[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 126 (Friday, September 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SUPPORTING THE ETHNIC AND MINORITY BIAS CLEARINGHOUSE ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 24, 1999

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of greater diversity in our 
national media. If we learned anything this past year, it is that the 
media has a tremendous influence in our day-to-day lives. The impact of 
this ``Information Age'' influence needs to be examined because it does 
not always promote accurate images. To address this important issue, I 
introduced H.R. 125, the ``Ethnic and Minority Bias Clearinghouse Act 
of 1999.''
  While this legislation will shed a good deal of sunshine upon our 
media, it will not attempt to place any mandates upon broadcasters. 
H.R. 125 will direct the Federal Communication Commission to begin 
compiling data on complaints, grievances and opinions regarding radio 
and television broadcasters depiction of ethnic and minority groups. 
This information will be released to the public on a yearly basis and 
will be discussed in an annual conference to examine our nation's 
perception of the media's depiction of our great ethnic diversity.
  In support of my legislation I submit for the Record a letter that 
was sent by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) to the 
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences which illustrates the need for 
my legislation.

                                                September 7, 1999.
     Ms. Meryl Marshall,
     Chairwoman and CEO, The Academy of Television Arts and 
         Sciences, North Hollywood, CA.
       Dear Ms. Marshall: The National Italian American Foundation 
     (NIAF) is pleased to note that a large number of Italian 
     Americans have been nominated by The Academy of Television 
     Arts and Sciences for their contributions to primetime 
     television.
       Your September 12th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards has 
     nominated NIAF supporters such as Stanley Tucci for 
     Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or Movie; Joe Mantegna 
     for Outstanding Supporting Actor in the same category; and 
     Tony Danza as Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series. 
     Italian Americans are also up for awards in comedy, drama, 
     direction, editing, hairstyling, makeup, and music.
       These nominations confirm the tremendous contributions that 
     Italian Americans have made in the fields of art and 
     entertainment. However, NIAF is greatly concerned about the 
     amount of attention and acclaim which has been given to the 
     Home Box Office series, ``The Sopranos'', and how it 
     relentlessly focuses only on Italian Americans in organized 
     crime.
       NIAF appreciates and recognizes the acting skills and hard 
     work of Emmy nominated performers like James Gandolfini, 
     Lorraine Bracco, and Edie Falco, as well as the work of the 
     rest of the cast and crew. But NIAF agrees with writer Bill 
     Dal Cerro, who wrote in the June 20th Chicago Tribune that 
     the show ``not only exploits popular prejudice about Italian 
     Americans, but allows the audience to giggle at such images 
     guilt-free.''
       This past year has seen an open season assault by the 
     entertainment industry on people of Italian American 
     heritage. Whether it be a Pepsi television ad featuring a 
     little girl speaking in an Italian American ``Godfather'' 
     voice, derogatory films such as Spike Lee's ``Summer of 
     Sam'', or TNT's despicable ``Family Values: The Mob & The 
     Movies'', your industry has reinforced the stereotype that 
     all Italian Americans are losers, or mobsters, or both.
       The stereotyping is also insidious: type in the phrase 
     ``Italian Americans'' in the internet search box of HBO's 
     parent company, Time Warner, and you get a glossary of terms 
     from ``The Sopranos'' with words like ``Stugots'', ``Ginzo 
     gravy'' and ``Wonder Bread Wop.'' These words are offensive 
     to Italian Americans and should not be glamorized on the 
     world-wide web in so careless a fashion.
       Clyde Haberman of the New York Times, wrote the following 
     in a July 30th article entitled ``An Ethnic Stereotype 
     Hollywood Can't Refuse'':

       ``In this age of correctness, other groups have managed to 
     banish the worst stereotypes about them. How often these days 
     do you see shuffling blacks, grasping Jews or drunken 
     Irishmen on the screen? . . . (but) Among major ethnic groups 
     that have formed the country's social bedrock for at least a 
     century, Americans of Italian origin may be the last to see 
     themselves reflected in mass culture, time and again, as 
     nothing but a collection of losers and thugs.''

       A study by the Italic Studies Institute, Floral Park, New 
     York, bears out Mr. Haberman's assertion. The Institute 
     analyzed 735 Hollywood films that featured Italian Americans 
     from 1931 to 1998. It found 152 films were positive and 583 
     were negative towards Italian Americans.
       NIAF agrees with Bergen, New Jersey Assemblyman Guy 
     Talarico, who recently said that Italy has produced some of 
     the finest artists, scientists, athletes and other 
     professionals. Mr. Talarico introduced a resolution 
     condemning the film industry's negative portrayal of Italians 
     and warned that ``it is inaccurate and insensitive to 
     insinuate that a small number of people (in organized crime) 
     represent an entire ethnic group.'' Or to put it another way, 
     Energy Secretary Frederico Pena told a conference last year 
     that stereotyping ``is the package in which racism finds a 
     home.'' And if allowed to continue, Pena said ``we 
     depersonalize each other and we see not the faces of the 
     personal stories we can all share but the face of an 
     impersonal group.''
       In fact, because Hollywood has been reluctant to reduce 
     harmful stereotyping of Italian Americans and other 
     minorities, NIAF has given its full support to ``The Ethnic 
     and Minority Bias Clearing House Act of 1999.'' The bill, HR 
     125, sponsored by New York Congressman Eliot Engel, would 
     create an office, probably within the Federal Communications 
     Commission, to collect and analyze the media's portrayal of 
     ethnic, racial and religious minorities, with an annual 
     report on such portrayals in the industry prepared for 
     Congress.
       NIAF has begun a major effort to ``Stamp Out Italian 
     American Stereotyping,'' and we need the help of influential 
     people in the entertainment community like yourself to help 
     us achieve success.
       We have enclosed NIAF's report, ``Fact Sheets On Italian 
     Americans In US History And Culture'', and ask that you 
     review it and distribute it to all members of the Academy of 
     Television Arts and Sciences. The 37-page document contains a 
     listing of significant contributions Italian Americans have 
     made to the US in such fields as politics, education, 
     entertainment, sports and law enforcement. Academy members 
     who read this document, which is also available on NIAF's web 
     site, www.niaf.org, would get a fuller representation of 
     Italian Americans which could lead to depicting our people on 
     television and in the movies in a more positive fashion.
       We also ask that the Academy consider for next year's 
     awards the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) film ``Italians in 
     America'' and the History Channel film ``Ellis Island.'' Both 
     will be shown in October and both document Italian American 
     history and achievements.
       Finally, we would ask that the Academy agree to participate 
     in an NIAF-sponsored workshop on ``Italian American 
     Stereotyping'' which will take place in the second quarter of 
     the Year 2000. Your participation will convince others in the 
     entertainment industry that this is a problem which needs to 
     be addressed if 20 million Americans of Italian descent, the 
     nation's fifth largest ethnic group, are to be fairly 
     depicted, as honest, hard-working individuals.
       I have designated Dona De Sanctis, head of the NIAF's Media 
     Institute Board, as your direct contact on these issues. 
     Please contact her at NIAF headquarters, 1860 19th St., NW, 
     Washington, DC, 20009, telephone: (202) 387-0600.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Frank J. Guarini,
                                                    NIAF Chairman.

     

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