WOPS AND GREENHORNS: THE ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS WHO BUILT AMERICA

WOPS and GREENHORNS! Some of the nicknames which labeled an entire generation of Italian immigrants as illegals ( without papers) and inept, void of any usable skill. Italian immigrants were openly discriminated against, unions were strongly opposed to this source of cheap labor which in their mind was taking away their jobs. The odds were very much against them! How can a group of people who spoke no English, who could not read or write in their own language, with no experience other than farming could possibly help create a better America?

The ever-growing arrival of Italian (and other) immigrants was not welcome. December 18, 1872 Hartford Courant Editorial: "The Italian problem does not become any more cheering.....New York City has received two thousand emigrants from the sunny land who had heard that in America one could get a living by standing in a corner.... Their condition utter destitution: boys coming here to either beg or steal....". The editorial ends with this warning: "it is to be hoped that the authorities, having discovered the problem, will apply some remedies before the evil becomes much worse." While all around them the open hostility reached unimaginable heights such as in New Orleans, the Italian immigrants single minded focus was on a better future: they did the most menial and most dangerous work, they made enormous sacrifices to support their families, they invested in their children education. Could anyone argue that America today would be a better place had the demagogues and racist succeeded in their goals?

There is a lesson in all this very relevant to our current situation. Today the targeted groups of immigrants are not Italians, but the story remains the same: America is lurching back to the extreme anti-immigrant feelings which dominated the beginning of the 20th century while ignoring the lessons of our history.