ITALIANS , ROMANS, OR MOORS?

THE LANDMASS OF MODERN DAY ITALY WAS AN ANCIENT LAND TO MANY GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO STORED CIVILIZATION. AS THE LAND MASS ITSELF IS A PENINSULA OF SOUTHERN EUROPE THAT IS OBTRUSIVE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA , LAYING BETWEEN THE ADRIATIC AND TYRRHENIAN SEAS. THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE SPOKEN “ ITALIANO “ WHICH IS A ROMANCE LANGUAGE DERIVING FROM ARCHAIC LATIN. AS THE ISLAND OF SICILY WHICH IS ONE AND A HALF MILES AWAY FROM MAINLAND ITALY , HAS A DIFFERENT SPEECH. THE SICILIAN LANGUAGE HAS A HEAVIER INFLUENCE OF GREEK AND ARABIC IN ITS LANGUAGE THAT IT IS RULED CLOSER TO ITALIAN THAN IT IS LATIN, WITH A DIFFERENT WAY OF VERB CONJUGATION AND TONE. SO IN MODERN TIMES IT COULD BE DIFFICULT FOR SOMEONE FROM ROME TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE DIALECT OF A SICILIAN FROM PALERMO. SURROUNDED WITH THE ITALIAN ISLANDS OF MALTA , SARDINIA, CAPRI, ISCHIA , ALONG WITH PROCIDA AND PHLEGREAN ISLANDS. ALL WITH DIFFERENT ROMANCE DIALECTS SPOKEN BETWEEN THEM. ITALY HAS BEEN INHABITED BY ANCIENT TRIBES SUCH AS THE SABINIS, LATINI, NURAGHI, LIGURIANS, UMBRIANS, OSCANS, ETRUSCANS , VENETI AND A FEW OTHERS. EVIDENCE OF MOUNDS AND STRUCTURES THAT ARE ESTIMATED OVER SIX THOUSAND YEARS OLD SIT ON THE ISLANDS. WITH THE MIXTURE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE LABELED AS ROMANS IN ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MODERN ERA, ITALY HAD A DIVERSE ETHNIC POPULATION. AS THE ROMAN EMPIRE CAME TO ITS END IN THE FIFTH CENTURY WE SAW THE SURGE OF HANNIBAL BARCA BEY AND HIS ARMY IN THE SECOND CENTURY , WE WOULD SEE A HEAVY INFLUENCE IN CULTURE, LANGUAGE , AND ETHNICITY THAT WOULD OVERMASK THE GREEK INFLUENCE OF ITALY…… THE APPEARANCE OF ISLAAMIC MOORS FROM NORTH AFRICA IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY. LARGE GROUPS OF MOORS ADOPTED ISLAAM AND BECAME THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN DAY SPAIN AND ITALY, LATER MIGRATING AND LOCKING THE LAND OF MODERN DAT SOUTHERN FRANCE. AS THE STRONGHOLD IN ITS ESSENCE WAS SPAIN WITH THE EXTENDED LAND BOUNDARY LATER CALLED PORTUGAL AND ITALY. THE MOORS INTERMIXED WITH THE REMAINING ROMANS ON THE PENINSULA FOR NEARLY EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS. SO MUCH TO THE FACT THAT THE ETHNIC CLIMATE OF SOUTHERN EUROPE WAS COMPLETELY CHANGED. ARAB MUSLIMS WENT INTO THE MEDITERRANEAN AND CONQUERED THE SOUTHERN STRIP IN 828 C.E. WITH A HOLD ON SOUTHERN ITALY SO STRONG THAT ITALIANS WERE THEN SPEAKING ARABIC. ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA, SOUTH OF THE ISLAND OF SICILY , THEY WERE SPEAKING WHAT IS LABELED MALTESE ARABIC. 

ASHKENAZI JEWS MIGRATED INTO NORTHERN ITALY AS WELL, AS WE WOULD LATER SEE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ITALY AFTER THE EXILE OF THE MOORS FROM EUROPE IN 1492. THE REMAINING MOORISH ITALIANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS WERE STILL IN SOUTHERN EUROPE. AS THEY WERE NOW DUBBED AS BEING SEPARATE FROM EUROPEAN STANDARD. CURLY HAIR, SWARTHY COMPLEXION, DARK EYES ETC. ETC. WERE NOT THE MATCH FOR THE PALE SKINNED BLONDE HAIR BLUE EYED PROTOTYPE THAT THE BRITISH WANTED TO PUSH ON POPULATION. RACE WAS NOW A NEW CONCEPT WITH LABELS AND CASTE TERMS CREATED TO SEPARATE ALL MELANATED RACES. BY THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURY WE WOULD NOW SEE THE LABELS OF “MULATTO” OR “ MIXED RACED”, “MESTIZO”, “NEGRO” AND THEN “BLACK”. WESTERN ASIA NOW CALLED EUROPE , DERIVING FROM THE MOORISH “EUROPA” , HAD A NEW FACE OF STANDARD AND ACCEPTANCE IN SOCIETY THAT ALSO LEAKED INTO AMERICA AS THEY WERE FULLY INVADING THE AMERICAS BY THE EARLY 16TH CENTURY. THE MENTALITY OF VIEWING A PERSON AS SUBHUMAN FOR THE COMPLEXION OF THE SKIN. A CONCEPT THAT WAS MASTERED AND ORCHESTRATED BY THE PALE COMMUNITY OF INVADERS THAT INCLUDED THE BRITISH, IRISH, POLISH, SCOTTISH, AND FRENCH. ITALY ITSELF DID NOT BECOME AN OFFICIAL STATE UNTIL THE YEAR 1861. AS WE SAW THE REGION IN ANCIENT TIMES AS A REGION OF SEPARATE CITY STATES. TENSIONS IN ITALY AROSE WITH THE NEW ELECTED APPOINTING FROM KING VICTOR EMMANUEL TO CAMMILIO BONSO, COUNT DI CAVOUR AS HIS NEW PRIME MINISTER IN THE YEAR 1852. ECONOMIC OPPRESSION RAN THROUGH SOUTHERN ITALY WITH THE WORKS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT, WITH MORE HUNGER AND DISORDER AS THEY SUFFERED FROM LAND HUNGER WELL BEFORE THE UNIFICATION OF THE LANDS. SOUTHERN ITALIANS LATER GREW DISTRUSTFUL OF CAVOUR’S GOVERNMENT THAT THREATENED THE MANUFACTURE AND GRAIN HARVESTERS OF SOUTHERN ITALY. THE MORE MILITARY ACTION THE GOVERNMENT ORDERED , THE MORE THE CIVILIANS WOULD RESIST. NUMEROUS ARREST LED TO PRISON OVERCROWDING THEN MANDATORY RELEASES AS A RESULT. MANY PAROLEES NOW UNABLE TO FIND RIGHTFUL EMPLOYMENT WOULD JOIN INTO BANDS OF CRIMINALS WOULD WERE LABELED OUTLAWS PROTECTING THE CITRUS TRADE. THESE BANDS OF PEOPLE WOULD LATER IN TIME BE CALLED THE ITALIAN FAMILIES OR THE ITALIAN MAFIA. AS THE END OF CHATTEL SLAVERY ENDED ON PAPER IN AMERICA IN 1865, WE WOULD SEE A HUGE BLACK EXODUS FROM THE FARMS AND SUGAR PLANTATIONS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.

 AS THE ITALIANS MIGRATED INTO AMERICA FIRST AROUND THE 1830S, WE WOULD SEE A MASS MIGRATION FROM EUROPE TO ELLIS ISLAND, NEW YORK IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. MANY FAMILIES FROM HUNGARIA, SERBIA, GREECE, SICILY, SARDINIA, RUSSIANS AND OTHERS WOULD EMIGRATE INTO MODERN DAY NEW YORK. SOME OF THE IMMIGRANTS MAINLY THE FAMILIES OF GREEKS AND ITALIANS WERE CONFUSED FOR MEXICANS OR PUERTO RICANS AS THEY WERE ALL MAJORITY DARKER SKINNED THAN THE OTHER IMMIGRANTS. THEY WERE LABELED AS “FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR” A STEP BELOW WHITES BUT A STEP ABOVE AFRICAN AMERICANS THEN LABELED NEGROS. AS THEY HAD CERTAIN RIGHTS, THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO LIVE IN CERTAIN AREAS AND WERE ISOLATED. THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO PARTAKE IN SLAVERY OR BE THE HEADS OF SHARECROPPING. THEY WERE TARGETED TO WORK ON PLANTATIONS AND FARMS AS THE WEALTHY EUROPEANS NEEDED LABORERS IMMEDIATELY IN THE SOUTH. THE MAIN AREAS OF MIGRATION FOR THE ITALIAN COMMUNITY WAS FIRST IN LOUISIANA, THEN CHICAGO, AND NEW YORK. IN LOUISIANA THEY WERE THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF THE LEMON TRADE THAT SKYROCKETED THE 19TH CENTURY. ITALIANS WERE LIVING IN AREAS BLENDING AND ALSO INTERMINGLING WITH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN AND CREOLE COMMUNITIES. SETTING UP MARKETS AND BUSINESS THAT THEY WOULD LATER SEND MONEY BACK TO THE FAMILIES IN ITALY. AS THE DOMINANT SOCIETY HAD A PLAN TO INVITE EUROPEANS INTO THE STATE AS THE LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE CREATED THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION ON MARCH 17TH, 1866 HEADED FIRST BY J.C. KATHMAN. AS THE BUREAU WOULD EXAMINE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF INVITING EUROPEANS TO THE UNITED STATES TO SUPPLANT THE EXODUS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE’S LABOR. SO TENSIONS AROSE AS THE MORE EUROPEANS WOULD ENTER THE STATES BEING THE ONLY PEOPLE HIRED FOR WORK AND HEAVILY POPULATING THE CITIES. IN 1890 THE KILLING OF CHIEF DAVID HENNESSY CHANGED THE FACE OF ITALIAN LIVING. AS THE ITALIANS WERE MISTAKEN FOR KILLING THE POLICE CHIEF A MOB OF THOUSANDS OF  ANGRY WHITE EUROPEANS STORMED THE CITY AS THEY LYNCHED ELEVEN ITALIANS. THE EVENT WAS SO HORRIFIC THAT THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT THREATENED TO WAGE WAR ON THE UNITED STATES. IN THE 1890S EVERYTHING WOULD CHANGE, AS THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT WAS FORCED TO PUBLIC APOLOGY AND REPARATIONS TO THE ITALIANS. THE ADMIXTURE OF IRISH AND FRENCH WHITENED THE ITALIAN COMMUNITY AS THEY ALIGNED THEMSELVES IN A MORE NORTHERN EUROPEAN ASPECT. THEY WERE REGISTERED AS WHITE AFTER THE LATE 1920S, BUT STILL SEEN AS ETHNIC AND SEPARATE. EVEN TODAY THEY ARE LABELED AS ETHNIC WHITES. BECAUSE OF THE OBVIOUS ADMIXTURE OF MOORISH AND ARAB BLOOD.