Scene One
Is Christopher Columbus an Italian hero, or an enslaver and racist? Tony and Carmela address this in a discussion with their son. His textbook says if Columbus were alive today he'd be charged with crimes against humanity like Milosevich. Mamma Soprano pronounces: even "the father of our nation" George Washington owned slaves! Message number one: a lesson in historical relativism. "He among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone."

Scene Two
A crowd of activists from an imaginary New Jersey Bureau of Indian Affairs obstructs the Columbus Day parade. Fights and faceoffs with members of the mafioso clan follow. One of the Native American activists admits she has an Italian strain in her blood too and recites thereby another clear message from Chase: Power to the melting-pot!

Scene Three
Outside a bar. Silvio and Ralphie say they love being Italoamerican. Furio protests. Christopher Columbus was from Genoa in the rich North that squeezed the South and Furio's Naples dry. Furio spits at the ground and that's the third message: Identity? What identity? If even the Italians are split between North and South...

Scene Four
Carmela and her friends are at an Italoamerican women's group meeting and there's a professor there proclaiming a manifesto. We women have come a long way! We don't dress in black anymore, now we wear Moschino and Armani! We don't smell like cheese anymore!...and: "It's the media that distorts our image!" But of course most women, in Italy and in America, can't afford high fashion. The fourth message points to the ambiguity in the concept of stereotype. What are Moschino and Armani but stereotypes?

Scene Five
Tony contacts a powerful Indian chief, a casino CEO, to try and get the Indian protest blocked - his family drags him into it. He and the CEO are sitting together at the same table, they speak the same language. The CEO promises he'll stop the protest. The Italian clan is here merrily playing blackjack on an Indian gametable. Message: the planes of accord can cross between groups whether ethnicities are involved or not.

Scene Six
Tony makes another attempt, this time he tries to convince a local Italoamerican politician to put a block on the protest. This man won't do it. There's the First Amendment to consider - it'll get you every time. Message: we are a great nation in which everyone has the right to exhibit his own ideas.

Scene Seven
The Indian protest did take place after all and so did the fights. The piece ends with Tony the mob-boss and his loyal Silvio in a dialogue which may reveal Chase's true position. Tony withdraws from his. Italians are not the only people who suffer discrimination. The problem is not our identity, nor is it who we think Christopher Columbus was. Tony asks "What about our self esteem?" Our success depends on what we can get done on our own strength! Silvio lashes back: "They spat on my family because they were from Calabria!" Tony loses his patience: "The beautiful things you've had in your life, are they because you're Calabrese, or did you build them with your own hands!" Message: Forgetaboutit!

While academics and intellectuals continue to debate the impact of “The Sopranos”, what chance do Italian American organizations and individuals have to change these negative stereotypes. “The Sopranos” has a viewing audience each week of 13.5 million for each episode. It certainly would seem that they have an unfair advantage. The ability to get one message out each week to millions of people is bound to have an impact on how Americans of Italian heritage are perceived for generations to come.
L.A.