John Wayne - Hyphenated-Americans

    While I generally disagree with the premise that hyphens are a "wall" rather than a bridge, I think that John Wayne's remarks on the ethnic fragmentation of America are well thought out and clearly stated.

    Enjoy.

The Hyphen by John Wayne

The Hyphen, Webster's Dictionary defines,
Is a symbol used to divide a compound word or a single
word.
So it seems to me that when a man calls himself
An "Afro-American," a "Mexican-American," "Italian-
American,"
An "Irish-American," "Jewish-American,"
What he's sayin' is, "I'm a divided American."

an update in response to HadW...

kjirtslijch ... 

An Update on the Drought-related Tensions of Mennonites in Chihuahua:

   

    The Mexican consulate of Minnesota has confirmed that there are increasing tensions in the Chihuahua region between Mennonites, non-Mennonites and others over land and water resources.  The Consulate also confirms that rumours have been circulating in the national press of Mexico that the Mennonites are going to immigrate elsewhere.  BUT there has been no confirmation from authorities in the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Mexico or Tatarstan, Russia, that any of the smaller Mexican Mennonite groups have or are planning to immigrate back to Russia.  You will recall that it is from Russia that these Mennonites’ fore-parents fled as refugees from legal and religious persecution by Tsarist officials and later, economic, political and physical persecution from the Soviets.

    It seems clear that there have been some sort of contacts regarding immigration potential by Mennonites from Chihuahua elsewhere due to the drought and rising tensions with non-Mennonite neighbours.  BUT this is also a very normal thing for Mennonites.  As Mennonites communities, congregations and kolonies increase in size, small groups often leave to establish new communities and farms elsewhere.  In fact, Amish and Hutterite groups within the United States and Canada are constantly making news with their plans to move to new areas to buy inexpensive land for establishing new farms, communities and families.  So the entire immigration angle might be true but have nothing to do with any potential conflict or even the drought.  The Russia and Kazakh angles are interesting only in that they would indicate a return to the Mennonite diaspora’s ancestral “homeland.”