Speech #920004399

Joining him as sponsors. besides myself. were almost 60 Members of this body who share a mutual and deepseated concern over this intolerable situation which has been perpetuated by our mass media. . When I appeared at hearings held by the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee last September to speak in favor of this resolution. I pointed out at that time that as an American and the son of Italian immigrants. I was only too well acquainted with the innuendoes. the guiltbyassociation techniques. the sick jokes. and the countless other vicious. contemptible and cruel methods employed by our mass media to degrade members of ethnic and minority groups. It is high time that a halt is called to the scurrilous portraits of ethnic Americans which the media not only allow but seem to encourage. Everyone knows that PolishAmericans are no less lacking in intelligence than other Americans. that Italian Americans are no more hoods and crooks than other Americans. just as Mexican Americans are no lazier or devious than the rest of us. Such inexcusable slurs upon the dignity and integrity of ethnic minorities are not only an affront to the fundamental American concept of fair play but more importantly. constitute a destructive attack upon many of those very individuals who have contributed in lasting and tangible ways to the building of this Nationa nation which by its very definition is comprised of immigrants from every corner of the globe. Indeed. Mr.