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On The Shoulders Of Giants
By Bob Rixon
When Mario Cuomo said at the 1984 Democratic Convention that Americans were "standing on the shoulders of giants," half the nation cheered, because 50% of us can trace at least one ancestor from the great immigrations that began in 1840.
Yet, the United States has never had a President whose name ends
in a pronounceable vowel, with the exception of Jack Kennedy.
And Kennedy almost lost because he was an Irish-Catholic.
We've also never had a woman or a person of color as President
or Vice President.
Al Smith, a presidential candidate in 1928, was vilified for his
Catholicism. Criticism of Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine
Ferraro in 1984 stemmed less from her own qualifications than
from her husband's business successes. In 1988, Michael Dukakis
was painted by his opponent as a moral and intellectual lightweight.
No wonder Mario Cuomo and Colin Powell opted to not submit themselves
or their families to the madness of campaigns.
We've had many First Ladies who were as capable of leading America
as their Presidential husbands.
But if national office has remained out-of-reach of American sons
and daughters because of their ethnic background or gender, public
service below that exalted level has not. New Jersey currently
has an Italian and a Jewish senator. Our Congressional and State
elective offices are representative of our diversity. These politicians
themselves are "standing on the shoulders of giants"-
the men and women who fought their way past prejudice and political
resistance to establish themselves first on ward committees, then
on the city councils and freeholder boards, and finally as Mayors,
members of the state assembly and senate, and Governors.
Their vision changed America for the better. Oh, there were crooks
and machines, but these had always existed. When the sons and
daughters of immigrants kicked open the doors to local power and
influence, they also opened the doors for positions on the police
and fire departments, with public works and in city hall offices.
They gained the power to appoint judges and prosecutors; the power
to pave roads and put in sewer lines; the power to have safety
codes enforced in housing and on the job; the power to improve
the lives of children with better schools, better parks and better
medical care. Much of what is most actively compassionate in our
government was brought there by people who knew two languages
and had experienced the cold indifference of City Halls that did
not care about conditions in the ethnic neighborhoods and ghettos.
Thanks to the good memories of older generations, we know what
it was like to be on the outside looking in. Courageous Italians,
Jews and Irish in all walks of life strongly supported the rights
of other minorities when it was dangerous to do so. Now they can
often be found alongside these minorities on the frontlines of
current hot issues like the environment, urban revitalization
and health care.
In a way, Peterstown was lucky. The concentration of Italians
here gave it a voting bloc that kept a neighborhood man on council
with influence in the Mayor's office and at the County Courthouse.
Ward politics were tight and residents were politically savvy.
Peterstown produced Elizabeth's only Italian mayor, and out of
Peterstown came a line of elected officials, public servants and
political insiders that continues to this day, both in Elizabeth
and in towns where natives of the Burg have moved, from Garwood
to the Jersey shore.
In this issue of Around About Peterstown we take a look at some
of our sons and daughters who followed their beliefs and dreams
into the political arena.