RE: Class discussion

I must admit the Springer reading was a little dense, only because it was difficult to jump from one minority group to the next and stay focused. However, I never really accounted for the differences in treatment of all the minority groups. When we discuss minorities we generally speak in terms of blacks and latin(a/o)s, but we leave out the Asian and Native American groups. This is very unfortunate because each of these groups has been affected differently by deculturalization techniques.

One of the things we talked about in class was that in the past few generations we have begun to lose our cultural identity. When our great grandparents emigrated from their native countries they came to America hoping to blend in, not stand out. Cultural differences were frowned upon, so in many cases they denounced their native culture for a new American life. These people often refused to pass on any of their native cultural heritage to their children short of physical charicteristics or recipes, perhaps. Now our parents and our generation are facing a cultural identity crisis. We can not trace our family trees back as far as we would like to because our foremothers and fathers were afraid to reveal any of their cultural selves. This puts Americans at a distinct advantage today, as the groups that were once in the minority are rising to be equal contenders in the population. Their cultural background is in most cases a big part of their lives, while those of us from a European descent are unfamiliar with our culture; all we are comfortable with is the life our ancestors created for us in America.

In fifth grade one of the big focuses of the year was Heritage Day. The work leading up to this celebration involved writing out family trees, interviewing family members, and finding out our family histories. Once we had our information, we put together books telling the story of our families, and provided information about the culture in those countries. Heritage Day itself required all of us to dress up in a costume that reflected our heritage. Each of us had to get up in front of our parents and fellow classmates on stage and say hello in the language of the country of our costume, and then we had to say a couple sentences about what we researched.

The sad part about this project is how little we all found out about our heritage. We all did the interviews and got the information, but we didn't really learn anything about our cultural identity. We were probably too young to even appreciate what our culture really means to us, so of course we were not dissapointed when all our questions couldn't get answered. I realize now that there are so many more questions I wish I could have had answered before my grandmother died, the last person on my mom's side of the family who could recount family history. I wish I could have had the opportunity to talk to my grandfather about his family, my opa about his family.....

Now we have to work a lot harder to get our questions answered. In the face of a cultural identity crisis, we essentially have to go back to the roots of our family tree, to the native country of our great-grandparents. I hope someday I can go back to the former Bohemia, and Germany and get some of my questions answered, so that I can pass on a strong sense of who I am culturally to my children some day. Armed with that knowledge, they will feel much more fulfilled by their multi-faceted identity.