Politics of Russian-Americans?

[cepguu]

Been following some of your arguments 'bout East/West politics and bombs, etc. with great interest. Got the distinct impression that quite a few of you most likely emigrated over to the US / Canada during early teens (?)from the viccinity of Buivshii Savjestkii Soyuz area. And cannot help taking note of your passionate stances reg. that old Rodina, which brings forth a line of thought interspersed with great and intense curiosity. Would be grateful if some would care to share his honest feelings:

Take the example of New York City (most of us have been to New York City at one time or another, right?) Descend the subway at Canal St. Station, following oily Chinese dinner, into throngs of Cantonese men and women, to get on a train, (is it D?) Brooklyn bound, ----

Now consider all those faces in a single carriage, Hatian, El Salvadorian, Polish, Odessan, Egyptian, Chinese, and Chinese again... Well, eventually the train passes Kings Highway, and... those who are left in the train---- and for a very brief moment one gets the hallucination that it's an evening train out to Pjervamaiskaya, dark Blue Line, Moskva.

Of course, then you wake up, it's only Sheephead Bay, and then Brighten Beach.

Please, have patience with me, guys, I am not hallucinating myself. I will get to the point real soon.

At home, you watch the TV, the fat congressman speak solemnly of "WE AMERICANS PEOPLE FEEL...", "THE WORLD EXPECTS..."

"The World"? "MUI AMJERIKANSKII HAROD"???

Put those words for one brief second against what is beating in your heart or my heart, and against all those faces next ot us on the D train. What, are we on the same page here? Are we punching the same card? ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME COUNTRY? Did not sister just pass her citizenship test? Did not babushka just receive her green card? And why does sister still say "they" when she refers to "Americans?" Is Brooklyn not on U.S. territory?

Or maybe not, maybe the only places that count are Upper East/West side, Jersey, Connecticut. The TV, the congressman, they are all talking about THAT America.

Sorry to dwell on the example of Brooklyn, but, if I am not mistaken, the same type of geo-cultural-ethnic make-up is spreading, as we speak, massively and repidly, in San Fran, LA, Van Couver, Toronto... Just change the bus /metro lines, same story.

And here is my point: 50 - 70 years ago, the Irish came, the Polish came, the Italians came, quite a few of them probably also landed in Brooklyn, at least for a couple of years. And very likely, they had come to an America very much different from the way it is now, probably more traditional, more Europe-oriented...

Whatever happens, we see those old Irish / Italian / Polish guys now, and their sons and daughters, and we can see them pounding their chest, standing in front of the flag,
saying----

I'M NOT EUROPEAN, I AM AN AMERICAN AND PROUD OF IT!!!

And what about you guys? You have come to an America that's definitely neither European nor traditional any more, what it is I can't say. Beats me, I can't figure it out.

But, but, do you see yourself, twenty years from how, holding your daughters by the hand, shouting:

I AM AN AMERICAN AND PROUD OF IT!!!

Somehow, reading all of your fun posts, I don't see such a future materializing. No, I don't.

Or maybe America will have to become a very very different country from what it is now.

Maybe one of the first conditions is that, when a Russian character should appear by then on an American-scripted movie he / she would not look so utterly ludicrous and contrived and laughable (you guys saw XXX?).

As I said, 'ppreciate honest sharing of thoughts. (Touchy topic, I know. Sorry.)

[bisserk]

wasnt there also a ton of russian immigrants back then???

i think the word bohonk, and honkey slang was for russians, greeks and poles am i not correct?

[HATALbR]

Sergei:

Thank you for sharing. I'm sure the other respectable members appreciate your honesty & passion.

Take care,
Natasha

[KGB-CCCP]

Originally posted by eyeradi8
I consider myself an American, and I fully identify with like-minded folks (those that consider themselves Americans).

YOU ARE RUSSIAN, UNDERSTAND THAT, AND YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF THAT!!! IT'S WHERE YOU ARE BORN, NOT WHERE YOU LIVE! THE ONLY AMERICAN ARE THE NATIVES FROM WHO YOU TOOK THE LAND. If you go to ancestry, we all come from monkeys from Africa.

Andrei

[carter]

Well, what's confusing you is that you don't understand the longstanding history of immigrant Hollywood plot development. The Russian Soul is not easily molded into a lovable Chinese made figurine that will bring a smile to a kid quicker than a french fry dripping ketchup. It's a lot of marketing, and of course, a lot of high quality Yoda-like thangees stuffed into Happy Meals. I've heard that a huggable Kuzmeech muppett moppet that barfs Vodka when you squeeze it is being tested by Microsoft as I type. But prototypes can get shot down like manless drones, so don't hold your stomach.

Patience, the effective marketability of the Russian Soul will happen. And don't worry about the Hondurans, they come under the Mexican-American umbrella. Think Cheech and Chong, Tommy Chong is a Asian Honduran Jew. So they got theirs, and now they're considered real Americans.







[Edited by carter on 8th January 2003 at 16:56]

[vorosilov]

How did they take the land from the buffalos?

[bisserk]

how do you know they came from asia

there are eskimos in scandinavia and green land if i am not correct???