L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, The exhibit Una Storia Segreta When Italian Americans Were 'Enemy Aliens' opened at the Museo Italo Americano in San Francisco back in 1994 for a brief month-long run. Then the- unexpected happened. Crowds flocked to see it, newspapers gave it front-page coverage, and requests to show it in cities across the nation streamed in. Since then, the exhibit has beendisplayed at over 50 sites nationwide and has resulted in National legislation- the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act- which was signed into Public Law #106- 451 on November 7, 2000 by President Bill Clinton. To celebrate its years of travel and its impact on history, a 20th Anniversary commemorative event by IASA/WRC and the Museo Italo Americano was co- sponsored and planned. Speakers included Project Director Lawrence DiStasi, Adele Negro, Maria Gloria, Costanza Ilacqua Foran, John Buffo, and Richard Vannucci. *** "Una Storia Segreta" refers to how our Italian American com- munities throughout California and the U.S.A. were impacted within 48 hours, following the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. *** One December weekend in 1941, Nereo Francesconi, a local celebrity with a popular Italian language program, sud- denly became an "enemy alien". Clothed in a uniform stamped "P.O.W.", he was shipped to an internment camp in Missoula, Montana. Signor Francesconi was more than just a voice on the radio to me and my family. He was a very popular radio personality who invited all his listeners in Italian Hour Radioland to come to hisAnnual Picnic. It seems that within 48 hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed, Francesconi and sev- eral dozens other San Francisco Italians were arrested on Presidential warrants as "Potentially dangerous", issued the "Prisoner of War" uniforms and shipped away to Montana.
 In a few days thou- sands of other "potentially dan- gerous" Italians and German civilians who were living on the West Coast but had not been granted U.S. citizenship were sent to camps in Texas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota.
 Unlike the Japanese, interned Italians did not have to sell their belongings because entire families weren't made to leave their homes to accompany the "potentially dangerous" ones to internment camps. Italian army veterans who had fought as American allies in World War I and who often gathered in North Beach cafes and restaurants, were now among those immediately singled out as "potentially dangerous". Anyone associated with Italian clubs, schools, newspapers or radio was suspected of being either a spy or a Fascist sympa- thizer.
 All Italians were exclud- ed from being in the neighbor- hood north of San Francisco's Beach Street, and this disastrous- ly affected many Italian fisher- men, among them Joe DiMaggio's father. The most pathetic case was that of a fisher- man whose son had been killed at Pearl Harbor. He wanted to know why he had to leave his home. *** Non-U.S. citizens of Italian birth were classified as "enemy aliens" and were not allowed to travel outside the city by more than 25 miles without special permission. "Enemy aliens" were ordered to be home between sun- down and sunrise. The curfew had a powerful effect on San Francisco's food industry, because most of the chefs and bakers in North Beach were Italian. *** At times, even U.S. citizens of Italian extraction came under suspicion. Several U.S. citizens were ordered to leave their homes and families on the west coast "War Zone" or be impris- oned. Other U.S. citizens of Italian extraction moved from coastal cities inland to Reno and Las Vegas rather than risk imprison- ment on flimsy charges, suspi- cion of "potential danger". Italian radio personality Nereo Francesconi had been interned and sent to Montana on the flim- siest of evidence. In his home, they found a flashlight, con- strued to be a signaling device, and a radio. Francesconi was a kind man. Before war was declared, the U.S. government at one time confiscated about 25 Italian ships in U.S. ports, strand- ing about 2,000 Italian merchant seamen. Many of the stranded Italian sailors had no money, no shoes or shirts, and they appealed to San Francisco's Italian com- munity for help. Francesconi was able to round up food and clothes for the sailors, but his kindness was later used against him by Federal authorities.
 Francesconi was soon reunited with many of the merchant seamen he had aided; more than 1,300 Italians, including 250 Italian civilians, were interned in Missoula, Montana.
 He was interned at various other loca- tions for two years before he obtained his unconditional release. Francesconi and a group of 200 Italians eventually were sent from Montana to military camps in Texas and Oklahoma, then back to Montana.
 The chilly Montana winters and lack of communications were hard to tolerate, but the Italians kept themselves occupied. They cooked their own food, built model ships, painted and grew fruits and vegetables. They formed their own orchestra, soc- cer team and choir and often gave public performances to the delight of the local citizenry in Missoula, Montana. On Columbus Day, October 12, 1942, in a move designed purely to generate political sup- port, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his Attorney General, Francis Biddle, announce that Italian nationals in the U.S. would no longer be classified as "enemies". Back in California, General DeWitt reluctantly lifted all military restrictions on Italians. Project Director, Lawrence DiStasi (1994-2014), Museo President Dr. Vincent Fausone and Speaker Maria Gloria at the "Una Storia Segreta" 20th Anniversary celebration held at the Museo Italo Americano at Fort Mason in San Francisco, CA.

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