"LIVING IN POLONIA"

A HOUSE DIVIDED

 

A cursory view of the organized Polonia community may give rise to the perception that all is unity and agreement. If only that were the reality.

 

A closer look will reveal that there are at least two mostly separate communities. As unfortunate as it may be, Polonia is divided into the American Polish and the Polish American. The same thing? Hardly.

 

The American Polish community is composed of Polish-born persons of relatively recent immigration. Their bodies are here, but their hearts are in Poland. The U.S. is basically an island to which they fled, uncertain if it would be forever.

 

The Polish American community is made of those who have been born here. They are two or more generations away from the old country. They respect and honor Poland, but their feet are fully planted in America. Their numbers include those who came here on the heels of World War II, knowing that their settling would be permanent.

 

This apparent division is not illusory. It is real and ingrained. It is also understandable.

 

A very recent example, from January in fact, when Poland’s television governing body disallowed the primary Catholic channel from digital broadcasting, will illustrate the situation. There was a veritable uproar among American Poles, although they were not personally touched. Polish Americans, on the other hand, either had no knowledge of the communications ruling or viewed it as an internal Polish matter, for Poles and not them to decide.

 

The American Poles turned out in the hundreds in protests at consulates in New York and Chicago, and in larger numbers in Toronto, where they are even less assimilated and more seriously attached to the homeland. For America’s older Polonia, though, it was a non-event.

 

A less dramatic, but often forceful, protest has been ongoing among American Poles ever since the plane crash at Smolensk that killed the Polish President and 95 others. Claims against both Russians and Polish officials continue.

 

Most recently, there is a renewed effort to involve the U.S. Congress in the issue and an opportunist Congressman, Peter King of New York, has been easily swayed by the Polish-born to carry the banner to the Capitol Building. It delights the Americans Poles because they swing to the right and it is a boon to the phony King because he will please a portion of his constituency. Likewise, there is no foreseeable loss, as Polish Americans would just leave the matter to Poland and his congressional colleagues view King as an aberration anyway.

 

Such issues would be of no concern, except that they create discord among American Poles, who are most deeply concerned with events in the Fatherland, and Polish Americans, who earnestly desire emphasis on the many problems they see for Polonia in the United States.

 

An amalgam of Polish and American topics might be workable, but both groups want superiority for their agendas. Moreover, the immigrant faction tends to be conservative and the Americans often adopt more liberal positions. Even religion sometimes forms a silent barrier. A satisfactory mix has not yet been found, and it appears at present that such a blending is not in the offing.

 

Social groups are occasionally successful in combining American Poles and Polish Americans, but they, sadly, are not common. Political associations are even far less likely to form the ties that bind.

 

Perhaps the answer is to actually separate the “house divided” and let each strive toward its own goals. That is a hard answer to accept, but it may be the only viable solution. It would be interesting to know what you, members of each Polonia segment, think and what you feel is the solution. You are certainly welcome to give us your opinion.

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