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Multicultural Moments - a periodic newsletter ezine with brief items of note on our multicultural lives.

Hello, again, and welcome to this edition of Multicultural Moments. 

So how did you spend the United States’ Independence Day July 4, 2004?  I was fortunate to celebrate it in a gathering of multicultural Americans hosted by a Chinese-American friend (15th year of her American citizenship) and her Croation-American husband.   Diversity was represented through professions, gender, age and countries of origin, to say nothing of interests.  Our hosts entertained us with a fascinating slide show of their recent business tour around the world.  Altogether, a true multicultural moment .   

In these momentous times it is useful to reflect on the difficulties of establishing and maintaining a democratic form of government.  Independence Day reminded us it took the U.S. about 20 years to “get it off the ground,” and we still struggle.  The process has never been easy, and requires continual examination.  If you would like a one-page summary of America’s Events of Origin, contact us and we’ll forward that Word document to you.

Cultural Currents

Foreign-born CEO’s are now increasing in the USA, whereas they are rarer overseas.  As U.S. businesses became more multinational, they hired more foreign-born professionals and managers who are not reluctant to develop their careers worldwide.  Those born in America, on the other hand, have traditionally preferred to stay in the U.S.; this preference for staying in the home-based country is shared by natives of many other countries.  Paul Strebel, Professor at IMD International, a business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, says:  “The U.S. has been much more open to foreigners…(whereas) I can’t identify any well-known American CEO at a European or Asian company.”  (Reference:  Wall Street Journal 5-25-04)

News Nugget

Education:  the key to a fruitful life.  Oral Lee Brown recognized this and has made good on her promise to put an entire class of first-graders through college—“if they got that far.”   This African-American real estate agent established a trust fund and has been shepherding children through school since 1987.  She is now sponsoring 89 new students from Oakland, California schools.

Plaudits to her!  I have long maintained that education is the key to humans developing pathways to mutual peace and prosperity.  (Reference:  Associated Press 6-14-04)

Quote of Note

“It is much easier to find an external enemy to fight, than it is to find an internal enemy.”  Marlon Brando

Whether the context is political or personal, it’s easier to blame others for our troubles, than to identify our own internal enemies.

Multicultural Memo

The recent marriage of Turkey Prime Minister Erdogan’s Muslim daughter to a Christian journalist caught my eye.  She was educated at my alma mater Indiana University because she wanted to wear a head scarf (which she could do at IU) and they are banned in Turkey’s secular society.  Erdogan, who has been promoting a bridge between the West and Islamic world, hailed the wedding as “a meeting of civilizations.”  (Reference:  Associated Press 7-12-04)

Arts Corner

Early this year it was good to see the Joyce Foundation awarding grants to a Tokyo-born author (Naomi Iizuka) for a play about Southeast Asian refugees living in the Midwest; a Latino composer (Roberto Sierra) for his symphony based on music from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and his native Puerto Rico; an African-American artist (Trenton Doyle Hancock) for his media display; and a Cambodian-born composer (Chinary Ung).  Each had his/her works presented at a Midwest site this year.  (Reference: Chicago Tribune 1-26-04)

Edition Special:  Our Common Multicultural Language Heritage

Recently I was reminded of the common language heritage for many of the world’s peoples dating back to 5000 B.C.  The origin of many languages spoken today, including Balto-Slavic, Germanic (including English), Celtic, Italic, Albanian, Hellenic, Armenian, Anatolian, Indo-Iranian and Tocharian, plus other offshoots, can be traced to a single prehistoric language called Indo-European or Proto-Indo-European.  The name was given for geographic reasons to a linguistic family including most European languages, as well as those found in a large area extending across Iran and Afghanistan to the northern half of the Indian subcontinent.  It spread by colonization throughout the Western Hemisphere.  (Reference: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fourth edition, including a chart showing the language progressions.)

That’s it for this time.  May you thrive in our multicultural world!

JUDITH  STARKEY                                                
Multicultural Strategies                                                                        
Speaking * Training * Consulting * Products                                                    
See our latest news at:  www.StarkeyGrp.com

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Copyright © 2004-11 The Starkey Group, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.  Originally published July 2004.

Feel free to share this newsletter with others.  For permission to reproduce this newsletter in a publication  contact:

 Judith A. Starkey, President
 The Starkey Group, Inc.
 3180 N. Lake Shore Drive, Suite 17G
 Chicago, Illinois 60657-4867 USA
 Phone:  773 348 0421
 Fax:  773 348 3683
 E-Mail:  StarkeyGrp@aol.com or StarkeyGrp@aol.com
 Website:  www.StarkeyGrp.com

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