I am writing this letter in response to the guest view in which Ray Rodriguez accused the administration of San Benito High School of racism based on having separate presentations in both English and Spanish that were related, but not the same, and your response to it in the paper. While I agree with neither of you, I do agree with both of you in one sense: the time has come for all people of all races, colors, religions, physical abilities and ethnicities to be treated fairly and equally and to have equal opportunities and access to all our society has to offer. I have a simple suggestion as to how we might achieve this. It has to do with getting rid of one small punctuation mark that will forever cause race to be an issue in this and all countries, THE HYPHEN.
I am willing to bet that if you asked anyone you know who is directly connected to World War II and the great depression (by this I mean either you yourself were alive, or you are a child of a person who was alive, not a grandchild) when asked what they are, would answer an American. I find it interesting that as the civil rights movement was at its peak children were being born who were one generation removed from WWII and the great depression and began to use hyphens when identifying themselves. What I mean for example is Asian-American, disabled American, native-American, African American, Mexican American, European American, etc. When did we stop being Americans? My own ancestry would use a whole batch of hyphens as on my Dad’s side of the family one of the first Logues came from Ireland during the potato famine, and we are also direct descendants of both Pocahantas and John Quincy Adams, and on my Mom’s side we would be related to all the Noltes as they were as German as you can get, but none of us ever uses a hyphen when identifying our nationality. I was born in California, that makes me an American, plain and simple. I do not feel it appropriate to begin my nationality with anything else. What I really don’t understand either is if you are going to use a hyphen why it wouldn’t be American-Asian, or American-Native, by listing the American part second it seems clear to me that you are saying that it is second in priority.
We will never achieve true equality if people cling to their hyphens. What you are really saying by using a hyphen is that you feel in some way special because of the first part of your ethnicity, but equality means everyone being equal. Being special is by definition not being equal and is therefore “separate” but wait I thought “separate” but equal was unconstitutional? I am a Child of God, an American, a Californian, a Hollisterite ( I think this is correct), a Neighbor, a Husband and a Father. I am sure that many people will call me a racist or whatever, but the simple truth is we are not living in a multi-national country, multi cultural maybe, but not multi national, make a choice either you are an American or you are not.
Randy Logue, Hollister
