Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
As president of the Italian American One Voice Coalition, André DiMino is willing at a moment’s notice to don his cape and battle anti-Italian bias and stereotypes wherever they may arise.
By day, André DiMino is a mild-mannered engineer who designs, develops and manufactures electronic medical devices and related equipment. But should the need arise, a quick dash into and out of the metaphorical phone booth and he emerges as the president of the Italian American One Voice Coalition, tireless opponent of demeaning stereotypes and relentless defender of our community’s good name.
DiMino is president of ADM Tronics, a company with more than 200 patents to its credit that was founded in 1969 by his father, Dr. Alfonso DiMino. A past national president and executive director of UNICO National, DiMino joined the IAOVC in 1995. The advocacy group was founded in 1992 by Dr. Emanuele Alfano, who helmed it until he passed away in 2022, when DiMino stepped up to the presidency.
DiMino shared tales of his very Italian early childhood, his early passion for anti-defamation and his longtime involvement in the IAOVC with “We the Italians,” a media company that helps Americans keep in touch with Italy (wetheitalians.com). Excerpts from that interview plus additional answers follow.
Q: Tell us about your Italian roots.
A: Both my parents are from Sicilia in the province of Agrigento. My father was from a small mountain town, Grotte, and my mother was from the seaport town Porto Empedocle. I was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York. Nearly everyone in that area was from Sicilia, so as a child I only spoke Sicilian, which I am still fluent in. When I was a young child, we moved to a small town in New Jersey with few people of Italian heritage: a major culture shock. My parents wanted me to assimilate, so I learned English quickly.
Q: What inspired you to do battle against demeaning depictions of Italian Americans?
A: I have actually been opposing negative stereotyping of Italian Americans practically my whole life. My father was a scientist and inventor who developed several scientific and industrial technologies that were financially successful. When we moved from Brooklyn to a nice home in New Jersey, I recall other kids saying that my father must be in the Mafia to have such a house. I constantly had to tell them that he was a scientist, not a criminal!
Later on, when I was in my early 20s, I ran for the town council and won the election. During the public portion of my first meeting, when I was installed to the town council, someone said that I probably won the election because I was “connected”: implying I was in the Mafia. At the next council meeting a gentleman who I did not know admonished that statement as a harmful stereotype that was unacceptable. That gentleman was Dr. Manny Alfano. Thereafter I began working with Dr. Alfano in his efforts to oppose the negative stereotyping of Italian Americans.
Q: Tell us more about the Italian American One Voice Coalition.
A: The IAOVC is the largest independent nationwide organization with the exclusive mission of fighting bias, stereotyping, denigration and discrimination of Italians and Italian Americans.
This is accomplished through advocacy via TV and radio appearances, public demonstrations, email and phone campaigns, social media, legal efforts, and other actions and initiatives. IAOVC is a nonprofit foundation made up entirely of volunteers. It is a coalition of both organization and individual members, and is financially supported by donations and membership dues.
Q: Give me some examples of your activism.
A: Our first major effort was a demonstration at the corporate offices of WWOR-TV (in Secaucus, New Jersey) to oppose the re-airing of “The Untouchables,” a TV series from the 1950s that had repeated references to Italian Americans as mobsters on every episode. After that we continued opposing negative stereotypes in many films and TV shows.
Fast-forward to 2009 when a new reality TV show, MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” was being launched. I strongly opposed MTV’s repeated use of the pejorative term “Guido” and the bad behavior of the cast members identified as Italian Americans. Our opposition went viral, resulting in many TV and radio interviews I did on major networks. At the time, I stated, “MTV has festooned the bordello-like house set with Italian flags and green, white and red maps of New Jersey while every other cutaway shot is of Italian signs and symbols. They are blatantly as well as subliminally bashing Italian Americans with every technique possible.” We contacted sponsors and were successful in their ads being pulled from the show. This pressured MTV to meet with me at their corporate headquarters in New York City and the blatant negative references to Italian flags, imagery and pejorative terms in subsequent seasons were eliminated.
When A.D. Rowntree, the morning host at KSHE Radio in St. Louis, made disparaging remarks about Italian American women, our call to the station’s parent corporation yielded an immediate and heartfelt apology from Rowntree.
There are many other instances of our battles against stereotyping that are too many to list. Italian Americans are the last ethnicity that has to deal with this. That’s why we have to continue this fight every single day.
Q: Tell me about your historic alliance with Native American leaders.
A: To build support for our efforts to preserve Columbus Day, we reached out to the Native American Guardian’s Association, a group that also opposes the replacement of Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. We forged an alliance that culminated in me being presented with a ceremonial star blanket as an honorary member of their tribe. We continued the relationship with monthly virtual solidarity sessions.
That alliance has already borne fruit. When the Rockaway, New Jersey, school system was planning on changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, a letter of opposition from NAGA that I read at a school board meeting resulted in a unanimous vote in favor of retaining Columbus Day.
Q: How can Italian Americans and even Italians pitch in?
A: We urge everyone on both sides of the Atlantic to follow our activities at our website and on Facebook. The way that Italians and Italian Americans continue to be portrayed creates a negative perception, and unfortunately, perceptions can become reality. That’s why we hope the people of Italy will join with us in opposing negative stereotypes wherever they may occur. Italians and Italian Americans have excelled in every facet of life. It is completely unacceptable that we continue to be subjected to these negative representations. As my dear friend and mentor, the late Dr. Alfano, always said, “If we say nothing and do nothing, we will certainly become nothing.”
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The article above appears in the June 2025 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture. To subscribe, click here.
