Rai Tre to Air Segment on American Mistreatment of Italian Immigrants

Rai Tre, the most "anti-Berlusconi" of the Rai's, is scheduled to air a segment (January 29th and February 5th) on American mistreat of Italian immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The documentary focuses on the angry 1891 mob lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans -- lynched for being "murder suspects".

It also mentions the first terrorist attack to ever take place in New York City, the 1920 "car bomb" attack carried out by Italian anarchist Mario Buda. Buda's attack, a horse-drawn wagon packed with explosives and iron scrap, killed 39 people in NYC's financial district. A final segment of the documentary deals with the internment of 2,500 Italian-Americans during WWI, deemed stranieri nemici -- foreign enemies by the U.S. government; in the 1920s Washington passed a law bringing Italian immigration to a historic low: 2% (from 200,000 a year to 4,000). The idea of Italian-Americans as foreign enemies, however, was not limited to the U.S. goverment. During the massive waves of Italian immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries the KKK defined Italians popolo di mezzo -- subhumans, neither black nor white.

The documentary, entitled Pane Amaro -- Bitter Bread, is shot by Gianfranco Norelli, a regular contributor to PBS and the BBC, and an Italian immigrant who has lived in New York City since 1980.