Allow me to join the chorus of folks who've decried Donald Trump's incredibly insensitive observations about foreign countries. Sadly, I join in part because I'm of the opinion that The Donald would have said the same thing about
Carpatho-Russia, the area of eastern Europe from which my grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, and even the occasional boarder at Grandma P.'s house, migrated to western Pennsylvania.
 |
| Mukachevo, now part of Ukraine, was the center of the province from
which Boytims, Mahuskys, Petrovskys, and Semes, among others, came to the
United States. |
In this blog and on others, I've written about the richness, the diversity, of growing up in a working-class community. Not only was North Braddock home to folks of eastern European descent, it also gave southern European, Gaelic, African-American, and Jewish folks a safe harbor. On the 1300 block of Bell Avenue, I regularly heard five languages other than English. From the top of 13th Street, I could look down into Braddock to see the spires of at least seven ethnic (Croatian, German, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Polish, and Serb) churches.
I doubt Mr. Trump would have been comfortable in the atmosphere in which I grew up. Again sadly, it appears he may have been more at home with the Klan members who burned crosses on the hilltops in Munhall and Homestead, across the Monongahela River from Braddock and North Braddock.
I go through my cooks'-tour description, not out of animus against Donald Trump (though I have some of that), but for a more important reason. Anger begets anger, and hate begets hate. Comments like those Donald Trump made this past Thursday could very easily be seen, by the weak- or sick-minded, as an endorsement for violent, anti-social activities. In that context,
Martin Niemoller was absolutely right ...
