Italian American One Voice Coalition
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Italian American One Voice Coalition
is a nationwide anti-bias organization that defends Italian American heritage and combats all forms of bigotry through information, education, legislation, and advocacy. Its goal is to project a united front in dealing with defamation, discrimination and negative stereotyping of Italian American culture and heritage. It is the only national Italian American organization of its type.


History

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'Italian American One Voice Coalition'
was founded by Dr. Manny Alfano, and consists of thousands of activists across the country. ource needed.


Mission

The mission of the Italian American One Voice Coalition is to protect the rightful representation of Italian Americans in American society and all other peoples whose heritage is damaged by unacceptable and worn out ethnic stereotyping in media, politics, the arts and elsewhere.


Leadership

Founding Italian American One Voice Coalition President Manny Alfano dedicated himself to defending, promoting and preserving Italian American heritage and culture. He has spoken out against movies like "Don Jon," shows such as "Jersey Shore," various commercials and productions, instances and articles in which Italian Americans are negatively portrayed. He died on June 21, 2022. As of September 2022, the president of IAOVC is Dr. Emanuele Alfano.


Activities

The Italian American One Voice Coalition stands ready to combat negative Italian American stereotyping through informational meetings, functions and protests against media outlets that continue to portray Italian culture in a bad light. It also actively recruits members who are ready and willing to raise awareness of instances of Italian American bias and discrimination. The Italian American One Voice Coalition has also created the first-ever nationwide "rapid response" network of defenders who respond quickly to instances of Italian American bias and stereotyping through emails, letters, phone calls and through social media. In recent years, the group has made a focus of its activities opposing efforts to eliminate
Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. ...
as a federal holiday, and criticizing what it views as Italian-American slurs in popular culture.


Associations

The Italian American One Voice Coalition works closely with other major Italian American organizations including
UNICO National UNICO National is a service organization of Italian Americans established in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1922 to "engage in charitable works, support higher education, and perform patriotic deeds". According to its website, it is the "largest Itali ...
, NIAF and OSIA. ONE VOICE also issues a regular email newsletter
'"The Alfano Digest”'
is delivered to more than five thousand people and Italian American organizations nationwide. It is published by ONE VOICE founder and Chair, Manny Alfano. The Digest issues alerts on instances of bias, stereotyping, discrimination and defamation and activates a network of Italian American ONE VOICE "defenders" who respond with calls, emails, faxes, letters and demonstrations when necessary. The Digest also contains interesting and informative Italian American cultural and heritage news and information.


Recent successes

Some of ONE VOICE's successes have included having companies such as
Ally Financial Ally Financial is a bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial services including car finance, online banking via a direct bank, corporate lending, vehicle insurance, mor ...
, Muller Insurance and various car dealerships across the country remove commercials defaming Italian Americans. The Italian American One Voice Coalition Gets Results – Join The Fight To Defend Our Heritage
/ref> ONE VOICE obtained an apology from Chrysler CEO
Sergio Marchionne Sergio Marchionne (; 17 June 1952 – 25 July 2018) was an Italian-Canadian businessman, widely known for his turnarounds of the automakers Fiat and Chrysler, his business acumen and his outspoken and often frank approach, especially when dealing ...
for making an insulting remark about Italians. ONE VOICE has worked to have small businesses remove offensive items to Italian Americans. ONE VOICE also fought to re-instate
Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. ...
as a holiday in the Paterson, NJ School District; successfully lobbied the
New Jersey Governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...
to revoke state tax credits given to the producers of MTV's '' Jersey Shore''; joined with the
Ancient Order of Hibernians The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in N ...
to stop cartoonist
Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...
from being inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame because of his overly ethnic cartoons; and helped to prevent ''Jersey Shore'' from filming in Hoboken, NJ.


See also

* Controversies of Jersey Shore *
Unico National UNICO National is a service organization of Italian Americans established in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1922 to "engage in charitable works, support higher education, and perform patriotic deeds". According to its website, it is the "largest Itali ...


References


External links

* http://iaovc.org/ * https://twitter.com/IAOneVoice * https://www.facebook.com/pages/Italian-American-One-Voice-Coalition/135948066450379 {{authority control Italian-American organizations Political advocacy groups in the United States Anti-racist organizations in the United States