Booker *Taliaferro* Washington...

foreverfree

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...and ESPN's Mike Tirico... not them so much as their names....

HTF did these black dudes end up with Italian names???

John
 

white is right

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There are many Italian and Black people. In the US inner cities in the early to middle twentieth century the last white ethnic group(in large numbers) were Italians and the next wave were Southern US blacks. It's only logical some would inter-marry. The most famous cases are famous people such as Franco Harris(his mother met his father in Italy after WWII) and Roy Campanella.
 

cjay

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taliaferro is common name for caribbean blacks. i don't know what the origin of it is. it's not because they have recent mixture with italians. taliaferro was probably some famous person they were named after like george washington or some big plantation owner.
 

whiteCB

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white is right said:
There are many Italian and Black people. In the US inner cities in the early to middle twentieth century the last white ethnic group(in large numbers) were Italians and the next wave were Southern US blacks. It's only logical some would inter-marry. The most famous cases are famous people such as Franco Harris(his mother met his father in Italy after WWII) and Roy Campanella.

Knowing and being around the FBI, Full Blooded Italians, I know for a fact you're dead wrong. Italians hate black people more than maybe any other white ethnicity. Ever watch the "Godfather" scene when all the Mob family bosses meet near the end of the movie and they talk about pushing drugs into the poor black communities.
 

white is right

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cjay said:
taliaferro is common name for caribbean blacks. i don't know what the origin of it is. it's not because they have recent mixture with italians. taliaferro was probably some famous person they were named after like george washington or some big plantation owner.
That they could also be Spanish. There are quite a few Louisiana people of Spanish ancestry as part of that state was under Spanish rule. Ferro is a Spanish surname(I have some distance relatives with that name).
 

GiovaniMarcon

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My parents are from Northern Italy so Sicilians will dislike us (haha) but it is true that many Italians have an intense dislike for blacks. When my dad moved to America in the early 1970s he worked for a large engineering firm and he was constantly P.O.'ed that they had to hire blacks in key executive positions because of diversity rules. Several of them made equal salaries to him despite vastly inferior qualifications and their constant inability to make sensible command decisions. The thing about Italians is that we (I say "we" even though I myself am American born and am of course an American citizen) are really patriarchal and I dare say hypocritical. My brothers and I had an unspoken rule that we could date whomsoever we wanted, but would as a group jump any "brother" who even looked at our sister.

Luckily the problem never came up because she married a nice white Italian boy (he's a classical violinist) and they live in Spain.Edited by: GiovaniMarcon
 

Bart

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GiovaniMarcon said:
... but would as a group jump any "brother" who even looked at our sister.


There is stillhope for our country.
smiley4.gif
I'll say this forTirico. He is well spoken, and doesn't play the fool as Smiffy does. He is somewhat boring, but that is better than being a jack-ass.
 

Bart

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Tirico not sure he's black.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mike_Tirico
<H2>African-American?</H2>


Not according to an interview with Mike in the Syracuse newspaper back when he worked at WTVH. It's in the (paid) archives at www.syracuse.com if you want to look it up (May 30, 1991, Section Living, Page C1, excerpt:


It's not just broadcasters who admire Tirico.


Local African-American groups often invite him to speak during Black History Month and on other occasions, viewing Tirico as a prominent example of a successful black professional.


He doesn't mind speaking, Tirico tells them, but he also lets them know a fact of his life: He's not sure he's black.


"When people go around and say, 'You are black' - well, I don't encourage it, but by the same token I don't back off of it," he says.


"If you want to call me that, that's fine. But, you know, in my whole family, there's nobody I know who is black."


Raised in Queens


Michael Todd Tirico grew up in a middle-class Italian family in Queens, about a five-minute drive from Shea Stadium.


Tirico's parents, Donald and Maria, were separated when he was about 4, and he says he has since lost contact with his father's side of the family. Tirico is an only child.


Because of his dark skin and ethnic features, Tirico says, most people assume he is black.


But he's seen pictures of his father, his father's mother and his father's sister - all of whom are white, Tirico says.


"The only contact I had growing up was with my mom's side of the family. And they are all as white as the refrigerator I'm standing in front of right now," Tirico says, standing in his kitchen in the Clay townhouse where he lives.


Someday, he says, he plans to do genealogical research to find out if he has a black ancestor, but it's not something he considers a pressing issue.


Tirico concedes, though, that his uncertain ethnicity sometimes makes other uncomfortable. Even skeptical.


"I know the story sounds like a lot of bull, but it's the truth" he says. "Does it matter to me? Yeah, I'd like to find out the truth at some point, so I can answer questions for my kids. But me? I'm living, I'm working, I'm leading an upstanding life. I don't worry about it." )
 
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GiovaniMarcon said:
.. it is true that many Italians have an intense dislike for blacks. ...

Speaking of which, I love watching the Italian basketball team play the USA team. Its like a gang fight is ready to break out at any moment. The Italians don't take sh!t from the blacks, it is a real joy to watch.
 

PhillyBirds

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Interesting piece about Tirico, Bart. I've always thought he was one of the more tolerable talking heads doing football these days. I don't mind Troy Aikman, either.
 

white is right

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Bart said:
Tirico not sure he's black.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mike_Tirico
&lt;H2&gt; &lt;SPAN =mw-line&gt;African-American?</font>&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/H2&gt;


Not according to an interview with Mike in the Syracuse newspaper back when he worked at WTVH. It's in the (paid) archives at www.syracuse.com if you want to look it up (May 30, 1991, Section Living, Page C1, excerpt:


It's not just broadcasters who admire Tirico.


Local African-American groups often invite him to speak during Black History Month and on other occasions, viewing Tirico as a prominent example of a successful black professional.


He doesn't mind speaking, Tirico tells them, but he also lets them know a fact of his life: He's not sure he's black.


"When people go around and say, 'You are black' - well, I don't encourage it, but by the same token I don't back off of it," he says.


"If you want to call me that, that's fine. But, you know, in my whole family, there's nobody I know who is black."


Raised in Queens


Michael Todd Tirico grew up in a middle-class Italian family in Queens, about a five-minute drive from Shea Stadium.


Tirico's parents, Donald and Maria, were separated when he was about 4, and he says he has since lost contact with his father's side of the family. Tirico is an only child.


Because of his dark skin and ethnic features, Tirico says, most people assume he is black.


But he's seen pictures of his father, his father's mother and his father's sister - all of whom are white, Tirico says.


"The only contact I had growing up was with my mom's side of the family. And they are all as white as the refrigerator I'm standing in front of right now," Tirico says, standing in his kitchen in the Clay townhouse where he lives.


Someday, he says, he plans to do genealogical research to find out if he has a black ancestor, but it's not something he considers a pressing issue.


Tirico concedes, though, that his uncertain ethnicity sometimes makes other uncomfortable. Even skeptical.


"I know the story sounds like a lot of bull, but it's the truth" he says. "Does it matter to me? Yeah, I'd like to find out the truth at some point, so I can answer questions for my kids. But me? I'm living, I'm working, I'm leading an upstanding life. I don't worry about it." )
Huh? I know some Southern Euros can get pretty dark but he tops Broadway Joe and Tie Domi. His story is similar to old ethnic stories about dark children being left at the door step of their families by roving gypsies....
smiley36.gif
 

white is right

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Huh? I know some Southern Euros can get pretty dark but he tops Broadway Joe and Tie Domi. His story is similar to old ethnic stories about dark children being left at the door step of their families by roving gypsies....
smiley36.gif
I found the origin of the name Taliaferro in England and later America. The original White family were people who descended from an Italian immigrant during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. So the Americans were really Englishmen who owned slaves who passed on the surname to the slaves after emancipation.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliaferro
 
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