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# 72 •novemBER 16 , 2015
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THE INTERVIEW:
STEPHEN BRIGANTI
Miss Liberty, Ellis Island and Italy
By Umberto Mucci
“Give me your tired, your
poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift
my lamp beside the golden door!” This is the most
famous part of "The New
Colossus", the poem engraved on a plaque on the
inner wall of the pedestal
of the Statue of Liberty.
Miss Freedom and Ellis
Island are the two most
important symbols that
represent the mythical
story of those who arrived
to New York in search of
a future: millions of them
were Italians. Both these iconic historical places
are part of the Statue of
Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, and the President
and CEO of this Founda-
34 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
tion is an Italian American
gentleman, Mr. Stephen
Briganti. Talking to him
means today paying our
respect to those millio0ns
of brave, heroic fellow Italians.
Bill De Blasio come from
the same family, right?
We do. Our grandparents,
his grandmother and my
grandfather, were siblings. We are Brigantis from
Grassano, in Basilicata.
Mr. Briganti, please tell
our readers something Well, the members of
about your Italian roots. the Briganti family were
You and New York Mayor all educated, in Italy. His