A Curious Christmas ... Ethnic Slurs & Resentments

December 21, 2009
Written by Jake Singleton in
Our Daily Walk
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adolescent holding Christmas present

It was Christmas time. And while I don’t remember exactly how old I was, maybe 11 or 12, it was a Christmas that aroused much curiosity.

As was customary, we finished our traditional Italian Christmas feast of pastas, lasagna, salads with artichokes, anchovies, garlic, oil and vinegar and pepperoni and, of course, plenty of fresh Italian bread. After we finished our meal, the family gathered in the living room to open presents.

My younger brother and I ripped through our gifts without much fuss and attention from the adults. By now, it was no longer cute to watch us open presents. Watching my cousin’s 2-year-old daughter tear off wrapping paper, however, still captivated them.

I watched as they watched. She ripped off pieces of wrapping paper, pulled off a bow or two and inspected each gift as curious children often do. One gift was a book, which my mom had given to her on my brother’s and my behalf. My cousin gave the book to my grandpa, and with her daughter in his lap, my grandpa began to read the book aloud.

Everyone huddled around, snapped pictures and repeated what the characters in the book said in the baby voice that adults often feel obligated to use in the presence of a child. I was bored. Then my grandpa said something that caught my attention.

As he flipped to a page with a group of young kids together my grandpa began pointing to the colored pictures of the children in the book.

“There are a couple of kids,” he said. “And there’s a Mulee.”

The adults responded to the remark with a gasp, then laughter. I was confused. What was a Mulee? I could see the child in the book was colored darker so I had an idea, but I had no real understanding what Mulee meant or where it came from.

Instead of asking for clarification I laughed as the adults did. I continued to hear my grandpa use the word while watching TV and on various other occasions when an African-American was involved. But it wasn’t until a couple years later I found out what Mulee actually meant, and I realized it was a term of racism.

Mulee is a derogatory Italian slang word for African-Americans. But just as I was curious about the word, I wondered about the origins of the Italian tension between African-Americans. Coming from a small rural town, it wasn’t the first time I heard a disrespectful term used for African-Americans. But I wondered, what caused my grandpa to adopt such behavior.

To this day, I still don’t know why he loathes Tiger Woods — although I’ve heard his supposed reasons. And while I was baffled as a youth and am still a bit bewildered as an adult, I think I have an understanding where the resentment comes from — the past.

There was a time in America when most all immigrants were hated, especially Italians and African-Americans. In fact, in 1911 the House Committee of Immigration Commission held hearings to try and label Italians ‘black’ because of their dark hair, dark eyes and darker pigment.

But why is it that when two races or ethnic groups are both hated, they tend to turn on each other rather than the system that is labeling them?

This, I may never know or understand.

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