Posted on 10/05/2004 12:54:35 PM PDT by Pharmboy
BOSTON (AP) - In this land of Kennedys, O'Neills, Fitzgeralds and Flynns, where shamrocks grace the jerseys of the basketball team, the Italians are taking over. With the ascendancy of Salvatore DiMasi to the speakership of the Massachusetts House last week, Italian-Americans hold the two top positions in the state Legislature for the first time in its 224-year history.
"Finally," said Sheryl Iftikhar (maiden name Spataro), who works at a convenience store in DiMasi's lifelong home, the city's North End, a neighborhood where visitors can buy signs that read "Parking for Italians Only."
DiMasi, who took over from Irishman Tom Finneran, joins Senate President Robert Travaglini, a fellow Boston Democrat who became leader of that chamber in 2003, as well as Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and State Auditor Joe DeNucci in the heights of the state's power structure.
Last Wednesday, they stood side-by-side as DiMasi made his official debut as the new speaker and listened to a blessing given by the vicar of the Old North Church in DiMasi's neighborhood.
"I doubt that earlier residents of Massachusetts ... could imagine all the repercussions of hanging two lanterns in the steeple of the Old North Church," said Vicar Steve Ayres, referring to Paul Revere's ride. "Nor could they imagine that the two beacons of light now keeping the flame of liberty alive in the North End for the state of Massachusetts would be named DiMasi and Travaglini."
The Irish remain dominant in Massachusetts, with 23 percent of residents declaring their Hibernian roots in the 2000 census - the highest of any state and far ahead of Italians, who make up 14.5 percent of the population.
Over the years, ties to the Emerald Isle have been seen as a huge political advantage in Massachusetts. So much so that a minor controversy arose last year when a genealogist hired by The Boston Globe revealed that John Kerry is not of Irish descent after all. The Massachusetts senator, whose grandfather was born to Austrian-Jewish parents, says he never claimed Irish ancestry.
While three Italian-Americans have served as governor - most recently Argeo Paul Cellucci - the state's pantheon of legendary leaders is purely Irish: former U.S. House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, Rep. Joseph Moakley of the Irish bastion of South Boston, longtime Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, former state Senate President William Bulger, and President Kennedy and his brother Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
But the Irish-American grip on power has weakened.
"We've got Menino, we've got Travaglini, we've got DiMasi. What more could we want?" said Johnny "Shoes" Cammarata, presiding in his North End barbershop, Johnny & Gino's. "It's a good, good feeling. The Irish had their day. Now it's our time."
The Irish appear to be taking the success of Italian-Americans in stride, comforted by the number of politicians sharing their ancestry who remain prominent in city and state politics. Among them: Boston Council President Michael Flaherty, Judiciary Committee chairman Eugene O'Flaherty, and Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole.
"Things goes in cycles," said John J. Somers, owner of the Green Dragon Irish Pub, who emigrated from County Kerry to Boston in 1971. "But it's not the nationality that matters. It's the man. And I think a lot of Irish women have been marrying Italians over the past 50 years, so we still have our influence."
When immigrants from both countries streamed into Boston in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Irish at first gained the upper hand. But the divisions have long since evaporated, said DeNucci, 65, the state's auditor since 1987, who grew up in an Italian enclave in Newton.
"It was a real rivalry growing up," he said. "We were behind in terms of the Irish because the Italians came here and they couldn't speak the language. We faced discrimination from the people who were here before us. We were pegged as gangsters. We really never got any credit for any major contributions we made."
One thing the transition will mean, DiMasi said this week, is that there will be a little more demonstrative affection flowing through the House. DiMasi on Wednesday called the Italians an "emotional breed" and then proved it by embracing nearly ever person he encountered in the House, including Gov. Mitt Romney - twice.
"I hope you realize when I came in that under my speakership there's going to be a lot of hugging going on," DiMasi said.
ping
wait a minute... I just DID!
Isn't Kerry Italian ? NO wait he's Irish, No wait he's Jewish, No wait he's French.
Oh goodness I can't keep it straight. HELP!
x, for what it's worth, I have somewhere in the files a Taft speech from approx. 1910/12 to an Irish audience in which he tells them that the Irish are the least troublesome of immigrants.
I suppose this comes of the labor agitation of the period, which was perceived to have been caused by eastern Europeans. Anarchists and socialists did not generally have Irish names. I don't think a national politician of the 1850s would have said any such thing.
The stereotypes were well set, however. See this from Taft's ADC's diary, about a banquet at the Waldorf for the Sixty-Ninth (Irish) Regiment: "...made up of Irish Catholics and a husky looking lot of paddies there were too. But I felt that they could fight when called upon. They had certainly been feasting well before we got there for it was difficult that the President could speak he was so often interrupted by hilarious but good natured yells from enthusiastic irishmen."
And this, from a banquet of the "Republican Hungarian Club," the ADC noted, "before sitting down I presented over four hundred of them. Imagine presenting four hundred Austro Hungarians by name! No wonder I slept until eleven the next day."
Chong, more apropos.
I was referring to the Irish of the 1840s and 1850s.
Not in Philadelphia. We know very clearly where the Irish are supposed to go, where the Italians are supposed to go, where the Germans are supposed to go, and where the Poles are supposed to go. Everyone has their own neighborhoods and State Representatives and Parishes still. We do all get along fine though.
Yes, I know. I was referring to how things stood sixty years later.
I'm so glad we faced off against Washboard and not Santana today.
According to my relatives who live in Chester County, much of Philly remains stuck in a time warp. They mean it as a compliment, btw.
That's why I'm here!
Its still the same town I grew up in in the late 70's and early 80's (even if Wanamakers has gone under).
And the low-live Irish became democrats --- some the worst kind of democrats there are. My grandfather was of Irish descent and he said many of those who settled around Boston weren't worth much.
I think so too --- and I'd judge Boston by how liberal or conservative it is --- has the new group brought in good Conservative values or is it still liberal?
Told to me at CPAC by someone to the right of Bush: "The Italians are coming." He meant coming to the conservative persuasion.
They just announced it's Brown for Game 3, not El Duque.
Santana was beatable yesterday (he gave up 9 hits), but the Yanks just couldn't get it done it the clutch.
How about relying on Lieber to pull us out of this jam? It ain't pretty.
I heard it's not a sure thing that he's out for the ALDS. He could go in Game 4. I just happened to hear it reported as breaking news and thought I'd pass it along. Radke has been good, but those same hits should turn to runs tonight.
Is it asking too much for a NL playoffs without a tomahawk chop? It's been a long time. Gotta give Bobby Cox his props -- that old amazing pitching staff has been decimated and they still post the lowest staff ERA in baseball. .....and make the playoffs yet again.
Losing Sheff and Lopez were big losses.
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