Chet Campanella Story

Mistreatment of Italian Americans in WWII

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 Chet's Story of Struggle

This issue in our nation's history is one that can be forgiven but never forgotten. House bill H.R. 1706 asks for a grant of $3,000,000 from the Secretary of Education to be used strictly to educate the American public about the mistreatments of Italian Americans during WWII. In addition to this, H.R. 1707 asks for a formal apology from Congress on behalf of the U.S. government for the mistreatments.

Shortly after WWII began, 600,000 Italian immigrants in the U.S. were classified by the government as "enemy aliens". Our government thought that these people might show sympathy towards Italy and try to aid the enemy during wartime. These people were subject to horrible mistreatments by the government as second-class citizens, including:

• Not being able to travel more than 5 miles from their homes
• Unwarranted government searches of homes and seizures of possessions
• National curfew from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM

Much of this story has been forgotten throughout history but needs to be acknowledged. Members of various Italian-American communities around California are calling for government funded educational programs throughout American schools which educate the generations to come on these horrible acts of mistreatment. Currently, there are two bills attempting to be passed through Congress which support this cause, H.R. 1706 and H.R. 1707.

There are millions of descendants of these mistreated people living in our country today. These people are direct ancestors, separated only by a few generations, of the people that underwent these mistreatments. It is up to us to help support these bills in Congress as we attempt to gain a pardon and educational support from the government to help aid this issue. If you want to get involved and have your voice be heard, contact Chet Campanella at [email protected] or give him a call at 408-266-7825 to join in on the cause.

Update - March 17, 2018

Dear Friends,

I was so happy when the American Japanese survivors
received their apologies from our government. They
received an apology first from President Ronald Reagan
on August 10, 1988 and again from President Bill Clinton
on October 1, 1993.Well deserved and long overdue.Also,
the Latin American Japanese survivors received an apology
on 1998. Well deserved and long overdue.

Question: Why is it that our 600,000 Italian Immigrants were made to suffer as much as the American Japanese and Latin American Japanese  and still our government will not give us Italian Survivors the apology that we deserve and is long overdue in coming?

I would like your reply. I think I should also ask my classmate
and friend Norman Mineta the same question.

God Bless You and God Bless America

Chet Campanella