William Penn Life, 2011 (46. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2011-08-01 / 8. szám

Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr.

With the General Convention just around the comer, and with William Penn Association celebrating 125 years offraternalism and fellowship, it is time for American-Hungarians to take another look at where we have been and where we are going as a community. In this two part series, Tibor's Take will be looking at identity and unity and what they mean for Magyar Americans.

Finding identity in the 21st Century

Port One: Are we our own worst enemy?

IF YOU ARE EVER in the Cleveland area, check out the Murray Hill neighborhood. This small, cozy enclave on Cleveland's East Side, just a short drive from University Circle, is a refreshing reminder of the Midwest's proud immigrant past. Murray Hill, however, is known to the locals by another name: Little Italy. This neighborhood still has Italian restaurants, retailers, pastry shops, barbers and other businesses. It is a bustling area at all times of the year, but during the Feast of the Assumption in late summer, it is a veritable madhouse. For my friends of Italian descent, Little Italy is the cultural and geographic nexus for all things concerning their community. Many Italians still live in the urban neighborhood, and even now, residents leave their doors unlocked, something unheard of everywhere else in Cleveland. It is a nice place, and I frequent the area for some delicious cannoli.

What about Cleveland's Hungarians? What about Little Hungary? Or, as it was called in the heyday, "American Debrecen"? For those readers who are familiar with Cleveland, Buckeye Road has a storied history but also a notorious decline. I do not need to rehash the old tales of assimilation and decentralization. That story has already been told, and it is well known.

Yet, as WPA's 125th anniversary and General Convention loom, something was nagging at me. Then, in a moment of clarity that I had in the middle of the night, something clicked. Instead of a solution, I instead thought of a different way to look at the problem. I began to think about perspective, but in order for it to work, I had to think of myself as a non-Hungarian. Using the cold and calculated analysis of an academic,

I took a long hard look at the American-Hungarians.

The opinions expressed in Tibor’s Take are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or viewpoint of William Penn Association, its Board of Directors, National Officers, employees or representatives, nor of William Penn Life, its editors or staff.

The nagging questions remain: How do the Italians of Cleveland keep their culture and traditions alive in their neighborhoods? Why were the Hungarians unable to replicate similar conditions in their own neighborhoods? While many factors contribute to the current situation in which the Hungarians find themselves, there is a central cause, a common thread that accounts for the problems with retention, growth, and organization within the American-Hungarian community.

The reason? We just do not get along. With we Hungarians-when our short tempers, stubbornness, pride and know-it-all attitudes get the better of us-bad things happen. (Trust me, I am guilty of all those Hungarian sins, but luckily my mother supplied a healthy dose of Slovak blood to cool my hot blood.) As I see it, the primary reason for the continued decline of the American-Hungarian community is our inability to unite in a common cause. Perhaps it is pride, perhaps it is money, or perhaps it is a need for power, but some people who stand as the decision makers within Hungarian groups and organizations frequently make choices that seem not to be in the best interest of the community. Perhaps it is a simple lack of communication about what our objectives are as a community (dangerous considering how short-fused we Magyars are). At any rate, the current practice is not working; it is not resulting in retention and growth. Is it so hard to work together and to focus on our key objectives?

So, what are the key objectives? Of course, one answer is "celebrating and maintaining Hungarian- American culture." That much is a given, but what the phrase needs is another word: "sustaining." We, as a community, need to "celebrate, maintain, and sustain Hungarian-American culture." Of course, any decisionmaker within the community will promote this objective, but is there an actual commitment to sustain the numbers of Hungarian-Americans involved in the events and organizations of our ethnic heritage? Sometimes, the behavior of our fellows makes you wonder.

For example, rationing the usage of paprika in the

8 0 August 2011 0 William Penn Life