FIGHTING TO RIGHT A WRONG
The following article, about the mistreatment and internment of Italian Americans during World War II (WWII), might be of great interest to our members. The article has been excerpted from “Ambassador Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 3, Spring 2016,” ©National Italian American Foundation, with NIAF’s permission. Last December, NIAF received a holiday surprise from Capitol Hill. Two bills had been introduced in the U.S House of Representatives regarding the mistreatment and internment of Italian Americans during World War II.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California introduced H.R. 4146, to authorize the Secretary of Education to provide grants for education programs on the history of the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II; and H.R. 4147, a bill to apologize for the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II, on December 1, 2015.
This issue landed with the Congresswoman after a constituent approached her. Seeing his determination to pass a law on Italian American mistreatment during World War II, she told the constituent that, if he wrote two bills, she would introduce them in the House. Chet Campanella readily agreed. Campanella is a retired pharmacist and the son of Italian immigrants, Nicholas and Maria, from the region of Bari. When the U.S. entered WWII, his parents and 600,000 other Italians living here were classified as “Enemy Aliens.”
They faced movement restrictions, curfews, property confiscation, and potential relocation and internment. Although Campanella was only about 12 at the time, his memory of these injustices hasn’t faded. For the last 14 years, he has dedicated himself to educating Americans about the mistreatment of Italian Americans during WWII. “People just have no idea this happened,” he said. In 2010, Campanella campaigned for an official apology from the state of California for the treatment of Italian Americans during WWII.
The measure passed unanimously and was signed into law later that year. With dogged determination, he plans to keep working on the national stage until the bills introduced by Congresswoman Lofgren are passed. On April 7, 2016, NIAF sent an email to its members and affiliate members, requesting that we join NIAF and support H.R. 4146 and H.R. 4147. Sign the Change.org PetitionHERE. (The Change.org petition was started on April 5; it is at 1,253 signatures with the milestone goal to reach 1,500!). NIAF also urges us to contact our representative and ask them to support or co-sponsor H.R. 4146 and 4147. You can find the name and address of your Representative HERE