Excerpts from Italian America Fall 2010 issue California Apologizes for Persecution of Italian Americans in World War II, Expressing "Deepest Regrets" The California state legislature has unanimously passed a resolution expressing "its deepest regrets" over the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II "that ... represented a fundamental injustice." The measure was sponsored by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) and passed in August, prompted by Chet Campanella, 79, who remembered his family's wartime suffering. Early in 1942, the U.S. government designated as "enemy aliens" 600,000 mostly elderly Italians, who had never become citizens. Despite no evidence of sabotage or spying, they had to carry 1.D. cards and were subjected to curfews and travel restrictions. The government confiscated their short-wave radios, cameras, guns, flashlights, and property, including fishing boats, one of which belonged to Giuseppe DiMaggio, "Joltin' Joe's" father. About 10,000 people in California were forced to re-locate inland, separating parents from children and people from their businesses and jobs. The government also interned an estimated 250 people, including teachers, newspaper editors, and veterans of World War 1. In Monterey, Rosina Trovato learned her son and a nephew had died at Pearl Harbor. The next day, she was forced to relocate. Parents were barred from military bases to say farewell to sons leaving to fight overseas. An estimated 1.2 million Italian Americans were in the U.S. armed forces during WW II. Finally, on Columbus Day, 1942, U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle lifted these restrictions, but for nearly 50 years, the government's treatment of Italian Americans was unknown. The victims were ashamed and the government had sealed the records until the 1990s when historian Lawrence DiStasi created a traveling exhibit, "La Storia Segreta," showing concrete evidence of these injustices. Leading Italian American organizations, including the Sons'bf Italy and the National Italian American Foundation, then put pressure on the government to open its files, but did not ask for any reparations. In 2000, in one of his last acts as president, Bill Clinton signed into law the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act that gave complete access to this chapter in U.S. history. Italian Americans Protest Malia 11 Game A coalition ofItalian American organizations protested the new video game Mafia II Aug. 28th in New York City. The formal complaint was made during a press conference the coalition held in front of the 92nd Street Y, where the game's official party launch was in progress, hosted by Take-Two Interactive Software, the company that produced the game. The coalition had tried unsuccessfully to convince the 92nd Street Y to cancel the event, which was sparsely attended, largely by young people. Take-Two now plans a multi-million dollar international marketing campaign for the game, the sequel to its Mafia video game. In Mafia I~ a fictional character, Vito Scaletta, joins a crime family and becomes a "made man." Through him, players are encouraged to "jump into the late-'40s, early-'50s mob underworld," promising gunplay, nudity, sexual content and strong language. The coalition ineluded leaders from UNICO, the Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition; the Coalition ofItaloAmerican Associations; the Sons ofItaly Commission for Social Justice; the Sons ofItaly Petrosino Lodge; the NJ Italian American Heritage Commission; and the Italian American Political Action Committee. In a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, the Sons ofItaly's CSJ spokesperson, Stella Grillo noted "bigoted ethnic games like Mafia I~ that masquerade as entertainment, continue to perpetuate the misconception that most ,Italian Americans are involved with organized crime." To add your voice to hers, contact the company at www.take2.com and leave an email message. ITALIAN AMERICA FALL 2010