WHich group do you mean, Kendor, the Florida Federation of Italian American Clubs, Inc., which seems to be part of a national group, or the National Italian American Foundation , or the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute? Perhaps you mean one of these groups: Italian-American Civic Association of Mineola Italian-American Civil Rights League Italian-American Club of the Catskill Mountains Italian-American Club of Westchester Italian-American Community Council of South Brooklyn Italian-American Faculty and Staff Advisory Council of CUNY Italian-American Federation of Queens Italian-American Legal Defense &Higher Education Fund, Inc. Italian-American Professional & Businessmen Association Italian-American Repertory Theatre Italian-American Scholarship Association Italian-Americans for Better Government
THE Government is proposing to rename ethnic minority groups along US lines in an attempt to strengthen and highlight their British roots.Quote =============================================== Kendor is absolutely correct... We DO NOT, here in the US use an ethnic background as a description of our nationality.... And like Kendor said, one group does, and its being done at their own insistence and of course the "political correct" group follows up....
Posts: 2258 | Location: Naples, Florida, United States | Registered: 06-03-02
DG: Those are C-L-U-B-S......Private membership clubs... Except for the "African Americans", I know of no one who goes around addressing themselves as a "Brizilian-American", or a "Costa Rican- American" or a "Canadian-American"...
Posts: 2258 | Location: Naples, Florida, United States | Registered: 06-03-02
Since I Googled "xxxx-American + clubs," I found clubs. Do you think that the various members just decided to join a club with a neat name, or is it possible that they identified with the name? I would link you to the several Brazilian-Americans I found, but that would be overkill.
Posts: 17027 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
"Except for the "African Americans", I know of no one who goes around addressing themselves as a "Brizilian-American", or a "Costa Rican- American" or a "Canadian-American"..." - Frittz
That's funny, I know so many people that go by these terms. I guess Chicago is a different kind of place... matter of fact it isn't very rare to find people who are citizens being called simply Irish, Polish, Mexican, Lithuanian... no American even included many times. We have so many festivals of ethnicity (hyphenated Americans) I couldn't begin to name them all and yes, people of various heritage still raise their children knowing the language and learning the culture. It's a wonderful thing in my opinion.
I guess in Florida it's just Old-Americans? Or Senior Citizens?
Posts: 3049 | Location: USA | Registered: 06-04-02
DG: In everyday common usage, we do not decribe ourselves as "whatever-Americans".... If I were of Italian desent I would most likely join a club most suited to my background... If I were "gay", then joining a "gay club" would be the thing to do, but to go around calling myself a "gay-American" is as redicous as calling myself a "British-American"..
Posts: 2258 | Location: Naples, Florida, United States | Registered: 06-03-02
And yet I know many that do exactly what you say they don't. In fact, I know several second and third generation Americans who call themselves Mexican and Irish. Just because you do not do it, and do not know any who do, does not mean that it isn't done. Both my personal experience and the above links prove that.
Posts: 17027 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
Amy, you may have hit on the explanation. St. Louis is like Chicago in many ways. The practice is apparently more prevalent in communities with more active ethnic groups. I am certain that if I Googled "Cuban-American" + Miami, I would get a huge amount of hits.
Posts: 17027 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
"Except for the "African Americans", I know of no one who goes around addressing themselves as a "Brizilian-American", or a "Costa Rican- American" or a "Canadian-American"..." - Frittz
I know hundreds of "African-Americans" and not a single one who addresses himself as such. I believe it is a compromise because of the negative connotations associated with "negro". Most of the Polish-Americans, etc. are using the term to demonstrate pride and collegiality in their native customs and traditions. The term "Gay Americans" and "Canadian-Americans", not to mention "American-Canadians" is truly "redicous".
"This just in: A News 5 Flash 5 alert: Two local toddlers were seen being forced into a minivan downtown this afternoon. The suspect is described as a Bosnian-American, with balding hair and a mustache."
or
"Now for Flash 5 sports: Luigi Linguini scored a record low 59 today at Augusta. He is the first Italian-American to win the Masters."
We are certainly conscious of 'Irish-Americans'. ( You Americans must be familiar with, even fond of, terrorism abroad,having funded the IRA for so many decades )
Irish-Americans do have the disconcerting habit of calling themselves 'Irish'. This leads to introductions which eventually enervate local Irish, for whom even the Irish county of your origin is significant: " My dad's Irish, but my mom's Polish" " Really? Where's your dad from?" "Chicago".
Geting back to the original link: Remember a) it's the Silly Season for newspapers, being August. They love silly stories. b) Hazel Mears is the third rank minister;she's the deputy's deputy; her two bosses are on holiday, it being August, as is her top boss Mr Blair c) it is the duty of any ambitious person in politics who is left in charge at a slack time, to get as much attention and press coverage as possible. Hazel Mears has so far contrived to get, I think , three headlines, this being her latest, in the current vacation already. She has also had extensive 'magazine' feature and interview coverage in the Sunday broadsheets and at least one mid-market daily.
This is fine for her, just so long as she doesn't become The Sorcerer's Apprentice ! This is not going to happen. That's because she can't do anything. Anything she says is, at its best, only 'run up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes it' as we say.
When the bosses get back they'll ignore whatever she has said (unless it has proved a success, in which case they'll claim authorship )
Originally posted by Fritzzs: DG: Those are C-L-U-B-S......Private membership clubs... Except for the "African Americans", I know of no one who goes around addressing themselves as a "Brizilian-American", or a "Costa Rican- American" or a "Canadian-American"...
Those private membership clubs are all voluntary membership organizations. That is, their members choose for themselves to identify themselves in this way.
I know a bunch of Bulgarian-Americans My ex-wife doesn't identify herself that way, but my son does -- under their current rules, both he and his mother are dual nationals. We also have, locally, a Macedonian-Bulgarian American Association. I've met some interesting people there over the years.
Alan Moore
Posts: 2012 | Location: USA | Registered: 10-05-03
Alan, when I was growing up in the 50s, my neighborhood had at least 2 Mexican taverns, 2 Macedonian taverns, a Bugarian tavern, a Hungarian tavern, a Croatian tavern, 2 Armenian taverns, and a few I don't know what nationality they were. (Hey, I was a kid.) One was owned by a Scicilian, but he was the only one down here, and he married a Macedonian. There was also a Mexican bakery, a Macedonian bakery, and a Hungarian bakery. (Best for pastries!) Also 2 Armenian dry cleaners (), and a Macedonian one, 2 Macedonian grocers, a Bulgarian one, a Hungarian one, and an Armenian one. There was a Bulgarian-Macedonian Orthodox church, the first one in the US east of the Mississippi, and a Baptist mission. (To save the souls of the godless foreigners, I guess.) Yes, it was a mission, at least it said so on its sign. The neighborhood was 6 blocks long and 2 1/2 blocks wide. We even had a few token Irish. Like Amy's Chicago, it was great for food. Everybody had different holidays; we even had 2 Christmasses and 2 Easters.
By the way, I still laugh when people speak of multiculturalism as something new.
Posts: 17027 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
By the way, I still laugh when people speak of multiculturalism as something new.
Yeah. California aquired it's first Serbian orthodox church during the gold rush (it's still standing, still in use). Even before being aquired by the US, during the Spanish and Mexican periods, California was ethnically diverse. The chief public officials of the two largest towns in the 1820's -- San Diego and Monterey -- were both "Bostonnais." The local towns of Livermore and Gilroy are both named for Englishmen who settled here during the Spanish period. The man on whose land Gold was "discovered" in 1848 (and who was financially ruined by the Gold Rush) was originally Swiss.
In my own background, the German tradition was pretty strong. The most recent arrival on this continent that I know of came in the 1750s, but as a child, it was pretty much taken for granted that I should speak German as well as English. And, of course, there was my Gypsy grandmother who I think I've mentioned...
Alan Moore
Posts: 2012 | Location: USA | Registered: 10-05-03
The Russians of that period left relatively little mark on the area. They planted the colony in an effort to provide a closer source of agricultural produce for their Alaskan colonies, but the effort was unsuccessful. During my childhood, Fort ross was basically a pile of rotting wood, which would have disappeared altogether had it not been redwood, which is fairly pest resistant. They named the local river Slavyanka, but we call it the Russian river. They named the nearest prominent mountain St. Elena, but, in an odd historical coincidence, so had the Spanish, so I can't be certain which is the source of the modern name: St. Helena. Eventually they gave it up, and sold their entire California interest to Sutter. The nearby town of Sebastopol was named for the Crimean town of Sevastopol, but only after the heroic defence of that city during the Crimean war.
Alan Moore
Posts: 2012 | Location: USA | Registered: 10-05-03
)
), and a Macedonian one, 2 Macedonian grocers, a Bulgarian one, a Hungarian one, and an Armenian one. There was a Bulgarian-Macedonian Orthodox church, the first one in the US east of the Mississippi, and a Baptist mission. (To save the souls of the godless foreigners, I guess.) Yes, it was a mission, at least it said so on its sign. The neighborhood was 6 blocks long and 2 1/2 blocks wide. We even had a few token Irish. 
