Posted by Joe on August 24, 2000 at 22:26:18:
In Reply to: Re: Hey, Joe is back! posted by Ukie on August 21, 2000 at 16:47:55:
To Ukie from Joe,
: : After all, regarding the Russia you should know better, because you shared with them the same country for over 400 years not me and not Rusyns of Subcarpathia.
: How come you call themeselves Russians, Joe? I visited one Rusyn priest in US sometime ago. ...
RE: Rusyns called themselves Rusyn and not Russian or Ukrainian. This story of yours you should tell to people who have been working for INS. They translated Rusyn into English equivalent Russian. The INS workers did not know about the existence of correct equivalent Ruthen for Rusyns. [ Austrians and Germans starting several centuries’ back have used Ruthen for Rusyns.] This had happened more than one hundred years ago when the majority of the Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants arrived to the U.S.A. However, those INS workers did not know about Ukrainians either, and they were sometimes designated as Russians too.
Important is that in the US Carpatho-Rusyn Americans represent the distinct ethnic group similarly as other over 51 ethnic groups in the USA. (The Czech Americans, the Irish Americans, the Jewish Americans etc ). So, what's your point? By the way, if you are interested to know more about it, there is a series of monographs entitled “The Peoples of North America”. You can find concise description of the culture, history etc., of each of 51 distinct ethnic groups including the Carpatho-Rusyn Americans, the Russian Americans, the Ukrainian Americans etc. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the famous senator from New York, wrote the introductory essay for these books. Please read it. I am sure, it will help you to get rid off the overarching Pan-Slavic stereotype: “we are all Slavs and therefore Rusyns have to be Ukrainians.” Well,thank God, this is not valid in America.