Friday, August 27, 2010

The Negro: The Southerner's Problem; by Thomas Nelson Page.

I recall talking to a colleague from Carolina about this - I had just visited pars of south and the difference was startling, the confidence in north versus the sullen, expecting nothing, hostile look in the south (not that the confident ones in the north were always polite or happy or well behaved, but confident they certainly were) - and she explained that in north people live separate and don't interact while southerners live mixed racially and they know their (I forget the exact word, did she say black, or negro, what words did I use then, .. the now prevalent African American is relatively new and reminds one that European Americans are supposed to be default Americans however equally migrants, non natives) people across racial barriers.

Later she married someone who said Germany's wwii leader was not as bad as the one that had been in Russia during wwii, since the former had exterminated "other" people and the latter his own, in comparative numbers. I found this shocking enough to turn to her and ask why she had married him (her parents had been anxious to know if he had been the wrong race until they met him). She shrugged, but later assaulted me verbally in public in a disgusting manner.
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In Germany often there were angry mutterings by Germans against Turkish residents, with the excuse that they did not speak German. The second generation certainly does, in fact they have never been to Turkey and consider Germany their home, but are nevertheless aware of being seen as non German by others and second class citizens of the nation they have been born and brought up in. The right to citizenship used to be granted by ancestry but not by birth, so a third generation Turkish person was still not a citizen but a Russian of German ancestry who had never visited had a right to claim the citizenship. This was the tiny fact along with the recent migration of a lot of such Germans from Russia that probably had the language teacher assigned to us claim that Germany had most immigrants in Europe.

And as a matter of fraudulent claims I always thought the language teacher stating that Germany had far more immigrants than any other European nation took the bakery, since obviously the top was UK, it is visible, while any different looking person in Germany can feel all eyes on him just as it happens south of Ohio.

Another colleague in Germany, a decent man, was speaking about the Turkish German problem as Germans see it - there were Italian migrant workers but then the economy improved back in Italy and they went back home (I was reminded of Bread And Chocolate, a film we saw in US) but the Turkish migrants who had been invited as needed for labour for the economy were not leaving.

When Germany introduced the Green Card they expected a flood of workers as in US to come boost the economy, but they were told it was unlikely - for the simple reason that the German Green Card is limited in time and has no option of renewal or permanent residence or citizenship, unlike US; and it is unrealistic, inhuman, to expect people to come away from homeland for years, contribute labour, have no relationship with residents, not bring families, not make home in the land where they work, and leave after investing a part of their lives to boost the economy of a stranger land where they have no stake whatsoever ultimately.

This is not that different from the slave labour of southern US and the attitude behind the book. Post emancipation, at least.
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At one point the colleague spoke disdainfully of "economic refugees" - Germany has liberal laws accepting any political refugees immediately, housing and feeding them, etc. while they cannot find work and be a part of the new nation as long as their cases are investigated, and a flood of Tamil refugees from Srilanka had Germans muttering about the abuse of their law and close the easy entry for visitors from India (until a few decades ago Indians did not need visa for Germany or UK, perhaps Canada). I pointed out that in fact it was fault of the law - those that arrive officially for work contribute to the economy and pay taxes as well in spite of Germans and not the tax paying visitors being able to avail any financial aid from the state; but a political refugee might very well be what the home country sees as unwanted for good reason, a terrorist. The colleague found this startling thought. After all Khomeini had been a refugee in Paris, I pointed out.
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US abhors any thought of sharing products of labour of many except by bargain and contract however unfair, and that is the real problem, not the race of the emancipated slaves or any other workers. But in case of the slaves, they were captured, forced to travel in inhuman circumstances, sold against their will by strangers to strangers, and forced to work on places they had no stake in. The problem is the slavery imposed on them and their ancestors, and the solution is a greater share of the communal goodies - education, medicine, opportunities, jobs, et al. It is only fair.

It does not happen that way though. While other more deserving colleagues did not get job offers the southern colleague who even gave up for a while since she found it difficult to continue had a prime position due to her husband's position in US, and the fact of their race probably was a large reason why she had no trouble getting a job in a field she had given up as too difficult to finish a degree.