From: Jasper
Date: 10/14/03
Time: 8:46:03 PM
Remote Name: 68.73.207.154
Charlie,
People in this country have always gained political power and special privileges because of their ethnicity or backgrounds. Depending on what city you live in the groups might be different but the arch of history is the same.
In Detroit, the first top dogs were the French. Then came the English and their American descendants. After that it was a mixed back of Italians, Poles, German’s Slavs and their American descendants. Blacks weren’t recognized in the Constitution as American citizens until 1865. Native born blacks did not receive full American citizenship until 1964. Blacks began to emerge as the city’s top dogs (in Detroit City Hall politics) in the ’70s but until the late ’90s the chairman of the powerful city council has always been white. The greatest number of popular votes determines who the city council chairman will be.
If you look beyond ethnicity, you will see patterns of kinship and friendship that all of these groups have in common. The voters have known these people for a long time. The same thing applies to the people the elected office holders appoint to run city departments, to represent the city on boards, commissions, etc. Wherever you see great concentrations of one ethic group or another, you will also see long histories of common experience. You see the same thing with Christians, Moslems and Jews in the city and in it suburbs.
I agree with what you say about hyphenated Americans – but only in theory. In practice, you can’t ignore the history of ethnicity that had something to do with bringing all of us where we are today.
I understand what you’re saying about multi-culturalism and first loyalties. I also remember what was said about John F. Kennedy being a Catholic and Richard Nixon being a Quaker. I’ve seen too often that appeals to American culture are translated to appeals to ethnic or religious prejudice.
I believe that you have correctly identified the danger of promoting old country values over American values but until American values mean truly embracing ethnic differences as an American ideal, I don’t think that will change. –Jasper