Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Future is Now
I went to a high school Senior Honors Assembly the other day. The ceremony was touching in many ways, but the thing that struck me the hardest about things was the makeup of the students receiving the awards. No, not how the girls did their eyeliner, which is often bad enough in high school. I mean the ethnic mix of the students.
Not to sound like Chris Rock (too much) but the Asians really did have a lot of representation. But, and this is more important to what I'm writing about, so did the Latinos, the Phillipinos, the African-Americans (who call themselves black, by the way,) and even a few kids that mom and pop might have called "regular." Las Vegas has no majority ethnic group. We're like Southern California that way, and like the entire country is going to be in twenty years. If you find that vexing, well, there isn't much I can say to make you feel better. And, unfortunately for some theorists, nobody is accusing Ms. Wong or Mr. Aquino of being here illegally.
My students are Sophomores and Freshmen, but the mix is similar. Here are descriptions of a few of them. There is the boy from Central America who's Spanish, English and French are all pretty good. There's the girl from Samoa, who hopes to go back home after graduation (it's still in America, by the way.) I have the kid from Cambodia who is not that hot at English, but who is even worse at Spanish, except for the bad words. I have a Mexican boy who warns me never to trust a Mexican. A real joker, that one. I have the tall blond kid who only wants to study guitar but who will probably pass out of the ninth-grade science course anyway. I have quite a few kids of Mexican heritage who insist that I use their Anglicized names. And I have about a hundred and fifty more just like those, boys and girls alike.
So, to get to the point about politics, maybe you think it odd that a vital looking black dude names Obama beat out a stiff old white guy named McCain, but I don't. The mix of the rising generation is just about the same as the mix of my students. Even the white kids (that's what the students call them, so don't write me about it) prefer a guy like Obama to old gray white dudes. And, unlike the current crop of people moving into middle age, young folks like to vote. For the record, people in my cohort, the older Boomers, like to vote, too. For those younger than me but older than Obama's base, your failure to participate is largely responsible for the sorry state of our government. So screw you, okay?
To give another word of advice to the Republicans, they're going to have to come to grips with a new, multi ethnic America. In fact, one of my black students told me that "Obama isn't black." She's right. He calls himself a "mutt." Well, most of us are, and most of the country is going to come out of the "mutt" closet in the near future. If the Grand Old Party will stop arguing amongst it's few remaining stalwarts and take a look at reality, it may yet regain its strength. If not, somebody else will have to do it, because the old, "white" America just isn't around any more. Sorry about that, old cracker!
Steve
Not to sound like Chris Rock (too much) but the Asians really did have a lot of representation. But, and this is more important to what I'm writing about, so did the Latinos, the Phillipinos, the African-Americans (who call themselves black, by the way,) and even a few kids that mom and pop might have called "regular." Las Vegas has no majority ethnic group. We're like Southern California that way, and like the entire country is going to be in twenty years. If you find that vexing, well, there isn't much I can say to make you feel better. And, unfortunately for some theorists, nobody is accusing Ms. Wong or Mr. Aquino of being here illegally.
My students are Sophomores and Freshmen, but the mix is similar. Here are descriptions of a few of them. There is the boy from Central America who's Spanish, English and French are all pretty good. There's the girl from Samoa, who hopes to go back home after graduation (it's still in America, by the way.) I have the kid from Cambodia who is not that hot at English, but who is even worse at Spanish, except for the bad words. I have a Mexican boy who warns me never to trust a Mexican. A real joker, that one. I have the tall blond kid who only wants to study guitar but who will probably pass out of the ninth-grade science course anyway. I have quite a few kids of Mexican heritage who insist that I use their Anglicized names. And I have about a hundred and fifty more just like those, boys and girls alike.
So, to get to the point about politics, maybe you think it odd that a vital looking black dude names Obama beat out a stiff old white guy named McCain, but I don't. The mix of the rising generation is just about the same as the mix of my students. Even the white kids (that's what the students call them, so don't write me about it) prefer a guy like Obama to old gray white dudes. And, unlike the current crop of people moving into middle age, young folks like to vote. For the record, people in my cohort, the older Boomers, like to vote, too. For those younger than me but older than Obama's base, your failure to participate is largely responsible for the sorry state of our government. So screw you, okay?
To give another word of advice to the Republicans, they're going to have to come to grips with a new, multi ethnic America. In fact, one of my black students told me that "Obama isn't black." She's right. He calls himself a "mutt." Well, most of us are, and most of the country is going to come out of the "mutt" closet in the near future. If the Grand Old Party will stop arguing amongst it's few remaining stalwarts and take a look at reality, it may yet regain its strength. If not, somebody else will have to do it, because the old, "white" America just isn't around any more. Sorry about that, old cracker!
Steve
Labels: Politics, Social Commentary
