The Feast of Saint Antnee

In the early 1980s, when my parents started talking about joining a local country club, they were seeking three things: a club near enough that my father could stop on his way home from work for a quick swim, regulation tennis courts (preferably clay), and a membership fee in the (very) low five figures.The membership restrictions still in place at the time, which included anyone who could not trace his or her heritage to the British Isles, discounted several of the nearby country clubs from the start.So, when my parents' friends offered to put them up for membership at their "swim" club instead -my parents eagerly agreed, applied, and were accepted.At the time I had no idea about discrimination among suburbanites.It was my sister Jean, who'd just finished her first year as a Sociology major at the University of Ohio and was working part-time in the snack bar at the club, who explained to me one day during her break that as Italian Americans we were lucky to find any club that would admit us."Some people don't even think Italians are white," she told me, noisily sucking the last of a can of Tab through a pink plastic straw."Because Sicily was overrun by the Moors throughout its history, it's assumed that we all have African blood.""But we're not Sicilian," I said."Doesn't matter.We're Italian."She lowered her voice and waved her free hand at the white moms and their white children eating at the other tables."You think they know the difference between Sicilian and Italian?We're Italian, we eat spaghetti and meatballs every night for dinner except for Friday when we eat fish.We make sandwiches out of eggplant and cheese.And some of us" -she nodded at me -"turn nearly black in the summer.That's all they know.Believe me, we're lucky to be here."That we could afford any type of club membership was due to two factors: the success of my father's liquor distribution business and our family's small size, just my parents, and Jean and me.In fact, my entire extended family included only my Uncle Augie and Aunt Isabella and their kids, my cousins Gina and Anthony.