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[SJC <indexer AT localnet.com>]

bob ford wrote:
> Well I am confused Susan; I thought you were German?  It's none of my 
> business, but I could have sworn that you said, once, that German was your 
> first language.  Who malighns Germans? Well..........bobford
>
>   
Hey, Bob!  Not all German-speakers are German!  Languages show up 
sometimes in what might be considered unexpected places, for instance 
Portuguese in Brazil.....German in Paraguay....Dutch in central 
Manitoba....Khmer in Minnesota.//.....VietNamese in South Carolina...... 
migration, migration, migration...

And it's not the language which drew/draws derision, it's the 
misunderstood people/group itself.  I grew up in an Old Order German 
Baptist Brethren, Lediite group in west central Indiana.  They spoke, 
still do, a form of German.  They have been and often still are, the 
butt of many lousy laws, sordid minds, jokes, general ridicule, and who 
knows what else.  I understand to the core discrimination and 
prejudice....   It is still "home" and they are still "my people", 
albeit I've been gone these many years.

Susan Jane, in Maine