Gangs of New York

We found it disconcerting to see the article "'Gangs of New York' and the Whitewashing of History," in the May/June issue (2003) of a magazine of your caliber. Please allow us to explain why. The author, Mr. Benjamin Justice, accuses Martin Scorsese of cashing in on the public's fascination with history by settling on controversial topics such as Vietnam, JFK, the Holocaust, and D-day That premise only sets the stage for his own conclusion that the movie was "produced for the sole purpose of making money," and ignores Mr. Scorsese's explanation that his interest came from the fact that he grew up in that area, and heard these tales from childhood--tales which have all but disappeared from memory. Therefore, it is not a controversial topic being exploited, nor is it a topic that has fascinated the public, for it had been totally forgotten by all but a few. Yet, those few, who know the truth, have tried to tell it accurately for years. We encourage those efforts because of the gross injustice done to the memory of the Five Points inhabitants by the bigoted press of the day Exaggerations and lies fabricated by anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic writers of the time have tainted research in the subject for far too long. An attempt was made to correct the untruths in the 1987 publication of a video lesson plan entitled "Five Points" as part of the Who Built America series produced by the American Social History Project. Mr. Justice ignored that effort and chose to revert to the former prejudiced view by depicting the Irish of the Five Points as racist, violent gangsters, rather than the impoverished people that they really were, fighting starvation, disease, prejudice and general exploitation. The movie was not made to be an historical documentary. However, certain acts which took place from 1834 to 1863 were included to provide a sense of understanding of the people of the Points whom, the author claims, Mr. Scorsese made into heroes and who experienced happy endings. There were no happy endings in the movie nor in the Five Points. Those destined to dwell there because of poverty or prejudice, were of many ethnic groups. The Irish were the largest since they had recently fled a tragedy in their own land. They left homes and families because of poverty and prejudice, only to find the same thing here. Further, contrary to Mr. Justice's contention, they came without bias against anyone--including blacks--a fact acknowledged by the black leader, Frederick Douglas, who traveled to Ireland to meet the Irish leader, Daniel O'Connell, and thank him for the Irish stand against slavery! We feel that Mr. Justice's conclusions would have surprised both black and Irish laborers in the Points who worked as carters and porters, and shared work experiences and philosophies. Similar experiences took place among black and Irish female domestics. Many Irish professed the abolition of slavery, and anyone who proclaims differently, in spite of the interracial marriages that took place there, is guilty of promoting racial division, or is sadly uninformed. Mr. Justice indicates that the movie portrays middle class Protestant reformers as "boobs." Knowledgeable historians would not use so light a term to describe the vicious, bigoted, and violent men who burned convents (Boston), torched Irish neighborhoods (Philadelphia), and attacked Catholic houses of worship (New York). These were the American Nativists, or Know Nothings, who posted the "No Irish Need Apply," codicil to employment and housing opportunities. These were the real enemies of both blacks and immigrants. As early as the 1834 riots which raged through the Five Points area and were the largest single action against African Americans prior to the Civil War, the rioters came from established New York families, and only a few of those detained were Irish. The mob included professional and commercial men, skilled laborers and tradesmen, and a scattering of semiskilled and unskilled workers according to Graham Hodges, associate professor of history at Colgate University and the author of several books on the history of African Americans in New York. …