The Burning Question: Ethnic Pride, who needs it?

Generic Global Person says,"I am from Earth and I love football and coca cola!"



Ashyknista says, "It's time for the Ashy Nation to rise up and meet her destiny in an Ashy land for Ashy people. Vive L'Ashystan!" (portrait by Shasta Red)

It's not so much of a burning question, more of an itchy question.

I know asking about the value of ethnicity is a bit like asking about the value of toenails. Nearly everybody's got them, so you might as well enjoy them and be proud of them. You don't have to paint them, but it would be a lot more fun if you did. Yet, after reading A New History of India and seeing No Man's Land, I wondered, does ethnicity serve some purpose beyond providing me with a variety of lunch trucks to chose from and providing other people with excuses to blow each other up?

Of course, ethnic pride didn't stop my brother and his wife from playing nice.

After recounting about her visits to her grandparents family compound in Southie for the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, my sister-in-law said with a nostalgic sigh in her voice, "I guess my kids won't get the full Irish experience." Is this such a bad thing?

I know my brother won't be asking our parents to dig out our Great Blacks in History flashcards from the 70's for the my nephews, either. Is that such a loss?

Without events and rituals, manufactured as they may be, will my nephews' identities languish in some consumer culture limbo with no one to relate to but perhaps (and so remotely) the cast of Mucha Lucha?

Oh, my people!