I understand where you are coming from; some of my childhood included growing up in a predominantly white suburb, in my pre-New York days (I shudder to think of them).
But my POV is colored by the fact that I am New Yorker, and my experience is influenced by what New York City is. Would anyone honestly believe you if you said that New York City is not American (especially after 9/11)?
But guess what? This quintesstially American city is also Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, Dominican-dominated Washington Heights - Manhattan, the black and Puerto-Rican Bronx, Hasidic Jewish Williamsburg - Brooklyn, Indian and Pakistani Jackson Heights - Queens, Polish Greenpoint - Brooklyn, Irish Woodside - Queens. And in all of these neighborhoods, you'll find hard-working Spanish, Irish, Russian, Chinese immigrants working low-paying jobs driven around by turban-wearing taxi drivers whose passenger dividers are covered with American flags. All of them come from different places, with different customs, and different cultures, but all are just as equally New York, and hence equally American. Take the minorities out of NYC, and guess what, you've just taken out the very heart of the city that represents America to much of the world.
Yes, I know, New York City is a singular example, and in a category of its own. But then again, really, if New York City is not American, then what is?
Good post; we need more discussions like this in fantasy and science fiction.
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Thu, Jun. 1st, 2006 07:54 pm (UTC)But my POV is colored by the fact that I am New Yorker, and my experience is influenced by what New York City is. Would anyone honestly believe you if you said that New York City is not American (especially after 9/11)?
But guess what? This quintesstially American city is also Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, Dominican-dominated Washington Heights - Manhattan, the black and Puerto-Rican Bronx, Hasidic Jewish Williamsburg - Brooklyn, Indian and Pakistani Jackson Heights - Queens, Polish Greenpoint - Brooklyn, Irish Woodside - Queens. And in all of these neighborhoods, you'll find hard-working Spanish, Irish, Russian, Chinese immigrants working low-paying jobs driven around by turban-wearing taxi drivers whose passenger dividers are covered with American flags. All of them come from different places, with different customs, and different cultures, but all are just as equally New York, and hence equally American. Take the minorities out of NYC, and guess what, you've just taken out the very heart of the city that represents America to much of the world.
Yes, I know, New York City is a singular example, and in a category of its own. But then again, really, if New York City is not American, then what is?
Good post; we need more discussions like this in fantasy and science fiction.