My Christmas Card 2019 - My Diversity Christmas

By Mark Mangie

2019 has been a hectic and disturbing year.  While our nation is enjoying unprecedented prosperity, the political climate has gone south in a major way.  These are difficult times as politics cause irreparable harm to close family ties and longtime friendships.  Even churches struggle to bridge the unbridgeable. It seems hopeless

Maybe…maybe not. Brush away the surface, sometimes the body politic, despite itself, is way ahead of the political “leaders” who pretend to lead. Ask any diversity director in the area.  They will tell you that Youngstown, Ohio, is historically one of the most racially and ethnically divided areas in the entire United States.  You can circle the ethnic and racial enclaves on the map. 

Slavs/Poles on Westside and Lansingville.  Jews on the far Northside and Liberty Township. Blacks in the inner city.  Hispanics on the East Side.  Italians in Struthers, Campbell, Lowellville, and parts of Boardman.  White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in Poland, and to a lesser extent Canfield and the Glen area on Boardman’s Northside.  Even today, the ethnic remnants remain drawn tightly together by church and family.

At first glance, it appears to be a bit daunting.  Diversity experts are flummoxed as to how to solve the “problem".  I use quotes because those of us who live here do not perceive the problem.  Beneath the ethnic bravado, all of these groups genuinely get along, respect each other’s culture, participate in each other activities.  We may call each other ethnic slurs, but it is always with a wink and a nod and a deep feeling of affection.  Each of us maintains an inordinate pride in our personal ethnic identity.  But we also maintain a pride in our community, and understand it is those diverse ethnic groups that makes us strong.

It comes out in various ways.  I sing in a choir named Just Friends.  We are a pick-up choir that sings light contemporary music in senior facilities throughout the Valley…and from time to time an occasional non-profit event.  This past Saturday, we sang at a meeting of the McGuffey Historical Society. They meet in the private dining room at Kravitz Delicatessen in Liberty. 

Here is the picture. Kravitz is a Jewish Delicatessen.  It located right next to a restaurant/grocery specializing in mid-eastern cuisine.  Attending the meeting was local icon Sister Jerome…who entered the room dancing while Jack Kravitz, the owner of the restaurant, was giving some history of his establishment.  She is 102 by the way. We were there to sing songs about Christmas…and lots of music about Jesus.  Add to the mix the very serious discussion I had with a friend of mine who works there.  She is Polish and heads an organization called Polish Youngstown which does a bang-up Christmas celebration each year celebrating Polish traditions and culture.

While we were singing “Jesus…Jesus…Oh…what a wonderful Child.  Talking about Jesus…Jesus…”the irony of it all dawned on me.  Where else but in Youngstown could something like this happen.  Where else could a choir sing about Jesus in a Jewish deli with a 102-year old nun dancing in the aisles located next to a Mideast restaurant while employees are putting together Polish Christmas celebrations on the weekends.  And when you leave to go home, you can stop at Jimmy’s, THE Italian food store in the Mahoning Valley…just across the street.  Don’t forget the Biscotti.   

And what was more impressive…nobody gave it a thought.  It was all perfectly normal.  It was all so perfectly normal.

What a glorious celebration that choral performance turned out to be.  A celebration of the birth of Christ, a celebration of our individual heritages, and a celebration of the richness of our diversity…and a coming together that has made our nation great.

This Christmas…turn off the news.  Don’t let anybody tell you how you should feel or what you should think.  Look around and see the richness life has to offer…especially here in the Mahoning Valley.  Yes…in many ways the glass is half empty.  But the half-full view is found in our everyday life that we take for granted. We are all God's children, brought together by his goodness, forgiveness and grace.  He truly is our firm foundation.  

Merry Christmas and have a blessed New Year.  And if you aren’t Christian, may whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year fill you with love and peace, family and friends, and health and goodwill.