So my kind should be grateful?
Vitriol spewed forth from the letter in waves, which isn’t uncommon when the letter writer chooses – with good reason, lest the depth of his ignorance be known to all – to remain anonymous. Critical of some things published on this page about some men he apparently considers great Anglo-Saxons, the writer wanted to set the record straight: “The English, Germans (and) Scottish pioneered this country” in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, traveling in covered wagons and cutting down trees.
“The problem with you is you don’t study history.”
“Your kind didn’t blow in here … until the late 1800s and early 1900s,” when they “jumped on the bandwagon of all the opportunities the English, Scottish and Germans pioneered to give you.”
And my personal favorite: “Get rid of your cocky, arrogant, smart elic (spelling purposely uncorrected) attitude and be like the old pioneers of 1600-1700-1800, (the) Germans, English and Scottish etc. that gave us this country.”
What does it all prove? That ignorance can indeed be a pretty scary thing. Although the writer asked me not to “retaliate” and to merely accept his six-page missive as “Godly advice,” I’m too cocky and arrogant, and way too much of a “smart elic,” to do that.
My kind didn’t blow in here until the turn of the last century? I guess that writer has surmised that there’s some Eastern European blood surging through my veins, which is correct. And I’m proud of it.
Still, I guess that I should be eternally grateful for all that the English, Germans and Scottish did to help pave my way. But then I’d have to be grateful to myself. You see, my maternal grandmother was Dutch (Stouffer) and German (Harshman). They were here way before the turn of the century. They probably even traveled in a covered wagon or two, and who knows, they might have even cut down a tree somewhere, although I have no proof of that.
As luck would have it, studying history just happens to be one of my specialties. In particular, I like oral histories – you know, the kind passed down from generation to generation. One of my favorite topics is the way that turn-of-the-century coal miners like those in my family – the Slovakian immigrants as well as my Dutch-German ancestors – got treated when they “jumped on the bandwagon” of all those opportunities provided by the English, Scottish and Germans.
What a life! I bet they thanked H.C. Frick every day for the chance to work underground in real dangerous conditions for very low wages. Surely they praised the English, Scottish and Germans for blackballing them if they were suspected of labor union activity. And don’t forget about the strike of 1922, when their English, Scottish and German benefactors threw them out of their houses, making them live through winter in a makeshift shack in a friendly farmer’s field.
Those were the days. Nothing like having the coal company value a horse’s life more than a man’s. My late grandmother, the one who was Dutch and German, lived through those times and often spoke about them. Funny thing, but she didn’t seem to think it very proper that her Dad (who was Dutch) would work all day hand-digging slate and not get paid a cent because he hadn’t mined any coal.
She also didn’t think it too nice that in the 1920s, when paper ballots were used, the mine superintendent (who was probably English but might have been Scottish or German) would stand at the ballot box on Election Day to make sure that my kind had voted Republican. If they didn’t, that benevolent English/Scottish/German fellow would make sure that my kind no longer had a job.
Beyond calling him chicken, I have a news flash for this letter writer: If you’re looking for someone to bow down to the rich and powerful just because that’s what they are, you’re shopping at the wrong mall. I’m not your guy and never will be.
The country that I live in – and yes, the country that my kind helped make great – doesn’t require me to do that.
And after all, I am part German.
Paul Sunyak is editorial page editor of the Herald-Standard. He can be reached at 724-439-7577 or psunyak@heraldstandard.com