(Okay, I will have to post this in two parts, as LJ just told me it was too long.)
Please note that the original comment was not necessarily my thoughts and feelings on any of these matters, but kind of a general observance of what I read and hear and see in my little part of the world.
I too have read recently (and don't remember where) about the problem with finding English classes in the US. I also believe that there was an NPR (National Public Radio--always in danger of losing funding from Congress) commentary on this. And English is one of the hardest languages to learn, as the rules are broken at every turn, due to the huge assimilation of other words and language rules from other languages! English is not very pure, and we don't have an Academy of Language to keep it pure. :) I wouldn't want to have to learn it as an adult, that's for sure!
I agree with you that the issue of ghettotiziation is complex, but myself and many others could also feel excluded when we drive down long stretches of Buford Hiway and there are no signs for miles in English, only in various Chinese or other Asian characters. If a person who is not Asian goes into one of these stores, they are viewed very differently from the Asian customers. That is also sad. And of course it is sad that it goes both ways.
Some friends and I have found ourselves in restaurants from time to time where all the clientele was black and so were the workers. In all but a few times, we were treated very badly, with little-to-no service and poor food quality if we did get any food there. On at least two occasions, we left the restaurant and went elsewhere to find ourselves in a multi-culture resturant where the black and whites worked together and the cleintele was also the same. Racism, especially between whites and blacks in this country, goes both ways. But no one ever mentions that! It's terrible that there is still racism, but it is also bad that only one type of racism is put down, the white racism against the blacks. Black people's racism against whites is hardly ever spoken of, or if it is, it is denied.That, of course, is not true. I have seen many times how black service workers will be super-nice to blacks, and then seen the same people turn around and treat white customers like scum--and those white people were probably like me, totally innocent, and had not done anything bad to those particular black people. The vast majority of white people in this country did not have ancestors who owned slaves (which is a horrible thing for anyone to endure, and alas, it is still going on in third-world countries) yet we are all treated as though our ancestors did. This bothers me a lot. My father's family in the old country were not well-off, and were something close to servants, or even slaves themselves. My mother's family, and we can trace it back somewhat, were always poor dirt farmers--they barely kept themselves alive, and we can't imagine that they had money to spend on black slaves. My Irish ancestors weren't any better off than my Czech ancestors. All my ancestors came to America for a better life; sometimes they found it, sometimes they did not.
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Re: International Blog Against Racism Week: Central European perspective
Date: 2007-08-10 05:37 pm (UTC)Please note that the original comment was not necessarily my thoughts and feelings on any of these matters, but kind of a general observance of what I read and hear and see in my little part of the world.
I too have read recently (and don't remember where) about the problem with finding English classes in the US. I also believe that there was an NPR (National Public Radio--always in danger of losing funding from Congress) commentary on this. And English is one of the hardest languages to learn, as the rules are broken at every turn, due to the huge assimilation of other words and language rules from other languages! English is not very pure, and we don't have an Academy of Language to keep it pure. :) I wouldn't want to have to learn it as an adult, that's for sure!
I agree with you that the issue of ghettotiziation is complex, but myself and many others could also feel excluded when we drive down long stretches of Buford Hiway and there are no signs for miles in English, only in various Chinese or other Asian characters. If a person who is not Asian goes into one of these stores, they are viewed very differently from the Asian customers. That is also sad. And of course it is sad that it goes both ways.
Some friends and I have found ourselves in restaurants from time to time where all the clientele was black and so were the workers. In all but a few times, we were treated very badly, with little-to-no service and poor food quality if we did get any food there. On at least two occasions, we left the restaurant and went elsewhere to find ourselves in a multi-culture resturant where the black and whites worked together and the cleintele was also the same. Racism, especially between whites and blacks in this country, goes both ways. But no one ever mentions that! It's terrible that there is still racism, but it is also bad that only one type of racism is put down, the white racism against the blacks. Black people's racism against whites is hardly ever spoken of, or if it is, it is denied.That, of course, is not true. I have seen many times how black service workers will be super-nice to blacks, and then seen the same people turn around and treat white customers like scum--and those white people were probably like me, totally innocent, and had not done anything bad to those particular black people. The vast majority of white people in this country did not have ancestors who owned slaves (which is a horrible thing for anyone to endure, and alas, it is still going on in third-world countries) yet we are all treated as though our ancestors did. This bothers me a lot. My father's family in the old country were not well-off, and were something close to servants, or even slaves themselves. My mother's family, and we can trace it back somewhat, were always poor dirt farmers--they barely kept themselves alive, and we can't imagine that they had money to spend on black slaves. My Irish ancestors weren't any better off than my Czech ancestors. All my ancestors came to America for a better life; sometimes they found it, sometimes they did not.
(Continued in next reply.)