Benson, I graduated with about 900 kids from Hicksville High School in 1962. There were maybe 2 black kids, 1 Asian kid, and a handful of Latino kids. That’s a lot less than 95 percent white.
The great majority of kids were Roman Catholic, mostly Italian and a significant number of Irish kids. Very few Jews. On religious instruction days when the Catholic kids left (Wednesday afternoons?), of the 30 kids in my class, maybe 5 or 6 were left. 3 or 4 Protestants, 1 or 2 Jews.
We were required to stand there during the saying of the Lord’s Prayer (which is a Christian prayer) for several years. This was very hard for the Jewish kids, let me tell you.
I grew up in Hicksville, Long Island. White trash suburb at the time, now with a big Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi population. My claim to fame is that I went to high school and was in chorus with Billy Joel, although he didn’t graduate. (I am OLD!)”
One more point. I could even except the term “white trash” applied to Hicksville if she used such a characterization towards other communities. However, when I pointedly asked Rf once to point out a “black trash” or “hispanic trash” area, she could not.
Hence, my original comment about liberal white guilt. There is a notion on the left these days that all communities except one have cultural values that should be celebrated, and that community is mainstream white Christian culture. The easiest way to spot this is to note that a community that is – say – 95% hispanic will be called “diverse”, but never will a community that is 95% white be called so.
Benson, I have NEVER referred to my home town as “white trash.” I said it was a white, working-class town, which is exactly what it was. I wish you wouldn’t project your hostility for me on what I write.
I believe that I did write that black people, even those that served in the Great War, did not have the opportunity to move into a Levitt house, like we did, because there were enforced restricted covenants in the deeds for these houses. So my parents were able to move from the Bronx, but the black families moving into their old neighborhood did not. That is a fact, a fact that probably made Hicksville whiter than it might have been.
I am not backing down, because it is Rf who constantly refers to the town she grew up in as “white trash” or similar perjoratives.
And let me say something further. I know towns like Hicksville very well, because many people of my father’s generation moved to places like that after WWII, and I will not have them disparaged by someone like Rf. They were not citizens of the world? These were the very men who were shipped off to the Pacific and Europe to have their asses shot at and save the world from fascism. I’d say that THAT counts for a bit more worldly experience than anything a high school student can offer. Just think: many of these men were born to immigrant parents in the middle of Great Depression, and then at the age of 17 (In the case of my father)shipped off to war.
Rf can just brush them aside because, according to her, they moved to Long Island solely due to racism. So easy for her to show her moral superiority at someone else’s expense. Bullshit. While I will not deny that white flight was not a real phenomenon, ANYONE who grew up in New York City at that time felt the pull of Long Island. New York City at that time was extremely dirty and run-down, with crime escalating. When we visited my father’s friends on Long Island at that time, it was hard not to be jealous of what they had: clean, pleasant, green space. And I’m talking about someone growing up in Red Hook and Gravesned, where there was no threat of blacks “moving in”, as it used to be said.
When Rf stops trying to demonstrate her moral superiority at someone else’s expense, I’ll get off her case.
I need to start thinking about organizing jackalfest 2011.
Maybe late June. A few weeks from now. Probably a Saturday. Are people more likely to come on a Saturday or a Sunday? Assume it starts at 4 or so in the afternoon, involves dinner of some sort, and then degrades into cocktails and playing with electromagnets.
A Jew feeling uncomfortable growing up on “Lon Guyland”?!?!?!?!?!?!? That’s got to be about the funniest thing I’ve read all week.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Yeah, Nassau County in the 1950’s was just a notch above the Deep South. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA.
Say, why didn’t Billy Joel or Billy Crystal write about this????
Go ahead: fire away at me for being politically incorrect.
Ok, Benson, point taken about the “white trash” comment. I didn’t remember making it. Please read my other remarks. Thank you.
Benson, I graduated with about 900 kids from Hicksville High School in 1962. There were maybe 2 black kids, 1 Asian kid, and a handful of Latino kids. That’s a lot less than 95 percent white.
The great majority of kids were Roman Catholic, mostly Italian and a significant number of Irish kids. Very few Jews. On religious instruction days when the Catholic kids left (Wednesday afternoons?), of the 30 kids in my class, maybe 5 or 6 were left. 3 or 4 Protestants, 1 or 2 Jews.
We were required to stand there during the saying of the Lord’s Prayer (which is a Christian prayer) for several years. This was very hard for the Jewish kids, let me tell you.
Please don’t tell me about where I grew up.
“By rf on December 24, 2010 2:14 PM
I grew up in Hicksville, Long Island. White trash suburb at the time, now with a big Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi population. My claim to fame is that I went to high school and was in chorus with Billy Joel, although he didn’t graduate. (I am OLD!)”
Snappy;
One more point. I could even except the term “white trash” applied to Hicksville if she used such a characterization towards other communities. However, when I pointedly asked Rf once to point out a “black trash” or “hispanic trash” area, she could not.
Hence, my original comment about liberal white guilt. There is a notion on the left these days that all communities except one have cultural values that should be celebrated, and that community is mainstream white Christian culture. The easiest way to spot this is to note that a community that is – say – 95% hispanic will be called “diverse”, but never will a community that is 95% white be called so.
Benson, I have NEVER referred to my home town as “white trash.” I said it was a white, working-class town, which is exactly what it was. I wish you wouldn’t project your hostility for me on what I write.
I believe that I did write that black people, even those that served in the Great War, did not have the opportunity to move into a Levitt house, like we did, because there were enforced restricted covenants in the deeds for these houses. So my parents were able to move from the Bronx, but the black families moving into their old neighborhood did not. That is a fact, a fact that probably made Hicksville whiter than it might have been.
Snappy and all;
I am not backing down, because it is Rf who constantly refers to the town she grew up in as “white trash” or similar perjoratives.
And let me say something further. I know towns like Hicksville very well, because many people of my father’s generation moved to places like that after WWII, and I will not have them disparaged by someone like Rf. They were not citizens of the world? These were the very men who were shipped off to the Pacific and Europe to have their asses shot at and save the world from fascism. I’d say that THAT counts for a bit more worldly experience than anything a high school student can offer. Just think: many of these men were born to immigrant parents in the middle of Great Depression, and then at the age of 17 (In the case of my father)shipped off to war.
Rf can just brush them aside because, according to her, they moved to Long Island solely due to racism. So easy for her to show her moral superiority at someone else’s expense. Bullshit. While I will not deny that white flight was not a real phenomenon, ANYONE who grew up in New York City at that time felt the pull of Long Island. New York City at that time was extremely dirty and run-down, with crime escalating. When we visited my father’s friends on Long Island at that time, it was hard not to be jealous of what they had: clean, pleasant, green space. And I’m talking about someone growing up in Red Hook and Gravesned, where there was no threat of blacks “moving in”, as it used to be said.
When Rf stops trying to demonstrate her moral superiority at someone else’s expense, I’ll get off her case.
Lechacal, that sounds like fun. I can’t make it on the 25th. I can drive a bunch of the carless if you do it another day.
I need to start thinking about organizing jackalfest 2011.
Maybe late June. A few weeks from now. Probably a Saturday. Are people more likely to come on a Saturday or a Sunday? Assume it starts at 4 or so in the afternoon, involves dinner of some sort, and then degrades into cocktails and playing with electromagnets.