Maybe because they were going to starve due to famine if they stayed in China? Maybe because they feared the communist takeover and were afraid of getting shot? Maybe because you were fleeing the Japanese in WWII. Maybe because they valued the idea of American freedom, where you can refuse to speak English and have traditional values and dress and no one puts you in prison (during the Japanese occupation of Korea in WWII, Korean children were forced to speak Japanese, and Koreans were forced to abandon their dress in favor of Japanese style clothing - I don’t know how far these policies carried over into Japan’s occupation of China).
Oh, and by the way, Native Americans have a strange relationship with our government that includes tribal sovreignty. It isn’t exactly the same thing. The US Federal government does throw some money their way (not much), but then again, we did have a policy of genocide against them for much of the 1800s, and did kind of take over most of their land.
Not only does that happen in China Town, it also happens in Japan Town, Russian Town, Honduras Town, German Town, Greek Town, etc., etc. But they’re all first generation immigrants escaping from something or other.
The 2nd generation kids however, usually can’t wait to leave China Town or Portugese Town or Somali Town, etc.
And that’s the story of America, people escaping something or other to come here. But I think we should tone down our ancestral cultural heritages.
Until recently, every group of immigrants that came embraced the idea that they came here to become Americans, not Italian Americans, or Dutch Americans, or Chinese Americans. If that was the case, we’d be a disunited country of individuals, a patchwork of Bangladeshi Americans, Welsh Americans, Chilean Americans, not a nation indivisible. I’d sure hate it if GW started telling us how proud he was of being an English American, etc.
Well, I wasn’t trying to imply this, but you could easily make the assumption. My point is that in American one can be an immigrant and agree/disagree with the US government policy AND be a good American. That’s freedom of speech.
It does not necessarily follow that maintaining links will distort your worldview and become a source of bias. For example, if you grew up in Spain and immigrated to the US, most likely you would have a different worldview based on experience. Your view of 9/11 might be different because of first hand experience with Basque terrorists. Your view of Bush’s first State visit to Europe and the success of his meeting in Spain might be different because you know a lot more of what is going on there than the average American from Boise. It is a different worldview and does not follow it is a distorted worldview with a negative bias.
This really sounds to me like a xenophobic thread. I guess the nicest way to characterize some of the posts is an objection to certain individuals trying to impose their ethnicity on society. I don’t like fundies imposing their values on society or Republicans or handgun owners, but that comes hand in hand with the freedom we enjoy in America. But why should it bother you if someone wants to eat in an Italian restaurant, wear tradional clothing, be married in a traditional ceremony, and have pride in where they come from?
It’s also a question of attitude. How many posts state where “they refuse to speak English.” Well, you know, maybe they don’t speak English instead of refuse. Sure if they live in America, I personally think people should make an effort to learn English in America but that doesn’t always happen. American’s living in other countries are usually pretty guilty of refusing to speak the indigenous language. Finally, the US does not have a defacto offical language.
Major Feelgud, the vast majority of the immigrants I know to America are proud to be Americans. They took an oath of fealty to the US and renouned their previous citizenship. They earned their US citizenship instead of getting it the easy way like you or I did by birth. They are also proud to share their original heritage. I don’t see a contradiction.
I for one feel pretty good that the US has moved closer to embracing multiculturalism than in the 60’s and 70’s where denial of heritage was much more the norm.
so true, so true. The Mexicans around me(and there are an awful lot of them) are always promoting “Brown Pride” and their Hispanic Heritage. They pretty much shove it in everyone’s face, but what if I were to do the same thing, with “White Pride” and my Irish and Danish heritage? Surely the politically correct crowd would not support me, they wouldn’t push for my own special month to study my heritage. In fact, I dare say that I’d be accused a racist simply for taking pride in my “white-ness”, which seems to be something lots of people say that you’re supposed to be ashamed of.
The Mick, I for one, wouldn’t mind either you being proud of your Danish and Irish heritage, nor you making celebrations to honor it. In fact, I would probably go just to see what it was, learn new things, dance something different, or try new food ( )
White isn’t an ethnic group, I think. My ethnic group is Puerto Rican, my skin color is white. One has no relation to the other. Being proud of your skin color is different than being proud of the place, culture, traditions, festivities, or values that your originally from.
This is kind of rushed as I’ve been having problems with my PC and I don’t know how long it’ll hold together. I’m not saying that we should all become one smooth homogenous culture (although, when was the last time you heard of two groups of people going to war over how one should interpret a Disney movie), certainly I enjoy things related to my ethnic background (Irish, Welsh, English, and Swiss to name the only ones I know of), but we’d all think that the Egyptians were nuts if they decided to throw out everything that happened since the time of the pharohs and went back to building pyramids, or the Greeks decided to turn their society back to the times of the Odyssey and the Iliad, or the Italians decided to go back to the Roman era.
I just can’t understand (and maybe its because I’m white) how it could be important for an african-american to suddenly adopt clothing worn by people in the Sudan or some such thing. I mean, what does the life of a Sudanese person have to do with life in America?
When the Balkans were in upheaval, all sides were blaming their current atrocities on actions that the others had done as far back as the 1100’s! (Well, you see, these guys killed my great[sup]X[/sup]-grandfather in the Battle of the Rocks, so that proves that they’re not trustworthy!) I mean, come on, that’s like saying a Jewish person couldn’t be friends with a person of German descent because of the Holocaust!
But you can only go so far. You can say that you hate GW or Clinton, but you can’t say you hate the American democratic system and all it stands for, or you hate this country and wish it to be bombed to heck.
I’m saying they should be Americans first and Swedish Americans, or Nepalese Americans, or Easter Island Americans second. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
Not quite true across the board. Until recently large chunks of people spoke German pretty exclusively in some Pennsylvania communities ( and some schools were legally bilingual in German ). Until recently in some sections of rural Louisiana, some Cajuns spoke English as a second language if at all.
This notion that separate communities with distinct languages in this country are a recent innovation and a symbol of modern separatism is illusory. This phenomena has always been here. It’s just that it is no longer rural or, if urban, as tightly ghettoized, so it’s more noticeable. And in many European countries it has always been the norm - Basques, Gaels, Bretons, Kashubians, etc.
Until WWII, most people in New Ulm, Minnesota spoke German. New Ulm is still really German - celebrates Oktoberfest, everyone is Luthern, its quite a kick to visit the place.
My Italian relatives (some of them now fifth generation), still hang down at the Italian clubs, play bocce with the Italians, eat at the neighborhood Italian restaurant. My uncle went to college on a scholarship for Italian Americans. My third cousins on that side all married Italian men.
The Swedish Institute in South Minneapolis is funding a multimillion dollar addition with the money of Swedes who are proud to be Swedish American. They don’t have enough room to host all the Swedish American stuff and parties they have. I know a lot of Minnesotans of Swedish decent - but no one in the first three generations. It isn’t uncommon around here (I know about four people personally who have done it) for Minnesota Scandanavians to visit their relatives in the “old country” shortly after college.
As mentioned, my husbands family is decended from the Presidents Adams. Several of his relatives belong to the DAR. Its kind of “American ethinicity” at its best (and worst). You have to provide documentation that you are blood line decent from someone who fought in the revolution (for our side) or signed the Declaration of Independence to join. Oh, and its funded by congress. Aren’t many people of color in the DAR (although I hear the “other Jeffersons” have applied).
Having experienced all of this, I find it truly facinating that others don’t know it exists, or think that ethnic pride is something only permitted to people of color.
Yes, really. When your Italian relatives go out of the country and people ask them what nationality they are they say “American”, don’t they? They don’t say “I’m Italian American” do they?
Well, it depends. My friends who have travelled on homeland tours claim to be Swedish Americans in the motherland, that being the point of the trip. As do my Italian American relatives who have traveled to Italy. But in general, they carry American passports and are Americans.
Do you know non-white Americans who when they travel claim a different nationality? I’ve never run into that. Was that wasn’t your point - I completely missed it. I thought your point was that previously people who immigrated here became Americans, not hyphenated Americans. I know plenty of third and forth generation white hyphenated Americans.
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