GREET MELTING POT WITH OPEN ARMS
DAN KIMBER
Glendale News Press
09/04/17/columns/gnp-kimber0417.txt
April 17 2009
CA
One of my students asked me to write a recommendation for a
scholarship, something that I do for literally hundreds of students
each year.
This one, however, had terms that were different from other
organizations looking to fund students’ college education.
It was the Armenian Youth Federation to whom I was directing my
letter, and in reading about the organization I came upon the
following sentence:
"The Armenian Youth Federation was founded in Boston in 1933, by
General Karekin Njdeh, with the purpose of keeping the Armenian youth
from assimilating."
I asked the young lady requesting my letter if she knew about this
stated purpose, and she answered that, yes she did, but it was not
anything out of the ordinary. It was no different from the messages
that were drummed into her by her family from the time she was able
to understand spoken words.
In the years I have taught in a school district that has grown
more diverse over the years, I have tried to understand the ethnic
imperative that cautions/warns young people of dire circumstances
if they step outside of their parents’ culture or venture too far
outside their ethnic borders.
After more than three decades of dealing with this, I must confess
I am no closer to understanding it than when I first encountered it.
The whole attitude seems to me to be, in a word, un-American.
Our country is about people coming together, not staying separate. Our
country’s official motto, E Pluribus Unum, "Out of many, one," says
it all.
I have more than a hundred U.S. history textbooks sitting on my
shelves, and each and every one of them pays homage to the "Nation
of Immigrants" that we are.
There is no doubt that our diversity is an integral part of our
country’s history, and it is a source of our strength as a nation —
people coming from all corners of the globe to settle and to contribute
the best they have to give to their new adopted country.
But for better or worse, eventual assimilation into the mainstream
of American culture has always been a precondition for choosing to
come here.
Many believe it is not an unreasonable expectation that newcomers
will adhere to established policies, will abide by established rules,
will adapt to new ways. It is the absolute minimum that would be
expected from any other country on the face of the Earth.
I know that there will be many in this community who will disagree
with me, but my gut feeling — no, make that an absolute conviction —
is that the Armenian Youth Federation, or any organization for that
matter that dedicates itself to a "stick to your own kind" philosophy,
is out of step with the professed ideals of this country.
Their ethnocentric behavior encourages the very kind of separateness
that many in our community and in our schools are fighting against.
Under the guise of cultural integrity, national pride or whatever
high-sounding phrases one might summon, any organization that would
write such a sentence displays not only an ignorance of what this
country is all about but promotes a thinly veiled prejudice as well.
Some years ago, one of my fellow teachers proclaimed proudly to
all of his classes that if either of his daughters dared to marry a
non-Armenian she would be disowned by the family. Anything less than
that would be committing "cultural suicide," he maintained with a
fierce loyalty for the "old ways."
It was a loyalty that presumably would supersede even the love he
felt for his own daughters should they do the unthinkable and fall
in love with someone outside the acceptable group.
Over the years I have had a number of students come to me with their
"terrible dilemma" that has their families ready to throw them out of
the house, lock them up or disown them. They have sinned against their
culture in a most basic, unforgivable way. They are dating someone
from another ethnic group, and it must be kept a deep dark secret.
The history teacher in me sees the social inevitability in all of this.
Our great mix of students together all day long for nine months
of every year will naturally overcome social barriers and family
forbiddings. What a shame, though, that they must be put through this
for the sake of "preservation of culture." One wonders why a family
would ever choose to come to this great melting pot of a country if
remaining ethnically separate is of such paramount importance.
I would respectfully suggest a different mission statement for the
Armenian Youth Federation — one that honors both a heritage and
freedom of choice with the same conviction. They are not mutually
exclusive. And besides, if a country goes to the length of adopting
all who come here from other parts of the world, shouldn’t the adoptees
be obliged to return the favor?
BDAN KIMBER is a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District,
where he has taught for more than 30 years. He may be reached at
DKimb8@ sbcglobal.net.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
