Opa Opa! Greek culture is alive in Motown

Time has not been kind to Detroit, MIchigan. Especially hard hit have been the city's ethnic enclaves. The impact of urban decay and white flight is that ethnic communities abandoned their former neighborhoods in the city, moving to the blandness of suburbia.

This said, it's nice to see Greater Detroit's Greek-American returning to the city to celebrate.
Thousands turned out Sunday for the 12th Annual Detroit Greek Independence Day Parade down Monroe Street. Participants dressed in traditional military garb and traditional Greek costumes.

This weekend also marked the grand opening of the Hellenic History Museum of Michigan, located in a red brick mansion across from the Detroit Institute of the Arts in the Midtown section.There's a bittersweet irony to this: Greek history is making a comeback in Detroit at the same time the city considers to sell off its art collection due to bankruptcy.

(Cold War) Politics makes strange bedfellows, indeed

American essayist Charles Dudley Warner once said "Politics makes strange bedfellows". The United States government was quite ambivalent towards former Nazis in the period after World War II, as highlighted in the book "Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America's Open-Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals".

Author Richard Rashke contends that the government found former Nazis useful in the struggle against Communism. Among the war criminals is John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-American living in the Cleveland area who once worked as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Poland. Also discussed is German scientist Wernher von Braun, who helped produce V-2 rockets used against Great Britain during the War. Von Braun went on to receive the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service in 1959.

Albanians entering via Mexico

The Texas border with Mexico is a well known crossing for illegal immigrants trying to enter the United States. Just the mention of illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. conjures up images of impoverished Mexicans.  And yes, most detainees stopped by U.S. Border Patrol originate from Mexico and Central America. However a local reporter tells how Albanians are increasingly taking this same route to enter the United States illegally.

To find Albanians entering a third country to gain access into the US illegally shows how issues of immigration and border security are bigger than just a Latino concern. Too often, the plight of immigrants is framed as a Latino issue, instead of what it really is: a human issue. Perhaps immigrant advocates would see more results from our elected leaders if they would focus on how immigrant issues impact all groups, not just one particular linguistic group.

Growing Pains for New York's Italian American Museum

The Italian American Museum in New York's Little Italy has outgrown its current space in a restored 1800's brownstone. Plans include selling the building to a developer, and then relocating the museum into an expanded space inside the structure that replaces the brownstone. The museum's current location on the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets once housed “Banca Stabile”, which served newly arrived immigrants from Italy.

Czech Village rebuilds

The Cedar River ravaged Czech Village in Cedar Rapids 3 years ago.The neighborhood is slowly slowly rebuilding. Highlights in Czech Village include Czech businesses like the Sykora Bakery, and cultural institutions like National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. Both were damaged in the floods.

Woodlawn, New York

As the economy in Ireland grows and recedes, so does Irish immigration to the United States.

A perfect example is New York's Woodlawn neighborhood. Woodlawn straddles both sides of the Bronx and Yonkers border. Forty percent of residents here claim Irish ancestry. Although the percentage slipped in the past decade, the number of immigrants arriving in again increasing, concurrent with an economic downturn in Ireland.

New Britain, Connecticut

About 20% of residents in New Britain, Connecticut claim Polish heritage. This makes it the largest Polish-American community in New England, and the city is affectionately called "New Britski". The heart of the Polish community is centered on the city's Broad Street, as profiled in this photo gallery.