Whatcom Peace & Justice Center in Bellingham, Washington
  • Home
  • Who we are
    • Blog
    • Press
    • Video
    • Archive of Newsletters
    • Financials
  • What we do
    • Learn with us
      • Timeline
      • Alternatives to Violence Workshop
    • Alternatives to Military Service
      • College opportunities
      • Opt-out of military recruitment
    • Whatcom Civil Rights Project
    • Resources for Community Use
    • Library
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • 2022 International Day of Peace
    • Sponsor International Day of Peace
    • Peacemaker Awards
      • Nomination Forms
  • Donate
    • Become a monthly donor
    • Wish List
  • Home
  • Who we are
    • Blog
    • Press
    • Video
    • Archive of Newsletters
    • Financials
  • What we do
    • Learn with us
      • Timeline
      • Alternatives to Violence Workshop
    • Alternatives to Military Service
      • College opportunities
      • Opt-out of military recruitment
    • Whatcom Civil Rights Project
    • Resources for Community Use
    • Library
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • 2022 International Day of Peace
    • Sponsor International Day of Peace
    • Peacemaker Awards
      • Nomination Forms
  • Donate
    • Become a monthly donor
    • Wish List
Search

An Extremist Writes Back

10/11/2020

 
Author: Matteo Tamburini, WPJC Board Member
Today's edition of the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, one of the two newspapers with the widest circulation, has the following headline:
 
"Usa, Trump celebra Colombo: 'Un grande italiano'. E si scaglia contro gli estremisti che minano la sua eredità." [English Translation] "USA, Trump celebrates Columbus: 'A great Italian'. And he attacks the extremists who undermine his legacy."
 
I wrote them the following reply, in Italian (the English translation follows):
 
"Spett.le redazione di Repubblica,

Nel titolo del vostro articolo di oggi, non si capisce bene di chi sia la descrizione si 'estremisti' diretta a chi 'mina l'eredità di Cristoforo Colombo'.
 
A usare quel termine siete voi, o state citando Trump?
 
In quanto Italiano DOC (nato a Firenze, cresciuto a Pistoia), e anche in quanto cittadino statunitense che da un decennio insegna matematica in una università' di Nativi Americani, devo dire che continua a infastidirmi il vostro accanimento contro una rivalutazione del lascito storico del colonialismo europeo. 
 
E' cosi' difficile vedere le cose da un altro punto di vista? O anche solo ammettere che possa esistere un altro punto di vista?
 
Visti i tempi che corrono, sarebbe opportuno celebrare altri eroi (che certo non mancano), e  cercare di coltivare un po' più di umiltà nei confronti della nostra storia.
 
Un cordiale saluto,
 
Matteo Tamburini
 
iscritto all'AIRE del Comune di Pistoia
Residente a Bellingham, stato di Washington, Stati Uniti d'America
 

[English translation]

Dear editors of 'La Repubblica',

 
In the article you published today it isn't clear who is using the term 'extremists', directed at those who might 'undermine the legacy of Christopher Columbus'.
 
Are you using that word, or are you quoting Trump?
 
As an Italian (born in Florence, raised in Pistoia), and also as a US citizen who has spent the last decade working at a university run by Native Americans, I must say that I find your ongoing aversion to any re-evaluation of effects of European colonialism quite vexing.
 
Is it so difficult to see things from another point of view? Or even to admit that another point of view is possible?
 
Given the times we're living in, we might be better off celebrating different heroes (there is no shortage of those), and to trying to cultivate a greater degree of humbleness in regards to our own history. 
 
Kind regards,
 
Matteo Tamburini

- - - - - -

As part of my enforced isolation during the pandemic, I have been doing more research about the history of Italian Americans' path to becoming white. As part of my Capoeira practice, I turned what I learned (mostly from reading Dixie’s Italians: Sicilians, Race, and Citizenship in the Jim Crow Gulf South by Jessica Barbata Jackson, LSU Press, 2020) into a poem in Portuguese - included below with English translation. Happy Indigenous People's Day! 
​
Se contarmos uma história
algo que hove no passado
é pra imaginar futuro
que possa ser melhorado.
Tinha um tempo nem distante
quando os italianos
ao chegar em Nova Iorque
eram bem discriminados.
Até que nem eram branc@s
na visão da maioria,
suas crianças como vermes
assim o jornal dizia.
Houve até uns linchamentos,
a maldita tradição,
celebrada na imprensa
festa da população.

Foi la em New Orleans
onze foram enforcados.
Foram alvo de racismo
por milhares massacrados.
O estado italiano
a violência protestou
exigiu uma resposta
e com força condanou.
O presidente americano
para lhes acalentar
escolheu dia de Colombo
començou a celebrar.
Eram quatrozentos anos
da invasão la da Europa
a um pouco tinha acabada
a guerra contra os Lakota.
Cinco anos se passaram
e la em Louisiana
houve uma oportunidade
pra mudar a realidade:
os politicos queriam
nova constituição
pra acabar direitos negros
depois da Reconstrução.
Italiano resolveu
como se posicionar
com @s branc@s, contra @s negr@s
pra poder se assimilar.
No debate descobriram
um orgulho nacional
que também foi incentivado
pela guerra colonial.
A vitória da Etiópia
parou a colonização
logo la em Louisiana
essa feia decisão.
É uma história de tres mundos
um no outro conectados
sem heróis, sem inocentes
todos somos afectados.
Estamos presos nessa história,
ouça bem a minha voz,
e igualmente essa história
é presa bem dentro de nos.
A pergunta é sempre a mesma,
como se posicionar,
que fazer para o futuro
pois atrás não vai voltar.
If we tell a story
Something that happened in the past
It’s so we can imagine a future
That can be made better
There was a time not too long ago
When Italians
When they arrived in New York
Suffered great discrimination
They weren’t even ‘white’
In the eyes of most people
Their children like vermin
So the newspaper [the New York Times] said.
There were even lynchings [against Italians]
That cursed tradition
Celebrated in the press
And for the entire [white] population
​

It was in New Orleans
Eleven were hung
They were the target of racism
Massacred by a crown of thousands
The Italian state
Protested against this violence
It demanded answers
And condemned it strongly.
The American President
To calm them down
Chose a day to celebrate Columbus
And began to commemorate it
It had been 400 years since the beginning of the European invasion
And only a short time earlier
The war against the Lakota had ended
Five years passed
And in Louisiana
There was an opportunity
To change reality.
The politicians wanted
A new constitution
To end the rights of Black people
After Reconstruction
Italians made a choice
How to position themselves
With white people, against Black people
In order to assimilate [into whiteness]
During this debate they also discovered
Their national pride
That also received a boost
By [Italy’s] colonial wars
The Ethiopian victory [at the battle of Adua in 1896]
Stopped Italian attempts at colonization
And shortly thereafter in Luoisiana
Italians made this ugly decision
It’s a story of three worlds
One connected to the other
Without heroes, without innocents
All of us were affected
We are trapped inside this history
Listen well to what I say
And equally this history
Is trapped inside of us
The question is always the same
Which position will you take?
What will you do for the future?
Because you cannot change the past.

Comments are closed.

    Contributors

    We invite the WPJC community to contribute fact-checked submissions on local, national and global current events.  Linking to original sources and articles is required.   Submissions may be sent to office@whatcompjc.org for review. 

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Aramak
    Bellingham
    City Council
    Domestic Spying
    Law Enforcement
    Prison-industrial Complex
    Prison Labor
    Student Organizing
    Sustainable Food
    Whatcom County

    Archives

    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    June 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    RSS Feed

The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center calls on our government and society to disavow policies of violence and seek a culture of peace.
  • Home
  • Who we are
    • Blog
    • Press
    • Video
    • Archive of Newsletters
    • Financials
  • What we do
    • Learn with us
      • Timeline
      • Alternatives to Violence Workshop
    • Alternatives to Military Service
      • College opportunities
      • Opt-out of military recruitment
    • Whatcom Civil Rights Project
    • Resources for Community Use
    • Library
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • 2022 International Day of Peace
    • Sponsor International Day of Peace
    • Peacemaker Awards
      • Nomination Forms
  • Donate
    • Become a monthly donor
    • Wish List