial capitalism, interested only in creating fungible plots to buy and sell.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Soon enough, Le Corbusier’s vision of towers nestled in green parkland fell out of favor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Italians of East Harlem initially welcomed the projects, then became adamantly opposed, claiming they drew Puerto Ricans and African Americans. Many blamed Marcantonio for destroying the old neighborhoods. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The critique of public housing was that, as planned “community units,” the projects were built large as possible and divorced from the neighborhood surroundings, dramatizing the segregation of charity-case families. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Rationalized “minimum standards” for decent, safe and sanitary housing didn’t necessarily generate homey abodes. Shunting the poor into towers condemned them to a beehive-like existence that enamored few. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Urbanists moved through successive planning models, and each wave has left a layer of fabric over the East Harlem that eventually emerged, rife with projects, yet healthy in other forms of city living. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Perhaps,” concluded Glazer, “there is room, along with the bustling tenement row, for the well-run housing project, for the verdant expanse and sparkling tower as well as the crowded, row-house grid.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio’s life was cut short, denying him a chance to see what the mid-century notion of community confection finally produced, and of another chance to continue developing policies that might improve the lot of his people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio might have made the new mix work for him. If the buildings were his, as many concluded, so then, might the people who lived in them be his, too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Living on into his 50s and 60s’ and ’70s, he could have worked to make things right with the early projects, rather than leaving them to the devices of minds different than his own. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">He might have spent his old age, stooped and gray, reading a book on a bench in one of the green spaces he thought so important, looking up for a moment to contemplate his <i>Marc On The City</i>. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xQsNBz85c3G0w0OgESmu9_NHrN9_EznQ_SYc0I7CYqTUT1TqXtRppzepkxjrAEbxBmpziOlz32cZr2yMC-aCTZ68gK-WfkszwsBRnxfew0TWMvBde7sTmjvDW-8rqMwJQho2HufqNS3a/s1600/levitt5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="938" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xQsNBz85c3G0w0OgESmu9_NHrN9_EznQ_SYc0I7CYqTUT1TqXtRppzepkxjrAEbxBmpziOlz32cZr2yMC-aCTZ68gK-WfkszwsBRnxfew0TWMvBde7sTmjvDW-8rqMwJQho2HufqNS3a/s640/levitt5.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<br /></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio" can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></div>
highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-69895072676603358822018-10-30T01:30:00.006-07:002023-07-08T17:03:29.692-07:00Fourth Installment of Stone's "The Untold History of United States" <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2ZDnO38rKS3MfUkqBchEAM30z6QMMKQyYLMSugzCFkcPeKb5gRaHpYXLorXLbLpyUUTQcNxI39TjjGPy6EfL9geZiLI9G1f4h_xqwFQwI77olbHbszcL0OjCvr7iObwJdNdLiWTGXXSr/s1600/stonePHOTO.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1112" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2ZDnO38rKS3MfUkqBchEAM30z6QMMKQyYLMSugzCFkcPeKb5gRaHpYXLorXLbLpyUUTQcNxI39TjjGPy6EfL9geZiLI9G1f4h_xqwFQwI77olbHbszcL0OjCvr7iObwJdNdLiWTGXXSr/s640/stonePHOTO.jpg" width="443" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Artwork by Adam Milat-Meyer.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) will resume its screening of Oliver Stone’s “The Untold History of the United States” on Saturday Nov. 3 at the Mulberry Street Library, 10 Jersey Street (between Mulberry and Lafayette streets), New York City. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The VMF has screened three prior installments of the ten, one-hour episodes that make up Stone’s documentary. Each was followed by an open discussion and drew large, engaged audiences. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The fourth installment is entitled, “The Cold War,” a period which saw U.S. foreign policy make a 180 degree turn from cooperation with its recent ally, the Soviet Union. </span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">At home, the federal government and much of civil society turned on the Left, which was largely extirpated through ruthless persecution. Stone’s interpretation of this period proposes that the United States, in an alliance with Great Britain, was largely responsible for the hostilities that ensued. He also shows how the accompanying havoc at home wrecked the New Deal coalition. </span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">Stone’s interpretation eerily mirrors the positions Rep. Vito Marcantonio presented from the floor of the House of Representatives, on radio, in Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium, and at countless street-corner rallies throughout New York City. </span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The VMF's website can be found at </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">http://vitomarcantonioforum.com</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="color: black; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></p></span></div>
highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-53493744386238885632018-08-01T00:47:00.007-07:002023-10-17T13:06:30.482-07:00Marcantonio and the Wartime Italians<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Enemy Aliens.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As Italy turned from enemy to ostensible ally of the U.S. in World War II, Italian Americans endured anxious whiplash in the changing of their stateside status along with that of their home country. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unto-Sons-Gay-Talese/dp/0812976061"><span style="color: red;">“Unto the Sons,”</span></a> </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">author Gay Talese bookends his family's Italian history with the antagonisms suffered by his immigrant father Joseph, as the allies swept northward from Sicily toward his hometown of Maida. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Joseph worked at being a good American, but was wracked with concern for his homeland. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Talese's father owned a tailor shop in a Methodist town on the Jersey Shore and from his 1922 arrival at Ocean City, lived in relative isolation from which he, “comported himself with formality and caution, always concerned that one injudicious act, be it social or professional, consciously intended or inadvertent, could ostracize him from the community and perhaps even lead to his deportation.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In the same way Rep. Vito Marcantonio became intimately involved with political affairs in Puerto Rico through his Puerto Rican constituency in Manhattan, he was necessarily engaged with the fast-evolving affairs of wartime Italy because of their impact on the large number of Italian-Americans he represented. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In a July 1942 radio address Marcantonio said he felt it necessary to address “the persistent activities of certain groups in our country who malign the loyalty and dispute the patriotism of Americans of Italian descent, by discriminating against them in industry, by denying them equal opportunity with other loyal Americans, and by regarding them with suspicion because of the sound of their names.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Those “self-styled superpatriots” indulging in alien-bating, said Marcantonio, were “playing Hitler's game in America. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“The contributions of Americans of Italian extraction in blood, toil, and wealth is the devastating answer to those who seek to discriminate against them,” the East Harlemite proclaimed. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">During the war, Joseph was compelled – as were many small business owners – to support the war effort. The tailor shop, Talese recalled, became overrun with military men needing chevrons and new military stripes sewn and that the work was done free of charge. As Italy warred with the U.S., Joseph's “sensitivity to his Italian accent” forced him to repress his emotions. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Making matters worse, Italian immigrants were classified by the U.S. government as <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2017/02/immigrant-stories.html"><span style="color: red;">“enemy aliens”</span></a><span style="color: red;"> </span>and required to register as such. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In the store,” wrote Talese, “even I at times perceived him as a citizen of questionable status, an alien surrounded by soldiers of occupation.” </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOZrqyYDXboYgvZ0fUdr8ksP0UADB5Vwm_XiJP1kxeF8P_2Rp4g9woKeXOuqmT_0sGwHlk4LFYI4ty2UlC_80aeVAup_jZYnKO36oeRgVj9KUm8IbX6m9gAkVleKAx_Zpj5RT31YF3nGS/s1600/talesePHOTO.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="745" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOZrqyYDXboYgvZ0fUdr8ksP0UADB5Vwm_XiJP1kxeF8P_2Rp4g9woKeXOuqmT_0sGwHlk4LFYI4ty2UlC_80aeVAup_jZYnKO36oeRgVj9KUm8IbX6m9gAkVleKAx_Zpj5RT31YF3nGS/s400/talesePHOTO.jpg" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Gaetano "Gay" Talese.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Once the Allies had chased the Nazis from their most significant Italian redoubts, Marcantonio sought to close the breach opened with the U.S. during the war. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As did Joseph Talese, Marc's primarily southern Italian constituents found their wartime communication with home villages and towns cut off.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A “New York Times” article of Feb. 15, 1944, with the headline, “Restoring Mail to Retaken Italy: Stimson Expects Personal Service This Week – Reply is Given to Marcantonio,” discussed his successful effort to remedy the situation. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The article reported on a letter from one Maj. Gen. Edwin M. Watson in reply to a plea, addressed to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by Representative Vito Marcantonio of New York.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Mr. Marcantonio,” the article reads, “had cited the anxiety in this country endured by friends and relatives of Italians in the occupied areas and had asked for mail privileges subject to limitations of censorship for security.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc's letter to FDR worked and soon mail between the U.S. and locales such as Bari, Brindisi, Catanzaro, Cosensa, Lecca, Matera, Potenza, Reggio di Calabria, Salerno and Taranto was renewed. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The anxieties of Italian-Americans may have actually increased with the reestablishment of communications between Old World and New. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Talese remembered his father being short-tempered with him at the tailor shop: “[M]y mother later explained to me that my father had just received word from someone overseas who had connections with the Italian army that his youngest brother, Domenico, assigned to the Italian infantry, was listed as missing somewhere in the Balkans or Russia.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Almost every night after I went to bed, I could overhear my father's whispered prayers as he knelt before the portrait of Saint Francis [de Paola], begging the monk to save his brothers from death or the fate that had befallen his brother, and pleading also for the protection of his mother and other family members who were now trapped in the war.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Unto the Sons,” concludes with Joseph destroying his young son's painstakingly built collection of model American bombers after the Allied bombardment of the Abbey of Monte Cassino – a sacred hilltop seminary occupied by the Nazis. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The pent-up anger, fueled by his father's fear for Italy in wartime, sparks a landmark episode in his son's life, marks a moment forever in red rage; an occurrence vivid enough for literary recounting 40 years later. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Complicating this conflicted relationship with the outside world was a schism over the war inside the Italian-American community itself. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In Talese's memoir, a relation of Joseph's from Maida, Nicolas Pileggi, was an anarchist and follower of the radical Carlo Tresca. Joseph the tailor rather approved of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's modernizing impact upon Italy and his effusive cultural pride. Family gatherings reflected the split: </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Here until dawn,” Talese writes, “over bottles of wine and bowls filled with cracked walnut shells, the merits and demerits of Mussolini were debated by these native sons of southern Italy and their kinsmen and friends just as happened around tables all around the United States. Mussolini had divided these Italian immigrants as their craggy villages and towns overseas had been divided for centuries, finding common ground only during earthquakes and other disasters.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc found himself on one side of the divide and supporters of Mussolini, such as publisher Generoso Pope, on the other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;">Gerald Meyer, author of <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/01/vito-marcantonio-radical-politician-by_22.html"><span style="color: red;">“Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician,”</span></a><span style="color: red;"> </span>writes that, in the 1930s, Marcantonio's was a full-throated anti-Fascism, when Italian-Americans tended to equate anti-Fascism with anti-Italianism. Pope's influential “<i>Il Progresso del Popolo</i><span style="font-style: normal;">” newspaper promoted Marc's 1936 congressional opponent and treated the Congressman “as a non person,” Meyer said. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“After his 1936 defeat,” writes Meyer, “until Italy's capitulation in 1943, he rarely publicly attacked Mussolini or Italian Fascism.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;">But the silence was not total, according to Meyer's book. “At the launching of '<i>L'Unita</i> <i>del Popolo'</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> Marcantonio denounced the “Fascist policies of Mr. Pope's papers,” which he claimed had “moved 600,000 Italian voters in this city into the camp of fascism.” </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Post-war Italy's administration fell to the Allied Control Commission (ACC), which was set up by the American and British </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">governments.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc was among those who felt the commission had ignored the needs of Italy's war-ravaged people and denied the <span style="color: white;">country status an an ally. In a Sept. 21, 1944, speech from the House Well he said, “As an American, it is with a sense of shame that I must say promises to the people of Italy made in the Italian Armistice have not </span>been kept.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Under allied administration, he noted, Fascists were restored to public positions and famine had begun to grip the populace: “Children are dying in Italy of starvation. Women cannot come out of their homes because they have no clothing. They are in rags. Tuberculosis is in epidemic stage.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Although the Italians had overthrown Mussolini and some 300,000 partisans were part of the anti-fascist push, Marcantonio noted, “Italy is treated neither as an ally or as a friend. She is considered and called a co-belligerent. This twilight status of co-belligerency has meant what? It has meant starvation, hunger, black market, and the continuance of an ACC and Military Government which has been a complete failure in the field of relief and which has negated every promise in the Moscow declaration.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc said he had proposed a resolution declaring Italy an ally that was, in that moment, “buried somewhere in the Foreign Affairs Committee.” The solution, he concluded was simple: “[W]ithdraw the military from Italy, and give to Italy the right to live as a free nation and as a democratic nation.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">On Feb. 10, 1945, “The Times” reported, “Bill Plans Aid to Italy: Marcantonio Calls for Full Recognition as an Ally.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">After the war, Marcantonio's interest in Italy remained steady. The war was now one over policy fought on the home front. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">For example, in 1941, Italian-American labor leaders formed the Italian-American Labor Council (IALC) and set winning the war against the Axis, including Italy, as a top priority. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In 1943, a rift developed within the council between those who refused to work with communists politically and those who accepted them. The first group broke off and became the American Committee for Italian Democracy within the IALC and the latter group formed the Free Italy Labor Council. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">An April 14, 1948, “New York Times” article trumpeted the headline, “Labor Here Calls for a Free Italy: Anti-Communists Appeal to Voters Abroad – Rival Group Gets Marcantonio's Aid.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Some 200 labor leaders of Italian origin asked for defeat of the communists in the upcoming Italian elections and vigilance against neo-Fascism. The resulting communique was shared with newspapers throughout southern Italy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The press conference was presided by Luigi Antonini, an important leader of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and president of the anti-communist IALC. Antonini was a one-time ally of Marcantonio's. The two men had earlier split over the very same issue of communist collaboration. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The article reports that the IALC provided a $50,000 cash infusion to anti-communist parties in the first election after the war, which offered clear-cut capitalist and communist options. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio, it further noted, was slated to be main speaker at a rally convened by the Committee for a Free Election Italy against “the interference in Italian elections.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">That interference was raised in a March 25, 1948 speech to the House: “Speak about interference and free elections! The state Department informs the Italian people that unless they vote the De Gasperi [conservative] ticket they are not going to get any aid. It was an official statement. Then our own Department of Justice informs the Italian people that if any of them ever hope to migrate here they can never come to the United States if they voted for the Popular Democratic Front <i>[Fronte Popolare</i><span style="font-style: normal;">: a</span><i> </i>coalition of communist and socialist parties].”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As to exactly who in Italy was benefiting from U.S. aid, Marcantonio had an opinion. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The recipients were the Pirelli rubber company, the Moncatini chemical company, Fiat, “the automobile crowd that sustained Mussolini with their money and influence... Yet you stand up here and you tell the American people: 'This is a defense of America, this is a crusade against communism.' Yes, you now stand here and would make the Italian worker and peasant believe that you are helping them.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The driving force behind Italy's reconstruction, Marc said, was international capital which, through the ACC, was delivering Italy to the very people that had ruined it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc addressed his opposition to the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Italy, saying it would establish a satellite to the Wall Street economy and wrest control of the Italian people's economic destiny from their own hands.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio said the European Recovery Program, as the plan was dubbed, “means the freedom of the big trusts to exploit, to gather more and more and more profit from the backs of these people who are today striving to continue their march toward a better world...” </span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div style="color: white;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>
highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-79006384627085843112018-08-01T00:44:00.001-07:002023-07-08T17:05:45.495-07:00"Growing Up Italian in a Wonderbread World" by LuLu LoLo<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m1M3h11wWPLIuSkXm1q-dfFCh3aykG-s7Pw2bT1sL0TVWlFOIBuRVde2tOAS_lcVkmDyv38WvSqaEOTISRKqOayS0PWxwA9erG05GJbhduisgOwS3h2tG4NJINshLLD0dXj9I4L5ryvw/s1600/PascaleFAMILY.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1215" data-original-width="1600" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m1M3h11wWPLIuSkXm1q-dfFCh3aykG-s7Pw2bT1sL0TVWlFOIBuRVde2tOAS_lcVkmDyv38WvSqaEOTISRKqOayS0PWxwA9erG05GJbhduisgOwS3h2tG4NJINshLLD0dXj9I4L5ryvw/s640/PascaleFAMILY.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">LuLu Lolo Pascale's family.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.lululolo.com/">LuLu LoLo</a></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">is a founding member of the Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) and a
multifaceted artist of considerable depth. She fuses art with
activism such as her</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2016/03/monument-women.html"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">campaign</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: normal;">to get more statues of women put up around New York City, "Where are
the Women?" </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: normal;"><br />She
is an actress and a playwright whose marvelous</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://youtu.be/q3evvt3jU3k?t=10m54s"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">one-person
interpretation</span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: normal;">of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tragedy has been covered in these
pages as well. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: normal;">Her father Pete Pascale, together with his equally committed <a href="http://thevillager.com/villager_330/rosepascale92.html"><span style="color: white;">wife Rose</span></a>, dedicated his life to the poor of East Harlem and, by virtue of said dedication, has a street in the neighborhood <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2013/10/pete-pascale-place_16.html"><span style="color: white;">named after him</span></a>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: normal;">In 1994, Pete Pascale recieved the Vito Marcantonio Award. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />LuLu
has regaled many with remembrances of Marcantonio and her father
talking on the street corner in East Harlem as a child. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Because she is an "item" from the life and times of Vito Marcantonio, and because of its powerful sense of historical place, we share, here, her recent poem-prose publication in <a href="https://ovunquesiamoweb.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: white;">"Ovunque Siamo"</span></a> entitled, "Growing Up Italian in a Wonderbread World." We do so thanks to the courtesy of that review's managing editor, <a href="https://ovunquesiamoweb.wordpress.com/masthead/"><span style="color: white;">Michelle Messina</span></a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Come
back to our apartment.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">To
our building filled with love!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Gumma</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">
Millie lived across from us,</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Gumma</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">
Minnie lived above.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">All
our doors were kept wide open</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Sharing
laughter day by day,</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">And
also sharing the many heartaches</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">That
were sure to come our way.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">One
Hundred and Sixteenth Street,</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">It
casts a magic spell!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Building
three-twenty-six,</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Where
memories dwell!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />When
I was growing up in East Harlem's Little Italy, my grandparents'
apartments were my second home. My grandparents immigrated in the
1900s from Basilicata, the towns of Santa Fele and Melfi, to East
Harlem, but the traditions of Italy were evident in my every day
life. Grandma Lizzie or Grandma 116 (which is what I called her) and
Grandpa Louie, my mother's parents, lived in a tenement apartment at</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">
</span><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/326+E+116th+St,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90061/@33.9289826,-118.270725,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2ca24c8f95fcd:0x588c07ef30c58369!8m2!3d33.9289826!4d-118.2685363"><span style="color: white;">326 East 116th Street</span></a>. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />Ac</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">ross
the street from "326" were the brownstone homes of the
doctors and lawyers of East Harlem, and also Haarlem House – the
settlement house to which my parents devoted their lives. It was also
the sunny side of the street, and my mother's family would often
cross the street to take photos in front of the building directly
across from them:</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.google.com/maps?q=331+East+116&entry=gmail&source=g"><span style="color: white;">331 East 116th Street</span></a>. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />It
was a tradition to visit Grandma 116 after church on Sunday. On her
kitchen table would be a silver tray with cordial glasses, bottles of
whiskey for the men, sweet cordials for the women, and all the
children would get a taste of vermouth "because it was cold
outside." Homemade cookies would be piled high on a tray,
including round sugar glazed Janette cookies, which we also called
"hard rocks" because when they got stale they were like
rocks. My favorites were "the bows," light crispy
deep-fried cakes shaped like bows for a birthday gift and dusted with
powdered sugar. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />Every
Sunday all over East Harlem you would wake up to the smell of gravy
cooking and the gravy meat frying. In our family we don't say "tomato
sauce" we say "gravy." It always fascinated me how
different everyone's gravy would taste – my grandmothers', my
aunts', and my mother's. I can still smell and taste the differences
in my memory. In that tenement building, I would be greeted by the
different aromas coming from each apartment as I walked up the
stairs. There were four apartments on a floor, the doors were always
kept open, maybe it was due to the heat, but it was like a small town
in Italy. We were part of a community. Neighbors would pop in and out
of each other's apartments sharing food. Sometimes my grandmother
would say they were nosy and just came by to see what we were
cooking. Neighbors would borrow from each other. And you always gave
them more than they asked. You knew people who were down on their
luck – so you would knock on the door and say – "Oh, we made
too much today – here this is for you." Saving face was important
when you shared food. When someone came to your house you put
everything you had out for them. Having something to offer was very
important. When there were guests, the children were taught never to
take any food from the table. You had to wait for a signal that you
could. You had to make sure there was enough for the guest. My mother
would say, "You don't ask a guest what they want because a guest
would always so, 'No, I don't want anything.'" – for they
didn't want to embarrass you in case you didn't have enough. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />My
father always told the story of a social worker who went to a
family's house to evaluate them to qualify for some public
assistance. My father knew this family was in a desperate situation.
When the social worker came back from her visit, she said to my
father, "I went to her house – the table had a lovely lace
tablecloth and there were all these beautiful dishes filled with
food, cakes, and cookies. This woman doesn't need any money!" My
father had to explain to her that the woman had borrowed everything
from her neighbors to save face – as a guest was coming into her
home – and God forbid she didn't have anything to offer her. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh115O84i79Uj72Qu0QlUn8pXaEd2TNP-cXoEuH_CELNUrR3QsRw66WAHe36EDMPCBqWQdsmw1CWLjrTKOGjV97Njyq3uFizC5W7yQvP82Hzgu7-LF7Cd_VE-mlNqdN1wL9jbnqwlY13wjO/s1600/Pete1.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: red;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1600" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh115O84i79Uj72Qu0QlUn8pXaEd2TNP-cXoEuH_CELNUrR3QsRw66WAHe36EDMPCBqWQdsmw1CWLjrTKOGjV97Njyq3uFizC5W7yQvP82Hzgu7-LF7Cd_VE-mlNqdN1wL9jbnqwlY13wjO/s400/Pete1.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Pete Pascale.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;">The shopping of food was a part of daily life - the special shops in the neighborhood, the smells, the community interactions and the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">neighbors asking, "What are you cooking today?" First
Avenue, which was once a large street full of pushcarts where my
grandparents had shopped, had given way to storefronts: Madonna's
vegetable market where we bought arugula before it was fashionable;
Tacco's fish market with the beautiful mosaic walls of sea life, and
baskets outside with crabs that often escaped onto the sidewalk; the
butcher and pork stores where my mother would watch carefully as they
cut the meat; the </span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Lattacini</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">
where they made homemade mozzarella (It's floor was covered in
sawdust. I would love to get the sawdust all over my shoes much to my
mother's annoyance.); Lombardi's Grocery Store where my mother bought
Ronzini macaroni (I remember cutting off the special coupons for an
electric fry pan.); the bakery on First Avenue where all the Italian
men would sit having their café, smoking their smelly cigars;
Saratella's bakery downstairs from Grandma 116 filling our street with
the aroma of bread baking in the coal oven; Cincotti's bakery on the
corner of Second Avenue filled with all kinds of pastries, including
my favorite the </span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Charlotte
Russe</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">,
the little sponge cake in a fluted cardboard container with whipped
cream and a cherry on top; and the smell of roasting coffee beans
that filled the neighborhood coming from a store that sold demitasse
cups and also fixed your wrist watch. I would walk home holding that
brown bag of coffee to my nose. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br />In
Grandma 116's house after Sunday's meal, my cousin Leonilda and I
would play store in Uncle Sonny's old bedroom, which was turned into
a storeroom of sorts filled with homemade jars of vinegar peppers,
pickled eggplant, tomato sauce, and Grandpa Louie's homemade wine.
But my favorite of all were the homemade sausages hanging from the
ceiling. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />Food
was a calendar in our lives too. We always ate macaroni on Sundays and
Thursdays, Monday was soup, and Friday was of course fish. Fish also
played a part in one of our biggest holidays – Christmas Eve. I can
hear my Grandma 116 saying: </span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />Rosie
– fry the eels!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dolly
– fry the </span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>calamari</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Everybody
will be coming!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">We
gotta hurry!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">We
have seven fishes,</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">That
means seven dishes</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">That
we serve on Christmas Eve – </span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Don't
get gravy on your sleeve!</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Outside
the snow is flying, </span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Inside
the eels are frying</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">While
we soak the </span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>baccala</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "quot";"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , monospace;"><i>Finicul</i></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ì
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i>Funicul</i></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">à</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Everybody's
getting ready</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">For
the octopus and spaghetti,</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Nobody
knows the secret really</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">How
grandma fixes the <i>scungilli</i>!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Finicul</i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ì
</span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Funicul</span></i></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">à</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Who
cares if you get gravy on your sleeve!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Nobody
wants to leave!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">That's
seven fishes</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Eel-<i>Bacala</i>-<i>Scungilli</i>-Octopus-Clams-Shrimp-Snapper</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Seven
fishes!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Seven
dishes!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Christmas
Eve!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Buon
Natale!</span></i></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">I
didn't eat lunch in school – no school lunch for me. My mother was
working, so I would walk to Grandma LuLu's house and she would watch
me from the window signaling to me when it was safe to cross the
street. Grandma LuLu ignored my American name and called me LuLu, and
I called her Grandma LuLu. Sadly I was not taught to speak Italian.
My parents were born in America and I was an American. I should speak
English. Grandma LuLu didn't speak English and I didn't speak Italian
- we only communicated through food. And then it would start as soon
as I entered her house:</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Figlia
Mia - Mangia</i> LuLu <i>Mangia-</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia</i>
minestrone!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia</i>
macaroni!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia</i>
meatballs!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia</i>
a sausage!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Mangia
abizz!</span></i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;">LuLu
<i>Mangia! Mangia! Mangia!</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Mangia
cucuzza!</span></i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><i>Mangia
biscotti!</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><i>Mangia
torrone!</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
would go home and tell my Mother: “Mommy, Mommy, what am I going
to do? Grandma LuLu, all she does is say <i>Mangia! Mangia! Mangia!
</i>Eat! Eat! Eat!"</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;">She
says <i>Mangia! </i></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
say I'm through!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
say I'm finished!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;">She
says <i>mangia di piu</i></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia
–</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> I'm through!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><i>Mangia
di piu!</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">This
is our lunch every day!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
say I'm too full!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">She
says <i>mangia </i>minestrone!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
say not another mouthful!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">She
says <i>mangia </i>macaroni!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia
</i><span style="font-style: normal;">minestrone!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia
</i><span style="font-style: normal;">macaroni!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">This
is our lunch every day!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">She
comes from Potenza,</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">South
of Napoli –</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
come from East Harlem's </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Little
Italy</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-style: normal;">She
says </span><i>mangia</i><span style="font-style: normal;">!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
say I'm trying!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-style: normal;">She
says </span><i>mangia</i><span style="font-style: normal;">!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
say I'm dying!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia
– </i><span style="font-style: normal;">I'm trying. </span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Mangia
– </i><span style="font-style: normal;">I'm dying!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">This
is our lunch every day!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I
wouldn't have it any other way!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Grandma
LuLu's house made me think of Italy filled with dark strong wooden
furniture. She would feed me vegetable soups, all shapes of macaroni
she had made, exotic fruits: persimmons and pomegranate. For a treat
she offered me chocolate covered cherries and </span><i>torrone</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
– really hard </span><i>torrone </i><span style="font-style: normal;">–
once I lost a tooth filling biting on her </span><i>torrone</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
Grandma LuLu's bedroom there was an altar with saints and a snow
globe of the Virgin Mary that when you shook it rose petals would
fall – I loved that snow globe. You could never sit on her bed or
God forbid put your coat on her bed because there would be a big
board with homemade macaroni drying there covered with a tablecloth.
We always said macaroni not pasta. We did specify shapes like
spaghetti or linguine or </span><i>perciatelli</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
but it was always macaroni and not pasta. In our house when the water
was boiling and my mother would say, “I am throwing in the </span><i>macs</i><span style="font-style: normal;">!”
– that meant you had to wash your hands and sit at the table
because when the macaroni was ready you had better be sitting at the
table. </span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvT-W-ukFWg6XRZ4Ed6RcN2aRWxQVpZBR0f3IVkRz89O7kTeYaIJNOkq4jHGX2YY1COh0FzkdDoPYM-4DpX3Vv018B0iIgaSwxj1EUEH21wtrXwKs1QiaotNoCxewoQ6RtL4dVzTk2H17B/s1600/festa.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: red;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="523" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvT-W-ukFWg6XRZ4Ed6RcN2aRWxQVpZBR0f3IVkRz89O7kTeYaIJNOkq4jHGX2YY1COh0FzkdDoPYM-4DpX3Vv018B0iIgaSwxj1EUEH21wtrXwKs1QiaotNoCxewoQ6RtL4dVzTk2H17B/s400/festa.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">"Festa" by Ralph Fasanella.</span><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-style: normal;">When
I am asked what is the greatest influence on my art, I always say my
grandmothers: Grandma LuLu and Grandma 116. They were a major source
of inspiration to me as I watched them take a simple substance like
flour – what did they create? – they created sculpture – it was
my first introduction to sculpture. My grandmothers would take flour
and shape it into a perfect mound and the break eggs into the
hollowed center – and these eggs would sit there – never leaking
out – and then how carefully they would mold the flour and eggs
together. I'd watch them form the mound into macaroni – all kinds
of shapes; ravioli, </span><i>fettuccini, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and
</span><i>cavatelli</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. And Grandma
LuLu, she was like a machine – she would roll out strips of dough
and then she would cut them – hundreds and hundreds of them. I
watched her as she shaped them on her thumb. We called them “the
hats.” That was the greatest influence – my grandmothers – they
were truly creating art out of nothing – yes, we ate it – we ate
it – it was food – but it was great art! One day I had such an
artistic revelation, I did. My grandmothers made two different kinds
of ravioli – Grandma LuLu – she made round ravioli – she used a
glass to cut them – and Grandma 116 – she made square ravioli,
using a pastry cutter. This was an artistic breakthrough for me. </span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">And
then it happened, my introduction to American dining. Growing up in
East Harlem, you didn't really leave the neighborhood, and for years
people always said East Ninety-Sixth Street was the invisible
dividing line. My introduction to American cuisine happened when I
was a little girl. My parents were working at the settlement house
Haarlem House, and I was to go downtown with Mrs. Domini and her
young son. She was an American, a large woman married to a tiny
Italian man. Their size difference fascinated me. We had to go to
City Hall and take a photo with Mayor Wagner. It was a publicity
photo for Haarlem House. After we left City Hall, Mrs. Domini said we
would go to lunch. I am thinking to myself this would be my first
American restaurant. The only time I had ever eaten outside our home
was at “Ferrara's Pizza Parlor." In those days you always ate pizza in a
pizza parlor, they didn't sell slices. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Well,
Mrs Domini took me to Howard Johnson's. I can remember being excited
that I was in a real restaurant. I was hoping I could pick out
whatever I wanted to eat. But Mrs. Domini didn't ask me what I wanted
to eat, she ordered for me, and then it was set down in front of me:
a glass of milk and a sandwich of white “Wonder Bread” with
peanut butter and jelly. This was alien food to me – this fake
white stuff that was called “Wonder Bread” – where was the crusty
bread like we got from Saratella's bakery? There was nothing
“wonderful” about his bread. And this sticky brown peanut butter
with jelly? I had never had anything like this before! I knew my
mother would get mad at me if I didn't eat it, so I took a bite and
it was bland and tasteless in my mouth. And then there was the glass
of milk – something we never had with our meals except in the
morning with oatmeal or cream of wheat – or a little milk when we
had a taste of the grownups' coffee. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">All
of our meals always had tomato sauces, and for an Italian, milk and
tomato sauce don't go together. I remember once my father brought a
college student from Ohio to a family Sunday dinner. We were all
eating our macaroni with gravy and someone asked the student what did
he want to drink? On the table were wine, seltzer (in one of those
old squirt bottles), orange soda, and my grandmother's favorite cream
soda. He answered, “Oh I'll have a glass of milk.” Everyone's
fork just stopped in mid-air and a look of horror came over
everyone's face at the thought of someone having milk with tomato
sauce. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Ironically,
a sandwich played a pivotal part in my father's life too. In the
1930s my father joined the Three Cs (Civilian Conservation Corps). He
was working with a group of men building a road upstate. When it came
time for lunch, the men were tired and hungry, and they were served a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This outraged my father, and he
said, “How can we build a road when all we are getting to eat is a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich?!” So my father organized a strike
and he got kicked out of the Three Cs for being a troublemaker. He
always said, “You know, kid, if it wasn't for that peanut butter
and jelly sandwich, I would have been sent to California and you
wouldn't have been born.” </span>
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">My
father loved to take me on a stroll through the Feast of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel, where the lights and stands of the Feast would stretch
all over the neighborhood. I would wait for him on the balcony of
Haarlem House watching the people walking in the feast, and when my
father was finished with the summer Fresh Air Fund registration, he
would take me by the hand and we would walk through the feast. The street
was filled with the aroma of sausage and peppers frying, the still
life tableau of the ocean of clam shells with lemon slices, the
dangling strings of <i>ceci </i>beans, mounds of <i>torrone</i>, and
the <i>lupuni </i>beans that you would slip out of their case into
your mouth, sidestepping the watermelon pits that dotted the street –
then we would stop at my favorite stand, the <i>zeppole </i>stand.
The <i>zeppole </i>(or as we said, “fried dough.”) was stuffed
hot into a little brown paper bag, sprinkled with powdered sugar. You
would shake the bag and then bite into that hot dough and the
powdered sugar would fall all over your clothes. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The
Feast was when the smells of food would fill the air of East Harlem
just like it did in the tenement building of my grandparents. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Growing
up in Italian East Harlem, food was the center of our family life. It
was food that held us together, the preparation, the presentation,
and the gathering around the table. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;">It
was what signified: <i>La Famiglia. </i></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier new, courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier new, courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD"><span style="color: red;">MARC LIVES</span></a><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: medium; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></i></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></i></span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-54718571217970128372018-08-01T00:43:00.002-07:002023-07-08T17:06:35.669-07:00Vito Marcantonio and Annette Rubinstein: "Beloved Comrades" <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As it was with Vito Marcantonio, Annette Rubinstein saw her political and personal life destroyed and erased
by Senator Joe McCarthy's crusade against progressive forces </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">in
America. </span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In March 2017, the Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) held a symposium at the Mulberry Street Public Library entitled, "Beloved Comrades," which considered Rubinstein's relationship to the radical congressman from East Harlem and her influence upon the vibrant left-wing culture of the pre-McCarthy era.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A candidate numerous times on the American Labor Party ticket, an aide to Marcantonio, an educator who was active in the American Peace Mobilization, Rubinstein was also a literary critic of impressive scope. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Gerald Meyer, VMF co-chair, Hostos
Community College Professor and author of</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/01/vito-marcantonio-radical-politician-by_22.html"><span style="color: red;">"Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician,"</span></a> </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">spoke about his friend, who died in 2007. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“I do think that being on the left is
a spiritual experience for all of us,” Meyer told the audience,
“and it doesn't mean you have to believe in God. It just means that
you believe in something far bigger than yourself.” </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUBjNMfKtDqM8C5IGm3pB5pAUzV0kwn_YDkS4ffc_8gVOjO7ir-tjO9G2rd5NX-nV5HTcPZcXKBr25NZ4wFCM7o4f-2_lTZTzX3hs-4w17CpmVK0WKzj96MW7bGaToeTMCQgRB9aCLYqZy/s1600/BelovedPHOTO.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="756" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUBjNMfKtDqM8C5IGm3pB5pAUzV0kwn_YDkS4ffc_8gVOjO7ir-tjO9G2rd5NX-nV5HTcPZcXKBr25NZ4wFCM7o4f-2_lTZTzX3hs-4w17CpmVK0WKzj96MW7bGaToeTMCQgRB9aCLYqZy/s400/BelovedPHOTO.jpg" width="362" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Annette Rubinstein.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">His research on Marcantonio led Meyer to
Rubinstein and her Manhattan salon where political meetings, boards
of left wing journals, and classes were convened.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“She taught, my guess, is 75 classes
while never repeating the same topic,” Meyer recalled. “She was a
genius.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Rubinstein held two dinners a week: one
for family, the other for friends. She was, Meyer recalled, effective at
mixing and matching her invitees for a maximum yield of intelligent
conversation.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The child of socialist parents,
Rubinstein graduated from NYU with a published doctorate at the age
of 24. As a case worker during the Great Depression in East New
York, “she made the break from socialism to communism.”
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Added Meyer, “Communists are angry
socialists.”</span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Denied a teaching position because she was Jewish, Rubinstein became the founding principal of Robert Lewis Stevenson High School, until she was blacklisted in 1953.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Author Stephen Siciliano reported back
on his reading of Rubinstein's voluminous study,</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tradition-English-Literature-Modern-Paperbacks/dp/085345096X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532977194&sr=1-4&keywords=Annette+T.+Rubinstein">“The Great Tradition in English Literature from Shakespeare to Shaw.”</a> </span></span></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXy1wNYkd7uJh846ycJFKZAUeJEzh8W-SW47wNoAC5lzKx6IIHWcgFD2fie4kCPoQPYjJBLFQajvltBwH0QvuJbWZPweSCKZMpHzEDeyFphlCDBVcnmzSHBKxGpMyMASHQ2Qs94d9R9MYb/s1600/GEORGluckacs.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="474" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXy1wNYkd7uJh846ycJFKZAUeJEzh8W-SW47wNoAC5lzKx6IIHWcgFD2fie4kCPoQPYjJBLFQajvltBwH0QvuJbWZPweSCKZMpHzEDeyFphlCDBVcnmzSHBKxGpMyMASHQ2Qs94d9R9MYb/s400/GEORGluckacs.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Georg Lukacs.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Siciliano
reviewed the work of Marxist literary theorist Georg Lukacs, an
important influence for Rubinstein. Both shared a conviction that a
writer's commitment to the progressive causes of their time is an
important factor in determining the value of the their work. A new
Marxist aesthetic. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Also
discussed was Rubinstein's analysis of the English Romantics and the
virtues she found in the intense political activity that characterized the lives
and work of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley.</span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">The
entire presentation can be found</span><a href="https://youtu.be/2cTSPvQ9MSw"><span style="color: red;"> <span style="color: white;">at this</span></span><span style="color: white;"> </span><span style="color: red;">link.</span></a><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></span>
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-40641165636488478102018-08-01T00:42:00.002-07:002023-07-08T17:07:33.393-07:00Vito Marcantonio Forum <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP55OLEkZW1Ku7BuV1zjR-64l9TjhO11Yb09unqWuQlBEr_EMUzvkvA2i8dekihvmCfwAj2cFhvZtkmZk4iORFRDQtOPGoiDSoc5F3ABY2F_iKWHaCKsLelWifAllHp8MFP_jHdpr3qOi_/s1600/groupSIGN.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1512" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP55OLEkZW1Ku7BuV1zjR-64l9TjhO11Yb09unqWuQlBEr_EMUzvkvA2i8dekihvmCfwAj2cFhvZtkmZk4iORFRDQtOPGoiDSoc5F3ABY2F_iKWHaCKsLelWifAllHp8MFP_jHdpr3qOi_/s640/groupSIGN.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">VMF members join former city council president Melissa Mark-Viverito in hoisting Marc's new sign.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://vitomarcantonioforum.org/">The Vito Marcantonio Forum</a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"> (VMF) will convene
a planning meeting on Aug. 11, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mulberry
Street Public Library community room, 10 Jersey Street. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The agenda includes a financial report, evaluation of recent
programming and possible coming events including a reading circle for
Leonard Covello's “The Heart is a Teacher,” the annual
fundraiser, and a commemoration of the recently departed Gil Fagiani.
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Mulberry Street Public Library has
awarded the VMF $75 in recognition of its work in organizing public
events of great interest.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">VMF co-chair Roberto Ragone performed
in “The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio,” from June 20 to
June 24 at the Royal Theater at the Producers' Club.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Bordighera Press has announced the
posthumous release of Gil Fagiani's “Missing Madonnas.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">According to Bordighera, the
collection, “explores mythical Madonnas, nonnas, and urban
addiction and redemption for a portrait of a life lived in pain and
triumph. Dedicated to his Orlandini family, this book, first
posthumous, is the final in a trilogy – 'Chianti in Connecticut'
and 'Stone Walls' – from a first generation American whose poetry
transcends the conventional visions of the post-war 50s, the
turbulent 60s, and the bitter tenderness of a life that ended too
soon.”
</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Gil Fagiani died on April 12 and is much missed by his comrades at the VMF. The Forum received contributions ranging from $25 to $200 in his name and memory. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="https://ovunquesiamoweb.wordpress.com/">“Ovunque Siamo”</a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"> published VMF
member LuLu LoLo Pascale's prose poetry work, “Growing Up Italian
In a Wonderbread World.” (<a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2018/08/growing-up-italian-in-wonderbread-world.html"><span style="color: white;">see related post</span></a>)
</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Saverio Romeo is a denizen of
Basilicata, the province from whence the original Marcantonios hail.
He wrote an article on the radical congressman and the VMF's efforts to recuperate his memory in </span></span><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://consiglio.basilicata.it/consiglioinforma/files/docs/03/41/19/21/DOCUMENT_FILE_3411921.pdf">“Mondo Basilicata.”</a> </span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">It is written in Italian.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Among the readings shared throughout the Forum of later were a pair of pieces in “Portside.” </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">One is on
<a href="https://portside.org/2018-05-02/african-american-anti-fascists-spanish-civil-war"><span style="color: white;">African-Americans</span></a> who participated in the Spanish Civil War</span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">and the other recalls union organizers
<a href="https://portside.org/2018-06-03/civil-rights-union"><span style="color: white;">building southern locals</span></a> on civil rights issues.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="background: transparent; color: red;">Still
another article in “Portside” discusses the <span style="color: white;"><a href="https://portside.org/2018-04-08/how-langston-hughess-dreams-inspired-mlks">unique relationship</a>
</span>between poet Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King, Jr. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Copies of </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2015/09/i-vote-my-conscience-primer-of-primary_3.html"><span style="color: white;">“I Vote My Conscience,”<span style="color: #b00000; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;"> </span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">a collection of Marcantonio's speeches,
edited by Annette Rubinstein, can be purchased at the Vito
Marcantonio Forum at <a href="http://vitomarcantonioforum.org/">vitomarcantonioforum.org</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD"><span style="color: red;">MARC LIVES!</span></a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-33167954193791525512018-04-13T16:46:00.003-07:002023-07-08T17:09:00.467-07:00Gil Fagiani<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GG-iHmlgjK7g0hfZ-MLg-8saIrmtdQ3-ebshLzIV75pB4GetDhq5NgMkymWobSKOMEfXa_otFwGr9Q5SuxqCbgtezQfXqstSw4CCwV3S6FZfaFSHU4YeIrVL0wT40nJrp5twPbUAabU6/s1600/GIL.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GG-iHmlgjK7g0hfZ-MLg-8saIrmtdQ3-ebshLzIV75pB4GetDhq5NgMkymWobSKOMEfXa_otFwGr9Q5SuxqCbgtezQfXqstSw4CCwV3S6FZfaFSHU4YeIrVL0wT40nJrp5twPbUAabU6/s1600/GIL.jpeg.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">It is with profound sadness that we
announce the passing of poet Gil Fagiani.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Fagiani was an important and energetic
member of the Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) and the Italian American Writers
Association. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As one of the VMF's founders, Fagiani was a prime mover
for the group, a presenter, a moderator of events and the man who
wrote “Litany for San Vito.” The poem was read at each and every
VMF event, oft-time in English, Spanish and Italian, by numerous
interpreters.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Fagiani was a model for the late-career
artist. His work was enjoying consistent publication by a variety of literary houses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">By 2014 the </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/17/nyregion/a-poet-mines-memories-of-drug-addiction.html"><span style="color: red;">"New York Times"</span></a> was ready to profile his life and work. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Fagiani's book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Walls-Via-Folios-Fagiani/dp/1599540789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523549609&sr=8-1&keywords=Gil+Fagiani"><span style="color: red;">“Stone Walls”</span></a> was published by Bordighera
Press in 2014. In that work, Gil administered a dose of Americana
with a twist. His 1950s childhood is recalled with the treats and
temptations of post-war prosperity and adolescence rendered in high
relief. Beneath the bucolic surface of suburban Connecticut the seeds
of a rebellion that will explode a decade later are germinating. The
poems are filled with the restlessness of the first generation born
after the bomb and portray the initial, impulsive steps toward
revolutionary sentiments.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In 2015, Guernica Press published
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Logos-Essential-Poets-Gil-Fagiani/dp/1771830174/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1523549658&sr=8-4&keywords=Gil+Fagiani"><span style="color: red;">“Logos,”</span></a><span style="color: red;"> </span>an in-depth, insider's look at the harrowing world of drug addiction and rehabilitation. In the pipeline is his latest, “Missing Madonnas,”
which will ensure that the poet speaks even though he has departed.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Fagiani also authored the poetic
volumes, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rooks-Gil-Fagiani/dp/0978610539/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1523549688&sr=8-2&keywords=Gil+Fagiani"><span style="color: red;">“Rooks”</span></a><span style="color: red;"> </span>(Rain Mountain Press, 2007), <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chianti-Connecticut-Via-Folios-Fagiani/dp/1599540150/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1523549803&sr=8-5&keywords=Gil+Fagiani"><span style="color: red;">“Chianti in Connecticut”</span></a> (Bordighera Press, 2010), <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1599249685/ref=sxts_sxwds-puwylo_rv_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3534076942&pd_rd_wg=YRFBO&pf_rd_r=B2EESTNNR8D980ZAEXQD&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=1599249685&pd_rd_w=qUg5B&pf_rd_i=Gil+Fagiani&pd_rd_r=c5e0d88f-f5d7-4811-86b2-d3d4309b5882&ie=UTF8&qid=1523551805&sr=2"><span style="color: red;">“Serfs of Psychiatry,”</span></a>
(Finishing Line Press, 2012), and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grandpas-Wine-Gil-Fagiani/dp/0981767826/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1523549966&sr=8-7&keywords=Gil+Fagiani"><span style="color: red;">“Grandpa's Wine”</span></a> (Poets Wear
Prada, 2009).
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">"Marcantoniana" covered Gil's “A
Blanquito en El Barrio” (Rain Mountain Press, 2009), a lyric appreciation of East Harlem, five years ago. <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-blanquito-en-el-barrio-gil-fagianis.html"><span style="color: red;">Here is that report</span></a>, now, too soon, rendered a remembrance.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Gil was rolling along, writing away,
traveling in Europe with his wife, Queens poet laureate <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2015/09/thieves-in-family-maria-lisella.html"><span style="color: red;">Maria Lisella</span></a>, when he was stricken with an awful illness, against which he parried valiantly for a few months, before succumbing: a word we loathe to apply where this fighting, radical spirit is concerned.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">He will rest in Woodlawn Cemetery, just
“a few steps away” from Vito Marcantonio and Fiorello La Guardia.
According to Maria, that was a dream of the poet's.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Gil Fagiani was soft-spoken, yet
outspoken, low-key, yet industrious, and kind in the extreme. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">He did
not just write the books. He stood on multiple stages and told his
stories to <a href="http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/library/articles-reviews/article/politics-and-poetry"><span style="color: red;">audiences of flesh-and-bone people</span></a>. Here is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8hnh2DGKY"><span style="color: red;">recording of Gil</span></a> reading from “Blanquito” back in May of 2015 at the Cornelia
Street Cafe. It is how we prefer to remember him. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A wake will be held April 15 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Quinn's Funeral Home, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City, 11106. (718) 721-9200. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">The funeral will be held April 16, 11 a.m. at Historic Woodlawn Cemetery, 4199 Webster Ave. and 233 St., Bronx, N.Y. 10470 (718) 920-0500. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Ciao Fagianella!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): "The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES!</a></span></span></p><div style="font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-72629441428487421782018-03-19T13:51:00.002-07:002023-07-08T17:10:01.831-07:00Marc and the Mob<span style="color: #005500; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCPzbRMXidMk-FReM16daiaUU502p18xANaUYxCZU9MsdO29J1-YjEch9qIWPUtX3WHLIMq4T5MKvFVVS7dX4tZdd7hhWWzBP_sRAvRtdJQzwGUbzEjjn0TNnk8kK8kTvRFEvx3hYL9z6/s1600/scottoSCAN.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="1600" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCPzbRMXidMk-FReM16daiaUU502p18xANaUYxCZU9MsdO29J1-YjEch9qIWPUtX3WHLIMq4T5MKvFVVS7dX4tZdd7hhWWzBP_sRAvRtdJQzwGUbzEjjn0TNnk8kK8kTvRFEvx3hYL9z6/s640/scottoSCAN.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">As did so many crowding the Italian immigrant enclaves of the
United States, Vito Marcantonio contended with the Mafia, coexisted
side-by-side, knew people who knew people, and walked the same tight
rope.
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio's enemies worked hard at linking him to the rackets in his
working class and immigrant district. Available evidence suggests Marc
was clean on the charge.
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">But he judged not those who came for help, often the stragglers
and maladroits of his East Harlem bailiwick. “People come to me for help. People who are not in trouble do not come to you for help," Marcantonio observed.
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A memo from Marc’s <a href="https://vault.fbi.gov/Vito%20Marcantonio"><span style="color: white;">FBI file</span></a> reads: “There are numerous
indications in the files that Marcantonio is associated with
hoodlums, particularly in the Eighteenth [Congressional] District in New York City.
Many of these individuals have apparently been associated with him in
connection with his election campaign. The problem, however, is to
present facts which could be introduced in Court and we do not have
any such material available.”
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Which is a roundabout way of saying there was no proof. The song
remained the same throughout Marcantonio’s congressional career.
Nothing was ever proven, but a taint slowly took hold, as it did for
many immigrant Italians and their American-born children.
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-italian-american-table-food-family.html"><span style="color: white;">“The Italian American Table,”</span></a> <i>Professore </i>Simone
Cinotto suggests that, for deeper rooted Americans, organized crime
and Italians were of a piece.</span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“The popular press,” he writes, “titillated readers with
accounts of the gruesome enterprises of the Black Hand, the
all-Italian crime organization that plagued Italian neighborhoods.
Italian immigrants were regularly depicted not only as natural born
gangsters, but also as anarchists and terrorists…”
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">At the same time, Cinotto notes, movie theaters offered
“multifaceted representations of Italian immigrant identity. Films
like the ‘The Black Hand’ (1906) and ‘The Italian’ (1915)
showed evil Italian criminals alongside happy-go-lucky, sentimental,
hardworking, and family-oriented immigrants trying to survive in
Little Italy.”
</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A Childhood Criminal Acquaintance</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio knew gangster <a href="http://awiserguy.com/tommy-lucchese/"><span style="color: white;">Tommy Lucchese</span></a> from his youth. J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, which held leftists to be on the same moral plane as gangsters,
found the association worthy of its attention. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExlJV-53Uig_g8q0aOsmTP7NczkWv0_9RDXh1DCs9LNv7wCfY0zAt1ueFS37mhRWrCvCxXgeLKmsoMyrds_N6crECItoK6sfn-_-BIe5WnhKvRZXkduh80Wsq_YvOPvd8TN8Cp7d_xu52/s1600/Thomaslucchese58.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExlJV-53Uig_g8q0aOsmTP7NczkWv0_9RDXh1DCs9LNv7wCfY0zAt1ueFS37mhRWrCvCxXgeLKmsoMyrds_N6crECItoK6sfn-_-BIe5WnhKvRZXkduh80Wsq_YvOPvd8TN8Cp7d_xu52/s400/Thomaslucchese58.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Tommy Lucchese</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">One FBI memo states that an informant, “advised in October of 1947
that Vito Marcantonio is an associate of Gaetano Lucchese, with
alias, Tommy Brown, according to [redacted] is believed to be the
head of the <i>Unione Siciliana</i> in New York City and has been
involved in labor, building racketeering, and gambling.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Another FBI missive quotes an unnamed informant claiming that
Marcantonio nominated Lucchese’s son for a commission to the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In November of 1952, Lucchese sat down with prosecutors. The juice
from that squeezing was poured into a “New York Times” article
entitled, “Gangster is Heard” by ace reporter Meyer Berger.
</span></span><br />
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</div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The long testimony, Berger noted, “showed, on one hand, a
thirty-year association with criminals of the lowest order.
Paradoxically it showed on the other hand an association with judges
and other public figures of the highest standing in the community.”
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Lucchese’s contacts included big fish like Mayor Vincent
Impelliteri and Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio.
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Did you make any contributions or loans to Marcantonio?” the
prosecutor asked Lucchese at one point.</span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The gangster answered: “He said, ‘No Tom, I have all the money
I need.’”
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Alexander Feinberg’s follow-up, “Analysis of His Testimony
Before Board Unfolds Unsavory Record,” dispatched with the urban
legend that Marc had gotten Lucchese’s son into West Point.
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Lucchese told prosecutors he returned to Marcantonio with the
request each of the six years his son was enrolled at LaSalle
Military School and that Marc told him, “I have no control” and did him no special favors. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/01/vito-marcantonio-radical-politician-by_22.html"><span style="color: white;">"Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician,"</span></a> professor Gerald Meyer writes that, "Marcantonio's natural impulse was to help the underdog, and he included racketeers in that category. To him they were the clever boys from the neighborhood who never had a chance to attend De Witt Clinton." </span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">According to Meyer, the Mafia provided "discreet but substantial" support to Marc's campaigns. "Of considerable importance to Marcantonio was the use of Mafia-related social clubs as centers of election activities." <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfe72kRt4zWEbcp8ZiYqJEiRlKmUCJ5X-qR5ftt_-csFn8ve36jUpXpSeAA9XSWikGdVk1OOm94wzm_4aIVNcHxC1b68eKCiEu6yiQ8xC2k11Impgvg7aCJJ1VWIkHRutlfqWHDoTjkQ4x/s1600/Pacino.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="225" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfe72kRt4zWEbcp8ZiYqJEiRlKmUCJ5X-qR5ftt_-csFn8ve36jUpXpSeAA9XSWikGdVk1OOm94wzm_4aIVNcHxC1b68eKCiEu6yiQ8xC2k11Impgvg7aCJJ1VWIkHRutlfqWHDoTjkQ4x/s400/Pacino.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Al Pacino longed to play Marcantonio.</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Richard Rovere, in an April 11, 1944, “Harpers” article, “Vito
Marcantonio: Machine Politician New York Style,” observed that,
“The truth is a state of neutrality exists between [Marc] and the
racketeers. His machine could not possibly operate in the face of
their opposition. Few of the voters whom he helps at his Sunday
afternoon Good Will Hour would get to the polls if the gangsters
decided that East Harlem needed another congressman.”
</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Mayhem of Marc</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio’s story is not devoid of violence.
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">His entire life was lived on the streets of a crowded, lively
tenement district rife with the typical urban ills: unemployment, garbage-strewn vacant lots, candy store corner gangs, and racketeering.
</span></span><br />
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</div>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Sydney Shallet wrote for the “Saturday Evening Post.”
When Marc dodged the Republican sweep in 1946 that eliminated so many
of his leftist allies, Shallet covered the campaign and rendered some
colorful post-reportage in “They Couldn’t Purge Vito” (January
1947).
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio’s political education, he wrote, “was rough,
including a brief arrest and the loss of several teeth in a campaign
brawl.”</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Shallet confronted Marcantonio about the purportedly unsavory reputations of
certain fans. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“I was born and raised in this district,” the radical
responded. “There are men with criminal records here who are my
supporters, and I’m not going to turn my back on anybody. But I’ve
never had anything to do with a racket or with protecting rackets. Of
course,” he conceded, “some of the boys are a little rough, and
if anybody crosses them they don’t turn the other cheek!”
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“The Boys,” were a group of men known as the Gibbones
(for which various spellings exist).
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">A Nov. 1, 1950, FBI memo notes:
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In [Westbrook] Pegler’s columns of December 16 and 17, 1943,
he makes reference to the “Ghibbones” characterizing them as a
mob of muscle men used for political purposes. He says that according
to his information, there are approximately 1,800 of these
individuals, who are still doing business but that at the present
time (1943) they are more attached to LaGuardia’s old protégé,
law partner and friend, Vito Marcantonio.”
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In his book “American Demagogues” Reinhard Luthin dedicated a
chapter to, “Vito Marcantonio, New York’s Leftist Laborite.” </span><br />
<span style="color: #005500; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“In later years,” Luthin wrote, “when critics charged that
the Gibbones were a sinister band of Italian Black Shirts,
Marcantonio hotly protested: 'There never was any secret society. The
younger second generation Italians all belonged to the Democratic
Club… We started organizing the older people, most of whom were
immigrants. The young ones started taunting them and their
broken English with the cry of Gibbones. It means hick or Wop.'” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">There is at least one more version of how the name came about, but
nowhere is the existence of the Gibbones disputed.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Police Riot</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span></b></div>
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Not that Marc needed them.
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Among the recorded incidents of violence involving Marcantonio
directly is an infamous rally at Madison Square Garden <span style="color: red;"></span>on
behalf of Works Progress Administration workers that turned into a
police riot. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><b><i><u><sub><sup><strike><br /></strike></sup></sub></u></i></b></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Again, Marc’s FBI File:</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“According to Confidential Informant T-83, of known reliability,
V.M. was taken into protective custody after leading twelve hundred
relief workers against four hundred policemen in a riot at Madison
Square Garden in 1937.”
</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqcwXL1gtvrupx2LIRE3GhrwM3v9iadHEXj23aQ96NQh4tiXpRxzU86SLfKNb6j0tUJjwOUJQIGiH51Dtxa0SUKDwSAL67bVtwauJi7v9IRoOQEkN9jEARYoE6dfGWmwmRZf2irTbujg3C/s1600/riotRELEASE.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><br /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "courier new";"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Luthin renders a more literary accounting in “Leftist Laborite":</span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqcwXL1gtvrupx2LIRE3GhrwM3v9iadHEXj23aQ96NQh4tiXpRxzU86SLfKNb6j0tUJjwOUJQIGiH51Dtxa0SUKDwSAL67bVtwauJi7v9IRoOQEkN9jEARYoE6dfGWmwmRZf2irTbujg3C/s1600/riotRELEASE.jpg" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1591" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqcwXL1gtvrupx2LIRE3GhrwM3v9iadHEXj23aQ96NQh4tiXpRxzU86SLfKNb6j0tUJjwOUJQIGiH51Dtxa0SUKDwSAL67bVtwauJi7v9IRoOQEkN9jEARYoE6dfGWmwmRZf2irTbujg3C/s400/riotRELEASE.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Marc is released from jail </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">after the police riot. </span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><u><sub><sup><strike></strike></sup></sub></u></i></b><b><i><u><sub><sup><strike><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></strike></sup></sub></u></i></b></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Marcantonio shouted defiance of the Mayor’s</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">[La Guardia!]
order against any parade. He called upon the assembly to sing the
‘Star-Spangled Banner.’ Catching the police off guard as they
stood at attention with the playing of the national anthem, he
shouted, ‘Forward! Parade!’ The police pitched in. Bluecoats and
demonstrators went sprawling in the slush, Marc received a bloody
nose and was hustled into a police patrol wagon. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“A congressman cannot be arrested for violation of a local law
while Congress is in session, so Marc was released. He told
reporters: ‘I admit I can’t lick a lot of cops, but I’d like to
get Valentine alone in the gymnasium.’ Police commissioner Lewis
Valentine, in mock alarm, answered: ‘Has he selected the weapons
yet? Tell him, then, that I’m going up there with a ‘flit gun’
and exterminate him.’”</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The FBI file also highlights a sloppy incident involving one Sol
Silver whose beating led to Marcantonio’s arrest. He was charged
with “directing an assault” on Silver who required ten stitches
in his scalp.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">According to the memo, on October 9, 1936, at the age of 33,
Marcantonio “was arrested at 125 Center Street by Detectives Land
and Bruder, 25<sup>th</sup> Squad, on a warrant charging him with
acting in consort with a number of others and directing the assault
of Sol Silver of 1815 Madison Ave.”</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeonGFenaXNFC4bhJvqn_XpT1G77QVGwlGYXLTFeB3xQQ1KQb6ktfQUGM-LsPDjaahnp-vyotlaY4VFg07BKfrNp_QmSOyr5jZQUVdJW-i7rqN3xmK7Se6QOT10Uncnm4E34nuuDg-WXos/s1600/copollaLEHMAN.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeonGFenaXNFC4bhJvqn_XpT1G77QVGwlGYXLTFeB3xQQ1KQb6ktfQUGM-LsPDjaahnp-vyotlaY4VFg07BKfrNp_QmSOyr5jZQUVdJW-i7rqN3xmK7Se6QOT10Uncnm4E34nuuDg-WXos/s400/copollaLEHMAN.jpg" width="303" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Trigger Mike and his </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Dancing Doll.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">According to Randolph Hearst’s “Daily Mirror," which
Marcantonio spoofed with his own publication, “The Daily
Schmirror,” Silver, a Democratic poll watcher, saw two men he
considered “floaters” and contested their presence at the polls.
Marcantonio arrived and told two of his watchers, “Get that man out
of the way – don’t let him bother us anymore.” Silver was later
jumped by what he claimed were Marcantonio henchmen.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marc called the whole thing “A cheap Tammany conspiracy.”
His campaign pressed countercharges against Silver for an attack
elsewhere in the district against its own people. The indictment
against Marc was ultimately dismissed. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“It vindicates me completely,” he stated.
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Another FBI item reports Marc speaking in Italian from a sound
truck in Jamaica (New York) when “he was called a liar by some in
attendance. [A]<span style="font-style: normal;">n attempt was made to
throw him off the sound truck, which was thwarted by V.M.’s
bodyguard.”</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In an Oct. 4, 1949 piece, “The New
York Times” reported that, during the same campaign, cantaloupes
came sailing into a crowd of about 1,000 assembled to hear the
American Labor Party candidate for mayor at 95<sup>th</sup> Street
and Broadway. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The next day “The Times,”
published, “Campaign Rowdyism,” grudgingly conceding that, “We
disagree with much of what Mr. Marcantonio has to say. His right to
say it must be zealously defended.” </span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">L'Affaire Scottoriggio</span></b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">It was in this environment that the <a href="http://thegoodfatheranovel.blogspot.com/2016/03/now-election-day-1946.html"><span style="color: white;">beating death of a Republican district captain</span></a>, Joseph Scottoriggio, transpired.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The scandal represents that moment in Marcantonio’s political
career when the violence and racketeering endemic to his universe
finally caught up with him. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUyo6r5Lc5hWvrKSgnHByTYGUyoXShFGHYrXmHeY-kof5FZJ4HQ-OoD5xBQwxJrDdzj8g6Teqv5P1-RcTak1dzTcawTGrHyWuW729EqduQeuNYtGdbJGVGnwUSwkESQhWpcmKb6ei75Sv/s1600/RAO.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="427" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUyo6r5Lc5hWvrKSgnHByTYGUyoXShFGHYrXmHeY-kof5FZJ4HQ-OoD5xBQwxJrDdzj8g6Teqv5P1-RcTak1dzTcawTGrHyWuW729EqduQeuNYtGdbJGVGnwUSwkESQhWpcmKb6ei75Sv/s400/RAO.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Joey "Tough Boy" Rao.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">For the “Post's” Shallet, no stranger to
rough-and-tumble politics, the 1946 campaign in East Harlem stood
apart:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“To one who does not live in East Harlem, or who has seen
politics from the comparative sedateness of, say a Jersey City
Hague-managed brawl or a quiet shooting at the Tennessee polls, the
spectacle of The Marc's constituents in action and the little
congressman himself running a campaign is simply fantastic.”</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Weeks later, writing the piece, Shallet said he was still, “gaping
at my notebook and wondering if what I set down and what I saw was
real.” </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">On, Nov. 4, 1946, just before election day, the “New York Times”
called the campaign “the most violent in the city.” </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In a telegram to the Police Commissioner, Marcantonio complained:
“I protest against the exclusive use of police protection on my
opponent’s trucks. He has all of the police. I have none...
I’ll ask you to correct this situation…” </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Scottoriggio was working for Marc's opponent, Patrick van Pelt
Bryan. The fatal, early morning beating on First Avenue, witnessed by his wife from the window of their apartment in the East River Houses, reeked of
racketeers. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Two past-their-prime Prohibition thugs – Mike Coppola
and Joey Rao – were the prime suspects. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Trigger” Mike's wife,
<a href="http://www.americanmafia.com/Allan_May_4-19-99.html"><span style="color: white;">Doris Lehman</span></a>, a dancer, split town after his jailing only to be
caught many months later and dragged before the grand jury, pregnant.
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Lehman gave birth in a New York hospital where she died
mysteriously the next day. </span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-0bI4d0S7gCer69AbUj7IodzQR-Ls0TgUsOeA9lfVT5ktdJB9MjX2JmYluCCBUH4E5wI8SqhBNl-8V71cfchTgSMC5J9JHG3U6VPRLrE5ysG5Vqp4d09OgZu1ftF-xhmIDcBfQT6VKTU/s1600/Foleystreet.jpg" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: left; color: #0066cc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="815" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-0bI4d0S7gCer69AbUj7IodzQR-Ls0TgUsOeA9lfVT5ktdJB9MjX2JmYluCCBUH4E5wI8SqhBNl-8V71cfchTgSMC5J9JHG3U6VPRLrE5ysG5Vqp4d09OgZu1ftF-xhmIDcBfQT6VKTU/s400/Foleystreet.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Marc after testifying before grand </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">jury </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">in Scottoriggio affair</span></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">For his part, Marc immediately volunteered to testify before a grand jury. He was then called before a special House of Representatives committee, sent on a
fishing expedition to New York, under the pretense of investigating
voting practices in East Harlem during the 1946 campaign. A second
grand jury was then convened.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #b08500; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">The whole sordid affair dragged on for many months.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">One of Marc's staffers, Anthony “Kid” Lagana, disappeared and
was later found floating in the East River. Scottorigio's wife went
into politics. Every new wrinkle in the case was assiduously reported
and invariably concluded with a paragraph that featured Marc's name.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The scandal stuck like a dog latched onto his pant leg. In spite of the enormous resources expended, the murder was never solved. Marcantonio survived the 1948 election, but by 1950 could no longer
combat his re-branding as a red racketeer. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In <a href="http://www.sersale.org/mancuso/telstrtx.html"><span style="color: white;">“Disseminating the Story of the Italy-to-U.S.A. Avventura,”</span></a>
James Mancuso suggested that the success of “The Godfather” in
the Italian-American community was rooted in the fact the portrayal
was not considered offensive. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“[Author Mario] Puzo, in creating the figure of ‘The
Godfather’ Don Corleone, portrayed a character who constantly
expressed the idea that a real man takes care of his own affairs. He
doesn’t waste time by appealing to the structural institutions of
society, and he has no faith in the possibility that these
institutions will change as a result of communal action.” </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Perhaps, but not universally.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio, a prominent member of the Italian-American community,
certainly believed in communal action of the engaged type. He did not
shrink from institutions, he stormed them and, where possible, kicked
open the door for those barred from entering.
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In a Dec. 1, 2002, “New York Times,” article written by Jim
O'Grady, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/nyregion/city-lore-the-loneliest-man-in-congress.html"><span style="color: white;">“The Loneliest Man in Congress,”</span></a> Vito Marcantonio Forum
co-chair Roberto Ragone said of Marc:
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“He made himself accessible to people regardless of race, creed
or color; black, Hispanic, Italian, Jewish. He’s essentially the
good Godfather, the antithesis of Vito Corleone. His story shows how ‘The
Godfather’ is actually the bizarro world of the real
Italian-American experience.”</span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: courier new, courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather,(A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD">MARC LIVES.</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></div>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-86468957861454102802018-03-19T13:13:00.006-07:002023-07-08T17:13:35.937-07:00"Bread of the Poor"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYlVTigZsTOFBcXUL7ClYHQSrSxss8j9AnzNCgQtSoeLpKMjKn7-oPpk8a3SwIWmu2x-d6unsvZFepFFhworTDf6K4abeRHwtDF5zXvLgS4Yyb4InFNhonE7qA7Ph0iH_QkXdu34ROM8wR/s1600/MarcKIDS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="1102" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYlVTigZsTOFBcXUL7ClYHQSrSxss8j9AnzNCgQtSoeLpKMjKn7-oPpk8a3SwIWmu2x-d6unsvZFepFFhworTDf6K4abeRHwtDF5zXvLgS4Yyb4InFNhonE7qA7Ph0iH_QkXdu34ROM8wR/s640/MarcKIDS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><a href="http://archives.nypl.org/mss/1871">The Marcantonio Papers Collection</a></span><span style="font-family: "courier new";"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: medium;"> (link), </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">located in the main branch of the New York Public Library, houses 86
boxes of production from the hyperactive congressman's political
life.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new";"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In the categories by which the contents
are divided, we hear the echoes of bygone battles: telegraph merger,
Progressive Party, Vinson strike bill, Anti-Fascism/NLRB, Works
Progress Administration (WPA).
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Box 2 contains, “constituency
problems, aid requests.” Box 42 holds “office appointments and
messages.” Box 43 contains “Card files of names relating to
routing constituents' requests." Boxes 6 through 35 offer, “Congressional
Correspondence and Papers: Relating to routine constituency matters,
congressional committees, sponsorship of various bills, and
constituents' correspondence and papers.”</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolVsfi5ujqfH6RJMqeNZKsCR2gJ55P5c4Q9KpIuI6pHxTDcSVJ3pbeqlDodQv6moVffL6MiT6kcqi2yv9qpAbmE7htrqyTEZZQfT3thLriLkAU6JEO4s5AgH75eq3-TEILMFTLkKWJpXU/s1600/HARLEMstreet2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="482" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolVsfi5ujqfH6RJMqeNZKsCR2gJ55P5c4Q9KpIuI6pHxTDcSVJ3pbeqlDodQv6moVffL6MiT6kcqi2yv9qpAbmE7htrqyTEZZQfT3thLriLkAU6JEO4s5AgH75eq3-TEILMFTLkKWJpXU/s400/HARLEMstreet2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">First Avenue, Italian Harlem.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In these constituency correspondence
boxes – a goodly portion of the collection – can be heard, or
read, the voice of the people Marcantonio represented. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The letters evidence the
level of service he rendered them and the deep trust with which they
shared their misfortunes. Utterly vulnerable, they approached
Marcantonio, not for policy or advocacy, but for mercy. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">There are hundreds of letters and
responses alike in the boxes which bring into full relief the radical congressman's personal touch to representation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GbwqgaAJQpcxMnnPDCECI49SeEtyiRVFWtLIVML0vkrLl8NyAyJ6zj7-jpRVRT99SGR5xCQVinlE-RGNWpVQlvMM6Kvn_PYUCQ5TX-q2r4pC-Z_8b1W8nzlFX-Ux6u4DbkP21SM1t_WL/s1600/muscleMAN.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="363" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GbwqgaAJQpcxMnnPDCECI49SeEtyiRVFWtLIVML0vkrLl8NyAyJ6zj7-jpRVRT99SGR5xCQVinlE-RGNWpVQlvMM6Kvn_PYUCQ5TX-q2r4pC-Z_8b1W8nzlFX-Ux6u4DbkP21SM1t_WL/s400/muscleMAN.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">A Constituent.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Here are culled a few of
the plentiful kind that earned Marcantonio the sobriquet, “Bread of
the Poor.”
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“We are a family of 6 and my husband
is a WPA worker earning $13.20 a week,” wrote Mary D'Ambrosio of
309 E. 106<sup>th</sup> St. “We would appreciate your help on
Christmas. Please don't forget us we will be waiting.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Ms. D'Ambrosio's epistle conveys to Marc both the importance and the inadequacy of the WPA program to a working family. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Marcantonio regularly distributed to his constituents' gift baskets with toys and food for the Holidays. Rose
Tudesco of 1974 Second Avenue was so aware of this fact she doesn't
even specify the basket.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLgxjJHtm_Z48zifFdktkE9ow6B7DXiAv0zOzbz13LyQ51e5ov-JLHGEgz52ieEC5Cz4yhRQazytEcbbzmYyMt6i7l5iU7LJ7U0Mj1oYuro3KSkBo8CpuSkfZVzeT6V1f6jJzERjVFgfu/s1600/oldHARLEM.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHqlaD0Rn3Lzpqs3fGeY_iWjrCMMUWXX0uiQ9Wrn64i90vhInkYob-QDmjMm8y1Zg0Od6Oc6lrPJVg4jdjzYj0xa6bx96XmapRucqd3PBMspfra-0508pnwNnpO4YU8-u74RL4yOzqr-9/s1600/harlemSTREET.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1029" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHqlaD0Rn3Lzpqs3fGeY_iWjrCMMUWXX0uiQ9Wrn64i90vhInkYob-QDmjMm8y1Zg0Od6Oc6lrPJVg4jdjzYj0xa6bx96XmapRucqd3PBMspfra-0508pnwNnpO4YU8-u74RL4yOzqr-9/s400/harlemSTREET.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Little Italy street scene.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">"Dear Vito Marcantonio, I am a poor woman. I have 3 children. I
used to work and now I have no job. My husband is sick and he is in
the hospital. I get no help from no place. I have no money to buy any food, toys or clothes. Try to make it a happy Christmas for my
children and me. Thank you. Respectfully yours.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In this next letter, Alexander
Fraskella manages to roll his illness, his need both for a Christmas
basket and a new job, into a tightly woven two-sentence message.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Hon. Vito Marcantonio, </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Dear Sir, I wish you remember me with a
basket for Christmas as I have been home sick this week expect to go
back to work next Wednesday Dec. 1 as labor on WPA. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">P.S. I received a letter from WPA that
they have no vacancy for the watchman's position.”
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In response to a request for help, a
constituent would usually receive a letter such as this one:
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJ8i4Y0Hsgfq0EvtKADpUjR8e9R-yuYz_-fwsfikD9AX23t9NE4hJJMYXiD62GHC66-cffZokoyUVPYB5XrfNwFuO5lqEQtnyyc2IxKCmyfJXdecXGq-m1l9nyfgTkMxqGQKNAWf34NsK/s1600/homeworkers.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="260" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJ8i4Y0Hsgfq0EvtKADpUjR8e9R-yuYz_-fwsfikD9AX23t9NE4hJJMYXiD62GHC66-cffZokoyUVPYB5XrfNwFuO5lqEQtnyyc2IxKCmyfJXdecXGq-m1l9nyfgTkMxqGQKNAWf34NsK/s400/homeworkers.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Italian family doing piecework at home.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“Dec. 5, 1940</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">My Dear Mr. [Joseph] Coniglio (of 231
E. 106<sup>th</sup>), </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I am in receipt of your letter and wish
to inform you that I shall be at the Marcantonio Club, 1679 Madison
Avenue, this Sunday, December 8<sup>th</sup>, and will be glad to
see you there at 2:00 p.m in regard to the matter you wrote me about.
Sincerely yours, Vito Marcantonio.”</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">Or such as this: </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Dear Mr. Gonzalez,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">I have been told that I can be of
service to you with reference to your application for citizenship. I
suggest that you go to the Marcantonio Club, 247 East 116<sup>th</sup>
Street, next Wednesday, October 2<sup>nd</sup>, between 1:00 and 2:00
p.m. Mr. Pizzo will be there at that time and he will talk to you
about the application. Sincerely Yours.”
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">In “They Couldn't Purge Vito”
Sidney Shallet of the “Saturday Evening Post” wrote of Marcantonio:
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJ8i4Y0Hsgfq0EvtKADpUjR8e9R-yuYz_-fwsfikD9AX23t9NE4hJJMYXiD62GHC66-cffZokoyUVPYB5XrfNwFuO5lqEQtnyyc2IxKCmyfJXdecXGq-m1l9nyfgTkMxqGQKNAWf34NsK/s1600/homeworkers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">“He is willing to live in their
slums, rub elbows with the best and the worse of them, work himself
to the end of a frazzle for them. He spends his dough on them, takes
up their battles against the landlords, sends his lawyer to get them
out of jail. On occasion East Harlem lore has it, he has carried
scuttles of coal personally to heatless tenements. Anyone who wants
to see him, to clasp his hand or bend his ear, can do so. That, in
short, is why Vito is their boy, and why Vito, who, incidentally,
sits at the head of one of the tightest, most thoroughgoing,
brass-knuckled political machines in the country, keeps getting
reelected.”
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The constituent letters found in the
Marcantonio papers tell us who “they” were in Marc's work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">Vito Marcantonio Forum member Lulu LoLo is researching the letters for a book and play, and has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBhfxEAuU8"><span style="color: red;">rendered them live</span></a> as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The writing is thick in disappeared urban argot, and textured with rich hand-scripts the likes of which have passed from usage. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Dusty, crumbling texts, they open windows on a forgotten world.
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather, (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD"><span style="color: red;">MARC LIVES!</span></a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-86273138943540441912018-03-19T00:21:00.003-07:002023-07-08T17:15:01.392-07:00VMF Screens Oliver Stone's "The Untold History of the United States." <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSgIa8Ty0t7hmDVyuiw_C0-FN7CGf_2eIRV_6F-tSBqCN5zwgdmsukePCmSjzxZnizyxA8YRkS69SMyrV9ircpSkmWavmbhB1HVINufOhEs4419Tp2sdJD29KgoqjCyPi8j-1GNp1WiqQd/s1600/stonePHOTO.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1112" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSgIa8Ty0t7hmDVyuiw_C0-FN7CGf_2eIRV_6F-tSBqCN5zwgdmsukePCmSjzxZnizyxA8YRkS69SMyrV9ircpSkmWavmbhB1HVINufOhEs4419Tp2sdJD29KgoqjCyPi8j-1GNp1WiqQd/s640/stonePHOTO.jpg" width="443" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Artwork by Adam Milat-Meyer</span></td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://vitomarcantonioforum.org/"><span style="color: white;">Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF</span>)</a>, recently presented a second installation of director Oliver Stone's
documentary, “The Untold History of the United States.”
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The VMF screened the second of four
chapters from Stone's opus magnum, which cover the period coinciding
with Marcantonio's seven-term congressional run and includes the
Depression, World War II, and the Korean War.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">VMF co-chair Roberto Ragone delivered a
reenactment of Marcantonio's address, “How the Marshall Plan
Betrayed Democracy: The Case of Italy.”
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The event took place at the Mulberry
Street Public Library on March 10.
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">VMF member Al Freda said the
documentary loosely parallels a book of the same title co-written by
Stone and Peter Kuznick, and “reveals, or better, exposes all the
facts which are intentionally omitted from standard histories of the
U.S. of Amnesia – Gore Vidal's appropriate designation for the
U.S.”
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The next screening will take place
April 14. Chapter three is entitled, "The Bomb." It will be followed by another May 12; both at the Mulberry Street
Public Library, 10 Jersey Street.
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Anniversary</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The VMF is urging
members and friends to join <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2017/08/activism-matters-reasons-for-triangle.html"><span style="color: white;">Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition</span></a>
Mar<span style="color: red;"></span>ch 25 in marking the tragedy's 107th anniversary.
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The commemoration
will take place at the corner of Washington Place and Green Street
(just east of Washington Square Park) and run from 11:30 to 1
p.m.
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLgMsqxIrnOpLUEbcNE5SRP4fAVn5CM0RSFh6OZLJYJ3vHtlOsTP-b1N-QiXpmKlIZ5iZuUtbikOe2P98UUx2sQMZz0BQHgnueRThzPSyrzH3DUS2CdobobQxolG7MtJOQPRAj8bmpTCp/s1600/triangle.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1539" data-original-width="1039" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLgMsqxIrnOpLUEbcNE5SRP4fAVn5CM0RSFh6OZLJYJ3vHtlOsTP-b1N-QiXpmKlIZ5iZuUtbikOe2P98UUx2sQMZz0BQHgnueRThzPSyrzH3DUS2CdobobQxolG7MtJOQPRAj8bmpTCp/s640/triangle.jpg" width="432" /></a><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The fire took the
lives of 146 people - garment workers - 123 of them women, mostly Italian and Jewish in
origin.
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">VMF co-chair
Gerald Meyer notes that, “On this day we remember these victims
and pledge to redouble our</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">fight to rebuild the union movement and
political organizations capable of protecting the lives and
livelihoods or workers – native-born and foreign-born, men and
women – Americans all.” </span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Vito Marcantonio Forum is an associate of the coalition and a financial contributor to its efforts. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">Coalition member Annie Rachele Lanzilloto will launch a double book of memoir poetry and short prose, "Hard Candy: caregiving, mourning and stage light," and "Pitch Roll Yawl" (Guernica), with a Prosecco tasting at NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, 24 West 12th Street, New York City. <span style="color: white;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/302830020242009/">The event</a></span> takes place on March 22 at 6 p.m. She'll read again, along with poet Mia Fama', at an April 14 event in which the Italian American Writers Association will celebrate its 27th anniversary. Sidewalk Café, 94 Avenue A, Sixth Street, East Village, New York City 10009. </span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">VMF co-chair Roberto Ragone will play a prosecuting attorney in the play, "A Cop Shot My Son" at the Sonnett Theater at the Producer's Club, 358 W. 44th St., between 8th and 9th Avenues. Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday. The dates are March 21-March 26. Tickets are $15. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">VMF Member <a href="http://www.lululolo.com/"><span style="color: white;">Lulu Lolo</span></a> will perform in <a href="http://www.uvaartsboard.com/"><span style="color: white;">"Art in Odd Places: Matter,"</span></a> at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on April 5 and April 6.</span><span style="color: #006000; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #006000; font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: black;">"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD"><span style="color: red;">MARC LIVES!</span></a></p></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5988064009311952634.post-76712546610266282562018-02-13T11:37:00.002-08:002023-07-08T17:16:14.090-07:00Benjamin Franklin High School: In Defense of <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images.classmates.com/pho119/I/h/u/U/143188456_display.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="406" height="243" src="http://images.classmates.com/pho119/I/h/u/U/143188456_display.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;"><i>Testimony of Roberto Ragone, co-chair, <a href="http://vitomarcantonioforum.org/"><span style="color: red;">Vito Marcantonio Forum,</span></a> regarding Benjamin Franklin High School, before the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Feb. 13, One Centre Street, Manhattan. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">On behalf of the Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) an historical/educational organization advancing the history of Italian Harlem and El Barrio- particularly the era when Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Rep. Vito Marcantonio and Leonard Covello, principal of Benjamin Franklin High School, took the lead on education in the community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">We advocate the landmarking of Benjamin Franklin High School for a variety of reasons. Many of these reasons resonate personally for myself as an Italian American who grew up in a diverse neighborhood with African Americans and Puerto Ricans, and who studied public policy at the Harvard School of Government, who has worked in government and serves as co-chair of the Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF). </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://italianharlem.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/leonard-covello-photos-hsp.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="475" height="287" src="https://italianharlem.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/leonard-covello-photos-hsp.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Leo Covello at work. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">Leonard Covello (1887-1982) became the first Italian American principal at a time when Italian Americans were discriminated against and viewed as not being able to achieve academically. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">Covello was able to gather a "dream team" of qualified teachers to carry out his theory of community-centered learning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">This meant a school that kept kids off the streets, a school as a one-stop center where children could engage in extracurricular activities for personal development and maturity <i>and</i> where busy parents learned English, civics, voting and how to become actively involved in their local community. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://hsp.org/sites/default/files/sinatra.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="675" height="400" src="https://hsp.org/sites/default/files/sinatra.jpg" width="336" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: small;">Covello with "Ol' Blue Eyes."</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">While the broader society derided immigrant culture, Covello made Italian a Regents language and applied an effective form of bi-lingual education and cultural pluralism to foster learning and acculturation, strengthening the connection between heritage and becoming American. "Pop" as Marcantonio called him, further bridged the gap between immigrant children and their parents as well as among people of all races, creeds, and backgrounds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">In fact not only was Benjamin Franklin High School, historically, a case study for innovative education. It also demonstrated how progressive leadership might diffuse racial or cultural tensions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new";">In September 1945, newspapers hyped a scuffle between African American and Italian American students</span> </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">and threatened the school's reputation built by Covello over many years as principal. Springing into action, Covello, Marcantonio and La Guardia<span style="color: red;"> </span><a href="http://politicalaffairs.net/when-frank-sinatra-came-to-italian-harlem-the-1945-race-riot-at-benjamin-franklin-high-school/"><span style="color: red;">got Frank Sinatra</span></a> to sing at the school and speak to the kids about racial harmony in the auditorium. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSpFOItJIZNsVLTKhOqzKBDhm7nKPX5MOPn0t2dSqu8g7cEM9UnHITdLIzdRGKX54ecHzUrabQT0Ap4l08CeEbF88lLkAHNCfCL1v54xCw9K8tLaGdhPeeLuSmiViF5vk-6XurOMexxyz/s1600/Roberto.tif" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="469" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSpFOItJIZNsVLTKhOqzKBDhm7nKPX5MOPn0t2dSqu8g7cEM9UnHITdLIzdRGKX54ecHzUrabQT0Ap4l08CeEbF88lLkAHNCfCL1v54xCw9K8tLaGdhPeeLuSmiViF5vk-6XurOMexxyz/s1600/Roberto.tif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: small;">Roberto Ragone as Vito Marcantonio.</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">The Italian- and African American students, together with the Puerto Rican kids, ended up marching arm-in-arm at the Columbus Day Parade. Covello even managed to get a photograph taken with Frank Sinatra. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">The building itself, brainchild of LaGuardia appointee Eric Kebbon, was designed in the Georgian revival style, faced with brick and limestone, and laid down symmetrically in classic Greek and Roman styles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">Within the confines of this structure which did so much to elevate a riverside tenement slum, Covello laid out a hypothesis </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "courier new";">about learning and then managed to test it as teacher and principal. He introduced an innovative form of learning: learning by experience by practice, by action, by participation in civic affairs. He demonstrated that theory <i>in application</i> was what mattered. He understood that learning by immersion was what mattered.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">Through Benjamin Franklin High School, <a href="http://marcantoniana.blogspot.com/2014/02/leonard-covello.html"><span style="color: red;">Covello changed the way</span></a> we think about school. It was more than book knowledge or vocational training. It was about how children can transform their own personalities to become imaginative, creative, and entrepreneurial for themselves, their families, their community and the broader society. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;">The staff of a school and the school building <i>itself</i> can foster a larger sense of purpose. The school was, and is, a beacon of hope worthy of landmark status. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: large;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: courier; font-size: large;">"The Goodfather," (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio" can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYRLLRMD"><span style="color: red;">MARC LIVES</span></a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>
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<br />highwayscriberyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766362837248876320noreply@blogger.com0