Magyar News, 1996. szeptember-1997. augusztus (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1997-05-01 / 9. szám
MELT m Ti iLTINt PUT AND BE COUNTED mmmmmmmsmm mm mmmmmmmmmmmmsm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmsamammBammm Forms sent out by the government are extremely complicated and - true or not-1 have a feeling that they are getting worse. Among the many forms there is one that is heading the other way, towards simplification. But this one should not go that way at all. I am talking about the U.S. Census. Every ten years people of the United States are counted and sorted out by earning, occupation, and many other categories. One of these categories is a little box where one should write in the nationality of their ancestry, their ethnicity, in short, the background of one’s personal history. This information is also important in the medical field. Researchers find that health and other problems among certain groups of people are connected to genetic make-up, traditions, and a long line of other matters, some that really matter. Finding the size of any group, or probably individuals too, are made easy by looking up the Census. Wouldn’t it be awful in a case like this, if questioned, your answer would be that you don’t know where your grandparents came from. Or you don’t know where to look to find out if a certain illness jumped one or more generations. You are really on your own. A simplified Census would discourage you having information about your ancestry. Politicians up to date rely on the Census. They need to identify and reach constituent groups beyond racial classification. They target these groups. Educators and human service providers build their programs on the local population based on the last Census, etc. We know that there are disatvantaged groups of people who have no idea of their family’s past. There are many African-Americans who should have more knowledge about their identity than what could be surmised by the name of a continent. Even Alex Haley writing the famous book Roots, had to do a lot of twisting to have the story forged together. Many times we Hungarians are referred to as “you Europeans”. Well sure, we are from Europe but stretching this further we might as well be called “Earthlings” because that is what we are. All of us. Fortunately we have more detailed identification; we are Hungarians. True, we made residence in Europe over a thousand years ago, but we have a history of two thousand years before we set foot in the Carpathian Basin. So where does that leave us? What determines us being Europeans? For a few thousand years we have been Hungarians and now the Census would like us to give it up? Hungarians migrated to this country for a better life. They were selling themselves as manpower, abilities, talent, etc. in the market that was recruiting for production. They settled and lived in Hungarian communities. Even under these circumstances many were exposed to lose the markings of their identity. Not knowing the language and the life style of the New World they were refered to as “greenhorns.” Officials making out the records didn’t think much about those speaking a foreign language and with disrespect for the human dignity wrote down names of their choice. For example, Balázs became Balass, and in the next step, this pronounced in English then written down turned into Bayliss, and this is very far from being recognizable. The married couples had their problems too. Mrs. János Kiss in Hungarian is Kiss Jánosné. Her first name therefor became Jánosné. Not Angyalka or Mariska So Mr. John Kiss’ wife’s first name in English is Janosne !? Did anybody care? At that time these things really didn’t matter much because everybody was being thrown into the “Melting Pot” where the only things that mattered were the ability to work and pay the bills. Let us be honest, the melting pot concept was a bad idea. Its goal was to stop diversity in its track and strip all nationalities and ethnic groups from their identity. The immigrants were not given wings to have their diverse culture and heritage fly. Was anything done to analyze all the great treasures and values that came from other countries to this border on land or sea No official was assigned to measure up the situation and say that there are qualities that should be preserved and built into the structure of this new nation. Whatever was saved was done by accidentally surviving the melting pot. Now, does the Census want to finish off what wasn’t melted down in the pot? They are designing the new Census leaving out the individual statements of what nationality is One’s background. These officials don’t realize that the people in the United States of America are on a different track. I’m not only talking about the African- Americans who create a holiday in December, trying to save their people Page 1
