Dear Deputy Mayor Bruno and Councilman Loffredo,
I am contacting both of you because I know that you are proud
Italian-Americans. I have received my weekly email blast from Tom
Gilmour about upcoming events in Asbury Park this week. I am
excerpting the section below from that email which I believe you
will find offensive as Italian-Americans.
The Paramount Theatre presents "Gumba Night" on Saturday with back-
to-back showings of "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II."
Firstly, Tom spelled GOOMBAH incorrectly. If our heritage is going
to be insulted the least that could be done is to get the spelling
of the ethnic slur correct.
Secondly, while the three of us know that GOOMBAH (or alternately
GOOMBA) originates in our culture as a term of endearment, in common
usage by non-Italian-Americans it is considered derogatory. Below I
have excerpted the listing for GOOMBAH from Wikipedia.
Goombah (sometimes Goomba) is a slang term regional to the New York
area used to describe an Italian-American. It can be mildly
derogatory, but not on the same level as dago, guinea or wop.
This slang term probably originates from the Italian word compare
(or the Sicilian cognate, "cumpari", both akin to Spanish compadre),
which was already (and still is) used in south Italy abbreviated
in "compa'" and literally means "friend" and it is used colloquially
mainly to address people living in the same town. This, changed
through the Italo-American tendency to substitute c's for g's and
p's for b's in colloquial speech, yields "goombah."
Steve Schirripa, who became famous playing Bobby Baccalieri on the
HBO TV series The Sopranos, introduced the term to a national
audience by publishing a series of books starting with A Goomba's
Guide to Life (ISBN 1-4000-4639-4). It appears in popular fiction at
least as early as Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" (1969), in which the
character Jack Woltz refers to "guinea Mafia goombahs."
Now it may be that "Gumba Night" did not originate with Tom Gilmour
but was passed on from the people at the Paramount. That would still
not excuse the fact that an official communication from the City of
Asbury Park contains an ethnic slur. I have no idea how many people
receive Tom's email blast, but I hear rumors that there may be
rioting in Ocean Township this weekend over this matter. If the Sons
of Italy get wind of this the least of our problems will be the
purported handful of Bloods members in our fair city.
Also, this slap at our heritage comes on the heels of the Columbus
Day controversy. What is an Italian-American to do? Is there no safe
refuge for us? My grandparents Vito and Isabella are probably
rolling in their graves at this very moment! Jesu Cristo aiuto me!
Both of you fine Italian-Americans vociferously defended out
collective ancestry last month in the above episode. I expect no
less in the current matter (although I do not expect anyone to dress
up in costumes this time). Please investigate this matter. I look
forward to an official retraction and apology to all Italian-
Americans from the City and Asbury Partners if they too are
responsible for this slur. Someday soon, hopefully, us Italian-
Americans too will ba able to walk as equals in this community.
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