One more go, Cosmo.
In Orange County, CA the locals weren't too relaxed by the influx of Vietnamese boat people in the early 80's.
But I'd argue that those perceptions we inherited from the French colonials.
I'll bet the people with the "perceptions" you refer to never even heard of French colonialism.
Americans have almost always greeted new immigrant groups with fear and suspicion. In the 19th century, one of my own ancestors, a famous preacher, responded to the influx of Catholic Irish, Italians, and Poles by rushing off to found a seminary in Ohio, to combat the spread of "Papism." And the "Papist" immigrants were widely perceived by the Anglo Protestant majority as ignorant, dirty, lazy, and immoral. I can still remember when the Irish in Manhattan were at the bottom of the social totem pole, along with the blacks. (The Irish kids at my school, I recall, all seemed to have green teeth.)
Then the Irish moved on, and the Puerto Ricans moved in. As soon as people "got used to" the Puerto Ricans, along came the Dominicans, who were even "dirtier," even "louder," even whatever...
Melting pot or no, newcomers are not pelted with flowers, shall we say, at least, not if they are poor.
I think Russians' fear of dark complexion is possibly rooted in the fear generated by the "Cossacks" whom they have now generalized into a pervasive fear of any pigmented person. Again, a 19th century fear, IMO.
Umm....Do you mean "Caucasians" (from the Caucasus)? Cossacks are not "pigmented"; they are not even an ethnic group. Cossacks were originally runaway serfs, and other "misfits," who set themselves up just outside the borders of the Russian Empire, where they occupied themselves with banditry. Eventually, as the Empire expanded, the Cossacks were absorbed, and were turned into a special military caste, used primarily to guard the borders. Although the term "Cossack" is of Turkic origin (like the name "Kazakh," applied to a nomadic Turkic people), Cossacks are overwhelmingly Russian and Ukrainian by ethnic origin.
As for the Caucasians, those in the Transcaucasus are predominantly swarthy (but no more so than Semites or Iranians), but most of those on the European side of the mountains are fair-skinned, with a liberal sprinkling of blue-eyed blondes among them.
My point about Russians' attitude to true "Negroes" is that
it seems to spring from unfamiliarity. If you have never seen a "black" up close, the more likely you are to stare -- and to point derisively.
As for their labelling non-blacks (Uzbeks, Tadjiks, Caucasians, etc.) as "blacks" (or "black asses" -- a favorite expression), then that, indeed, may stem from a guilty conscience, a suppressed awareness that they once conquered these people, and annexed their territories by force.
Did you know that some years ago both houses of the U.S. Congress adopted resolutions, formally apologizing to native Hawaiians for the annexation of Hawaii? I can't imagine the Russians doing anything similar. But until they do, they will never, IMO, be at peace with themselves. |
