The ANNOTICO Report

US Supreme Court Justice Alito reflects on the Discrimination that his Father a College Graduate faced trying to obtain a job in the Trenton schools due to his low social status and background as an Italian immigrant.

Alito, 57, said he is unhappy with [the Negative Stereotyping]  Italians are often portrayed in popular culture.  "The most prominent image of Italians in popular culture is the image of the Mafioso," he said. "There ' s an insidious connection popular culture often makes between being a gangster and being Italian."

The stereotypes [Defamation]  have to be BATTLED, Alito said, because it ' s important to tell the TRUE  stories of ancestors. Thanks to Bert Vorchheimer

NEW BRUNSWICK -- When Samuel Alito Sr. graduated from the former Trenton State Teacher ' s College he faced difficulty obtaining a job in the Trenton schools due to his low social status and background as an Italian immigrant.

He probably never imagined his son would one day become the second Italian-American U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Justice Samuel Alito Jr. recalled for an audience at Rutgers University yesterday the struggles his parents and grandparents faced as Italian immigrants, and the ethnic stereotypes that exist to this day.

Alito, a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School , and the fifth justice from New Jersey , spoke in honor of the fifth anniversary of Rutgers ' Italian Studies program. He said his talk, "Reflections on Growing up as an Italian-American in New Jersey ," was intended as less of a scholarly lecture and more of his own personal reflections.

Alito was born in Chambersburg, the Italian neighborhood of Trenton . After he was born, his parents bought a house in Hamilton where he grew up and eventually attended Steinert High School . "It was a very pleasant place to grow up," he said.

Alito said his parents were raised in a distinctively Italian-American household. His grandparents, he said, did not change their way of living when they came to the United States from Italy .

"The transitional generation is my parents ' generation," he said. When he looks back on his childhood, he said, it surprises him "how Americanized my family and my friends ' families became in such a short time."

Alito said when his father had to specify his ethnicity on any type of form, he always put down American.

"He had earned through hard work the right to be called simply an American, period, not any type of hyphenated American," Alito said.

When his father graduated high school his family did not have the means to send him to college, but he received a $50 scholarship and attended Trenton State Teacher ' s College, now The College of New Jersey. Although he could not at first get a job, Alito said that his father became a park ranger and eventually was able to obtain a regular teaching position in the Trenton public schools. He later obtained a master ' s degree from Rutgers , and served in World War II.

Alito, 57, said he is unhappy with the way Italians are often portrayed in popular culture.

"The most prominent image of Italians in popular culture is the image of the Mafioso," he said. "There ' s an insidious connection popular culture often makes between being a gangster and being Italian."

As examples, he cited scenes from "The Godfather" movies that connect Italian food with being a gangster and the opening montage of "The Sopranos" TV show, which links New Jersey to the gangster lifestyle. He said many pizza businesses, such as Little Caesar ' s or Capone ' s, are named for gangsters or gangster movies.

Alito lived for a time in West Caldwell, the same area of New Jersey where the fictional Tony Soprano was supposed to live. Alito said that a friend from California once sent him a map of Sopranos-related locations, and asked Alito to put down where his house was on the map.

The stereotypes have to be battled, Alito said, because it ' s important to tell the true stories of ancestors.

"I think it ' s important the true stories of immigrants be heard," he said. He encouraged the audience to forget about popular culture ' s image and "see the truth about a profound American experience."

Since taking his seat on the high court in January 2006, Alito has generally sided with other conservatives on the court, including his fellow Trenton native Antonin Scalia. During his talk, Alito did not discuss any of the cases that have come before the court.

http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1202965550245950.xml&coll=5

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