Wikipedia and the lynching of Sicilian-Americans

I always say to anyone who will listen that Wikipedia is a useful site, but . . . But whatever you’re doing research on, you can’t rely on only one source. And unlike any other encyclopedia, Wikipedia is not written by experts. It’s written by anyone who cares to contribute. And some people contribute their own ignorance based on their own prejudices.

The people who “run” Wikipedia try to make sure that the people who contribute are at least responsible enough to cite sources for their information. But it should be obvious to anyone that they don’t try hard enough.

There’s a discussion going on now on Wikipedia about a listing for the lynching of Sicilian-Americans in New Orleans in 1891. The bigots don’t like this listing because it “claims,” after careful and responsible research, that this lynching of Sicilian-Americans is considered the worst lynching ever to have occurred in the entire history of the United States. None of these ignorant bigots would object to this statement if a lynching of Afro-Americans were listed as the worst lynching ever to have occurred in the entire history of the United States. The ignorant bigots just go on about the difference between a massacre and a lynching—which is a bullshit waste of time.

They denigrate Richard Gambino for his book Vendetta, a book extremely painful to read, because it describes this lynching in detail. They don’t care that Gambino is a respected scholar who wouldn’t waste his time on a not-entirely trustworthy site like Wikipedia. Instead, they object to his “claim” that this was the worst lynching. They don’t even give a shit that the NAACP, an organization that has done extensive research about lynchings, considers this lynching to be the worst lynching in the United States. And don’t try to tell them that there were Afro-Americans among the people doing the lynching because they’ll just call you a racist. Like any other bigots, they don’t like the truth.

I tried for many years to speak out against the prejudice against Italian-Americans. I’ve gotten no support from Italian-Americans. In fact, I’m been ridiculed, insulted, and ostracized by my own people for trying to improve our situation.

This goes a long way in explaining why Italian-Americans are still treated like crap.