FACES AND PLACES: The language question, all over again (03/07/99)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

The language question, all over again

The one topic that keeps surfacing to haunt our community over and over again is the language question. It boils down to this: can people who do not speak Ukrainian ever become certified members of our community?

The language question came up again at the recent 2020 conference in Chicago. Sponsored by The Heritage Foundation of the First Security Federal Savings Bank, the organizers brought together some of the speakers who participated in the first 2020 conference. The goal was to continue the discussion regarding our future initiated last October in New Jersey.

All of the morning sessions in Chicago were in English. This was a conscious decision on the part of the sponsors who wanted to reach out to the younger generation, more and more of whom are not fluent in Ukrainian. Among some of the speakers it was obvious that the language of preference was English. It was also obvious that some older members in the audience were not pleased with the English-only presentations.

One would think that at a time when we need to become more inclusive in our approach, a language barrier would be the last thing we would want to retain. Not so. Among some Ukrainians the Ukrainian language remains the sine qua non of community membership. If you know it, you're in. If you don't, you're marginal at best, out at worse.

One problem is that so many of our younger Ukrainian language speakers don't care about being "in." After speaking only Ukrainian at home while growing up, attending Saturday school and being members of either SUM or Plast, they have chosen to remain outside of our community. They're "expatriates" who, for a variety of reasons, want no part of us. Language, however, is not the reason for their self-banishment.

Today, many members of the Ukrainian-only crowd are congratulating themselves for having participated in Ukraine's resurrection. "We kept the faith," they tell us. "We preserved the language and the culture, and kept the Ukrainian question alive. People in Ukraine realized this and they are grateful."

Not so. If any Ukrainians in the free world had anything to do with keeping the Ukrainian liberation crusade alive among Western leaders it was people such as Dr. Lev Dobriansky, author of the Captive Nations Resolution. He did not speak Ukrainian, but his English was exquisite. He was an influential figure in Washington who was able to convince Congress, as an American, that recalling the enslaved nations of Eastern Europe was in America's best interests.

Other Ukrainian Americans instrumental in the struggle to free Ukraine were those who became involved in the Republican and Democratic parties. It was they who courted congressmen and senators, reminding them that Ukraine would be a major player in the future, in a free Eastern Europe. Those "patriotic" Ukrainians who refused to become American citizens because they didn't want to "renounce" Ukraine, however, were irrelevant to this process because they couldn't even vote.

I applaud those who kept the faith, but I don't think people in Ukraine share my views. Many people over there laugh at the way we speak and have little appreciation for our brand of Ukrainian culture. Although they are reticent to tell us so, they believe our community is stuck in a 1930s Galicia time-warp. We're museum pieces, interesting to behold, quaint, but hardly relevant.

This does not mean that I believe language is unimportant. Language contributes to one's national consciousness. It is often the cement that binds people together because it is the vehicle by which culture is treasured and transmitted.

Nor do I wish to negate the past efforts of parents and Saturday schools to preserve the Ukrainian language in North America. Thanks to hundreds of parents and our Saturday schools many young Ukrainian professionals are working in Ukraine today, contributing to the nation-building process.

Ukrainian language proficiency should be encouraged, but it should not be the absolute, irrevocable requirement for community membership within a host society. Do Jews in the United States speak Hebrew? Do the Irish speak Gaelic? They don't, and yet their communities are cohesive, visible and an integral part of America's political process.

A sense of belonging, a oneness, will determine our future in the United States, not language. Becoming a Ukrainian is an educational process that begins in the family and can be reinforced by the school and youth organization. The family can teach the Ukrainian child that being Ukrainian is fun. Being Ukrainian means being American plus. Being Ukrainian in the U.S. means having friends all over the world, learning beautiful songs, dancing intricate dances, going Christmas caroling, blessing Easter baskets, making and eating varenyky and holubtsi, celebrating feast days and holidays that are truly unique, and going to malankas. It means reading The Ukrainian Weekly, meeting future spouses at Soyuzivka, putting a trident on your car or a bumper sticker that says "Honk if you're Ukie." It involves participating in an centuries-old religious service which, if liturgically complete, can be one of the most sublime experiences of the week, the envy of American contemporaries seeking spiritual sustenance. Some might call this boutique Ukrainianism, but that's where it all begins; you don't start with the Great Famine; you being with "Taras Bulba" and "Lys Mykyta." If Ukrainian families play it right, kids will become hooked on their Ukrainianism forever and move beyond the externals.

The school's role is important, especially in the teaching of history, both Ukrainian and Ukrainian American. To create a sense of belonging in our youth requires an understanding of their history in America. They need to appreciate the sacrifices that produced our churches, our fraternals, the Shevchenko monument in Washington, the Captive Nations commemorations, protests against the Famine and the Polish pacification, the Ukraine Famine Commission and three Harvard chairs. They need to know that our community has been under fire for the past 70 years and that it was only principled perseverance that allowed Ukrainians to prevail. These are heroic struggles which, if properly presented, can enhance the ethnic self-consciousness of our youth and inspire some of them to embrace their heritage wholly and completely.

Language is a means to an end, a vehicle of communication. If we wish to reach the younger generation, we have to speak their language.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected]

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