[Greg21560]

Hi, I’m Italian-American too. I read a lot of Italian-American literature and publications. From what I read, a lot of this animosity goes back to when Italians arrived. Italians were moving into the neighborhoods Irish (the earlier immigrants)lived in. This caused a lot of hostility, much like when African-Americans moved into Italian-American neighborhoods not that long ago. Also, a lot of the Irish-Italian conflict has to do with religion. The Irish were very ‘orthodox’ in their Catholocism, while the Italians placed a lot of emphasis on saints rather than God. He was seen as ‘too distant,’ so the Italian immigrants would work through the more ‘accesable saints.’ Sometimes, if their prayers weren’t answered, they’d curse at their saints, stop worshipping them, and pick others. There were also elements of southern Italian paganism in their beleifs. All this, of course shocked the Irish. The Irish were in charge, for the most part, of the Catholic institutions, and they saw Italians moving into the ranks with their beleifs as a threat. Of course, this was during the early days of ItalianImmigration, but a lot of the animosity carried. I don’t think it’s as big now-though this view might vary from person to person. Interestingly, much of this animosity was erased with intermarriage between the two groups. Italians and Irish lived side to side in neighborhoods as well. My father was from such a neighborhood in the Bronx.

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Name : Greg21560, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Universalist, Age : 22, City : Fairfax, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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