“When We Were the Muslims”: a lecture by Dean Anthony Tamburri

“When We Were the Muslims”

In 1942, Maria Grazia Antonia Cerulli, along with approximately 695,000  other  Italians citizens residing  in the  United States,  was designated an “enemy alien." As all Italians were wrongly seen as violent and potential Mafiosi, now all Muslims are suspected of being potential jihadists, and wrongheaded Americans think they need to be kept out of the USA. Martin Niemöller’s words should be heeded:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, at 12:15, Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean of the Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College), will speak on the injustice of the U.S. president's current immigration policies, as they stand, and will relate some pertinent family history relating to this injustice.