Do Italian Americans still face discrimination?

[caketastydelish]

Not sure about in other parts of the world but in the United States specifically. Do Italian Americans still face discrimination? There are hardly any around where I live but in certain other parts of the country (particularly New York) they are far more prominent.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Italian americans do face discrimination in Spain. I heard that in the dinner after the Princess of Asturias awards Scorsese was served two prawns less than the others diners.

 

[Squonk]

Well, I think it's telling that while Catholics are 22% of the USA population, they constitute only 2,2% of the US presidents... A tenfold difference! Not as bad as women of course.

 

[warpus]

Fact: One of the all-time most popular video game characters in America is an extremely stereotypical Italian plumber. He speaks in a way over the top Italian accent and his mannerisms are way over the top caricatures of what you might find in Italy. Even his appearance is clearly a mockery of your average Italian man.

I've often heard Italians referred to as "greasy" in American popular culture and media, where they are also often portrayed as having ties to criminal activity.

The Americans seem to also have culturally appropriated Italian culture where convenient. Much like the appropriation of native American tribe names for military hardware and sports teams, Italian cultural references are sprinkled throughout American society without a thought.

I am not here to answer any questions, I am just here to present the facts. And they don't paint a pretty picture.

 

[Arwon]

Mass migration of Italians to the US was around the first part of the 20th century, only a relative few after WW2, so I'd have thought the vast majority of Americans with Italian ancestry would be pretty much just plain American and not really identifiably Italian by now

 

[Bamspeedy]

Fact: One of the all-time most popular video game characters in America is an extremely stereotypical Italian plumber. He speaks in a way over the top Italian accent and his mannerisms are way over the top caricatures of what you might find in Italy. Even his appearance is clearly a mockery of your average Italian man.

A character created by Japanese in 1981. Is that character's popularity limited to America or is it worldwide? I don't think the popularity had anything to do with the stereotype.

I've often heard Italians referred to as "greasy" in American popular culture and media, where they are also often portrayed as having ties to criminal activity.

And Germans are always terrorists or criminal masterminds. Don't judge what Americans think based on Hollywood.

America has almost no cowboys, but I'm sure there are many outside the US that thinks differently.

 

[metalhead]

Fact: One of the all-time most popular video game characters in America is an extremely stereotypical Italian plumber. He speaks in a way over the top Italian accent and his mannerisms are way over the top caricatures of what you might find in Italy. Even his appearance is clearly a mockery of your average Italian man.

I've often heard Italians referred to as "greasy" in American popular culture and media, where they are also often portrayed as having ties to criminal activity.

The Americans seem to also have culturally appropriated Italian culture where convenient. Much like the appropriation of native American tribe names for military hardware and sports teams, Italian cultural references are sprinkled throughout American society without a thought.

I am not here to answer any questions, I am just here to present the facts. And they don't paint a pretty picture.

That's not really the same thing as facing discrimination though.

 

[MaryKB]

I have a friend who is of Italian ancestry, and she feels she's treated differently because she's not "white enough." She tells me she constantly faces negativity because people perceive her as Italian.

 

[rah]

While not fitting any of the stereo types I do not hide my Italian ancestry and can never remember facing any negativity because of it in over 60 years.
But it you dress like a Hollywood type mafioso then you deserve to be made fun of.

 

[civvver]

I hardly see people of color discriminated against first hand, it's more systematic. It just seems hilarious that anyone would think white people would be victims of it. And no I don't consider ripping on jersey shore or watching mob movies discrimination.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

I have a friend who is of Italian ancestry, and she feels she's treated differently because she's not "white enough." She tells me she constantly faces negativity because people perceive her as Italian.

Glad to see white people in 2k19 are still fabricating oppression when brown kids are dying at the border. xDD

 

[civvver]

yeah like what, they ask for spaghetti and meatball recipes? Oh boo hoo.

 

[danjuno]

The "white ethnics" have more or less integrated into anglophone American culture, though Southern Europeans like Italians might be a bit more obvious since they're more likely to have darker skin than somebody of Northern European ancestry.

 

[MaryKB]

Ummmm ... you guys do realize some "white" people face forms of discrimination, right? Like, do you think white women, homosexuals, Jews, and disabled people, just as some examples, are all treated equally to straight white men?

And Anglo-Saxons definitely view some Europeans as not truly white, like especially if you're Mediterranean. My friend's skin tone is darker than mine, and I believe her when she tells me she faces discrimination.

I mean, obviously some people have harder lives than her, but you don't mean her pains are illegitimate? By that logic I'd think only one living person in the world could ever have a grievance, right?

 

[Farm Boy]

Sorry, can't hear you all the way up on this here pedestal.

A certain amount of it is exhaustion. You can cut people fine so many ways, tall short fat skinny healthy sick white brown black yellow red religious not religious same religious different religious addict criminal who likes to put who in what or not or in them or not or or or and forever... that unless we get very specific down to like an actual instance, people are going to start shorthanding to the measures of power that come with numbers attached*. They get big enough relative to somebody's experience and it's going to be extraordinarily challenging for them(at least it seems. It's true for me.) to feel a lot of sympathy regarding, specifically advantage/disadvantage(like how many advantages a specific person need, right?). Human shortcoming, to an extent. But probably not entirely.

*Best digging I've been willing to do is Italian-American households seem to average about 20% more income than the average American household. A falliable number I wouldn't read too much into, but it's a pretty flat first level glance.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

women, homosexuals, and disabled people are all treated equally to straight white men?

But that's not... race-based discrimination?

And Anglo-Saxons definitely view some Europeans as not truly white, like especially if you're Mediterranean. My friend's skin tone is darker than mine, and I believe her when she tells me she faces discrimination.

I mean, obviously some people have harder lives than her, but you don't mean her pains are illegitimate? By that logic I'd think only one living person in the world could ever have a grievance, right?

Everyone, literally everyone, has grievances and pain in life. But to imply that Italians are discriminated based on their skin color? Are there separate drinking fountains for Italians only? Do Italians get rejected from jobs and housing for being Italian? Are there separate segregated schools for Italians? Is there a wage gap between Italians and other white Americans? Are Italians murdered by the police at a disproportionate rate?

I just don't believe in the "i am discriminated against because a cashier at the grocery store didn't smile at me" definition of discrimination which white people loooove to use to play victims. By that logic, even straight white men are discriminated against because there is surely someone who doesn't like them out there in the whole wide world.

 

[adcarrymaokai]

You know what, I also constantly face negativity as a white man. Once on Facebook, a black person wrote that he doesn't trust white people. You know how offensive it is??? There are also people on the Internet blaming white men for slavery, and you know, am soooo TIRED of it. That's real negativity and discrimination I face on a regular basis. How dare you say I am not diSCrimiNAteD against?

You know, just because I am a white man doesn't mean I don't have hopes and dreams. People constantly give me a weird look at my job. Just because my dad is an executive at my company doesn't mean I got here without working my butt off. Do you like beer, Mary? I like beer. And you know, I am so tired of being made a villain.

Being a white man in 2019 is like being a slave in the 18th century!!!1111! I am the most discriminated against demographic in US history. That's a fact, and facts don't care about your feelings, snowflake.

 

[caketastydelish]

I hardly see people of color discriminated against first hand, it's more systematic. It just seems hilarious that anyone would think white people would be victims of it. And no I don't consider ripping on jersey shore or watching mob movies discrimination.

But are there people that make negative generalizations that the majority of Italian Americans (or even a disproportionally large percentage) are gangsters, or in the case of jersey shore, wild and shallow?

 

[Peuri]

A character created by Japanese in 1981. Is that character's popularity limited to America or is it worldwide? I don't think the popularity had anything to do with the stereotype.

The more pressing question to me really is: is Mario a form of cultural appropriation? If last year's Israeli Eurovision winner Netta's, performance, that displayed Japanese aesthetics, in last year's Eurovision was cultural appropriation, then surely, surely Mario is too. In 1981, when Mario was first introduced, Japan's GDP per capita was about 10300$, while Italy's was only 7500$, so clearly the Japanese had more power than the Italians did. Also he is voiced by Charles Martinet, who is not even of Italian descent! He's French-American for pete's sake! He should have really known to stay in his lane, to put it frankly. That's just furthering the history of French dominance over Italy and meddling in Italian affairs going all the way back to the middle ages. That's like hiring a Bantu play a Pygmy, such blindness to cultural sensitivities, and possibly a bit racist too. I mean, do all whiteish people look and sound alike to Shigeru Miyamoto, or what? Jeez...

The storyline is a bit misogynistic too, and enforces negative patriarchal tropes of men as active performers and displays women as passive canvases of male action. Why does princess Peach (clad in pink, PINK, of all possible colours, quite telling, really) need saving by the male authority figure in plumbing related issues? Why couldn't she save and navigate the sewers her self? Mario is quite problematic, if you ask me.

 

[Patine]

Not sure about in other parts of the world but in the United States specifically. Do Italian Americans still face discrimination? There are hardly any around where I live but in certain other parts of the country (particularly New York) they are far more prominent.

I have a friend online whose an Italian-American from Brooklyn. She tried to immigrate here to Canada in the "wave of migration" after the 2016 election (which didn't end up, in the end, being as big as predicted, at least to Canada), and she said that she, a skilled computer programmer, was passed over for Syrian refugees with no marketable skills, at the time, and not approved for immigrant status. Make of that anecdote what you will.