With the passing of generations, yesterday’s hyphenated-American born in America has become an unhyphenated ethnic American by default.
The claxon call by Timothy P. Carney for wearing ethnicity as a badge of honor is an understandable reaction to the loathsome politicization of what was formerly a straightforward, useful descriptor for the successive waves of proud immigrants coming to America. We are now at a point where we admit about one million immigrants a year from all over the globe — nothing remarkable for a country our size. With our fertility rate historically low, immigrants are needed and are seamlessly absorbed into our population without fanfare. Legal immigration has almost become unnoticeable, as has most legal immigrants’ tribal identity.
There was a noticeable fact missing from Carney’s piece, however: 86.5% of Americans are native-born. They have gone to American schools and have been immersed in American history and culture. Are their thought patterns governed by their ethnicity? I think not.
I am a first generation American. My father emigrated from Amsterdam in 1920. During the Depression and the early years of World War II, I went to six schools in Brooklyn, New York. What little history I absorbed as a youngster established a direct historical link between myself and the founders of our country.
This sounds insane. How could this be? I am a Dutch American. I have been to Amsterdam. My father and all my forebears were born in the Netherlands. Perhaps my hero and founder should be William I, leader of the Dutch revolt from Spain. Yet as a youngster, I never, ever heard of William. My father had been a Dutchman who went to Dutch schools, yet he was thrilled to be a naturalized American citizen. He saw no need to make me Dutch. And I did not feel a need either to celebrate or to deny my ethnicity. I was born an American.
As children, we never thought about our ethnicity. Our common interests were playing out in the streets, and the mighty Brooklyn Dodgers. Then the war broke out and our world expanded to all the war news; studying silhouettes of, and building American model airplanes and warships, rationing, victory gardens … all that American stuff.
Since Brooklyn was a pastiche of tribes, some of my friends came from families where English was a second language. My father spoke four languages. He was a European trained French chef. At that time period in upscale American restaurants, English was a second language. He never spoke Dutch at home. My mother spoke English only.
An immigrant’s love of the old country usually depends on his socioeconomic status and experiences. Dad came from a poor family, and the Dutch economy was bleak after World War I. The Netherlands was neutral during the war, and was inundated by refugees from Belgium. Dad knew a successful career would be a virtual impossibility in the Netherlands, so he applied for his passport while on active duty in the Dutch navy. His was a familiar story for all immigrants: There was no economic future in remaining with the tribe. Time to move on to a new one.
The odious political weaponization of ethnicity by progressive culture warriors has become pronounced in recent years. I would submit that it precipitates an unfortunate and jingoistic knee-jerk reaction from conservatives. I think back to when Barack Obama, in a 2010 Latino rally broadcast on Univision, declared that Hispanics must not “sit out this election,” but instead adopt as an electoral position, “we’re gonna punish our enemies and reward our friends who stand with us.”
Jose Ramos, Emmy Award winner and one of the 10 most admired Latinos in the U.S., once said on Univision, “Latinos have achieved the feat of integration economically without losing their culture.”
Have I lost my Dutch culture? Where did I go wrong?
John Reiniers is a retired attorney.
