The American Spectator

p> SPIELBERG’S SOPRANOS br> Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Ugly Jaws : /p>

I was heartened to read your intelligent piece on “Shark Tale” in the Spectator. As an Italian-American and one of the lawyers who filed an action against Time Warner for “The Sopranos” series based on the Illinois state constitution which condemns group defamation based on ethnicity,

I lately had felt disheartened by the enormous efforts it takes to make the American public aware of negative Italian-American stereotyping. Whatever view one takes of “political correctness,” Italian-Americans are probably the only major group in American society that the doctrine does not protect, together with growing stereotypes of Catholicism, as you point out.

It is refreshing to read a piece that operates on the principle that freedom from ethnic slurs and stereotyping is a freedom for all group and not just for minority groups favored by political elites. Bravo !

p>I will post your article outside my office door. br> — Michael Polelle br> Professor of Law br> John Marshall Law School br> Chicago, Illinois