In the dank, chilly alleyways that dot Policka, the Vietnamese can be found selling their wares-- usually a mixture of cheaply-made clothing, slippers and plastic sunglasses. They work constantly. Everyday they are the first ones on the street in the morning and the last ones to roll up their awnings and make their way home when dusk has arrived. Throughout the day they stand and speak to one another in Vietnamese, or they are busy dusting their wares. I've never spoken with them before, except for the one time when Jamie wanted to buy a small case for her camera. The Vietnamese women asked me what I was looking for and when I spoke back to her in heavily-accented Czech, she gave me a curt smile, which was barely noticeable. For a split second, I looked at her and realized we had an emotional connection: Neither of us were native.
Immigration is all in the news--both in the US and Europe--for numerous reasons. Just this past week there was a special edition newspaper that came out that had four pages of articles covering the immigrant's experience in the Czech Republic. Many of the young people interviewed were of Asian or Russian decent, as these are two of the largest groups of immigrants that are flooding into the Czech Republic. And Czech people don't trust them. They believe that all Russians and Ukrainians are thieves and mobsters and they are convinced that if more Asians come the Czech republic will lose its traditional cultural identity. (What was interesting for me was the fact that no Americans were interviewed for the piece, even though Americans make up one of the largest immigrant communities in the Czech Republic. It shows me that even though I'm not native, I'm much easier to assimilate (or ignore) due to the fact that I actually look like a Czech. Many of the 'new' Czechs who were interviewed were pretty animate in saying that the Czech Republic as a society is unjustly scared of anybody foreign. In the news, most reporting about foreigners comes from a negative perspective. There are overwhelming instances where crime was the only news worth covering in the immigrant communities: "Foreign-born Vietnamese Man Rapes Czech Girl."
I would say that each country has al limit on how many immigrants they can assimilate. This comes into play much more often in Europe than in the United States due to the fact that European nations sare constantly in a battle to preserve their language and "Kultur." For Americans this might seem like one never-ending pissing contest in childish proclamations of which country has the best cheese, or what it means to be a Frenchman, but here these battles take on national importance. Consequently, when there is an influx of foreign-born workers in some of these small, culturally-homogenous European nations (like the Czech Republic), the first reaction on the part of the natives is not positive. Instead, there is a palpable feeling of distrust and even animosity to the newcomer, especially the ones who threaten to change both the genetic and the architectural make-up of the nation (Africans and those Muslims with their very Arabic-looking mosques). There are plenty of examples from the public/civic sphere of European life where this societal fear has manifested itself into some pretty crazy laws (from my very politically-correct, American perspective). Switzerland’s law to ban the building of minarets; France's revocation of citizenship if a woman chooses to wear a burka; or, the Czech Republic's attempt at eradicating Mongols by offering them 500 Euro to go back home. Even in my own personal life I've come across very dangerous sentiments from Europeans speaking about immigration. When I asked my friends from Holland why they moved to the Czech Republic, they answered,"Because back in the Netherlands everyone is black now. Here things are different." I think the "things are different" phrase simply means that people are STILL white in Policka.
And yet, as I read the articles and heard about the stories and experiences from some of the immigrants, I couldn't help but feel a sense of camaraderie with them--which if I thought about it on a deeper level is quite silly and a little romantic. I don't speak any Asian language, my skin-tone is that of a northern European, my eyes are blue, my native language is indo-European, and my second language is Czech. I am way more Czech than I am Mongolian, Russian, Vietnamese, African or Brazilian. I'm a Christian, not a Buddhist, and I eat more mashed potatoes than curry (sadly). But I felt as if I could understand them and relate to their struggles of feeling unwanted and never being able to throw-off the label of being 'not Czech'. Why?
I think we as people should never underestimate the unity that arises between people that feel they are unwanted. As I go back to America, I feel that I will be more cognizant of the fact that there are groups of Americans who at some point in their history (and today) have been unwanted by the mass culture at the time: Afro-Americans, Asians, Muslims, and most importantly for today, Hispanics. We as a nation have great potential in the fact that we are such a mixed place. Sadly, we will never be able to tap into it if we keep falling into the trap of cultural protectionism. All that will do is alienate pockets of our population.
And yes, I'm thinking about Arizona....
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