American Dreams

Neither of the candidates that I spend most of my time writing about are campaigning on anything like "The American Dream" as a theme. It's difficult to do so nowadays without sounding cheesy and insincere anyway. But even though Bob Shamansky and Emily Kreider are from very different generations and very different tax brackets, I was recently very struck by the parallels in the stories they tell of how their families came to Central Ohio, and how that influences what they do now.

In an oral history recorded for the Columbus Jewish Historical Society in 1993, Bob Shamansky describes the migrations of his parents' families:

"With respect to my personal history, I was born on April 18, 1927. My parents were living at 525 South Drexel Avenue in Bexley, Ohio. I was the younger son. My brother, Samuel C. Shamansky is 4 ½ years older than I.

My mother’s name was Sarah Greenberg, her father was Samuel Greenberg and her mother was Rebecca Greenberg. They came from Russia somewhere between Zhitomir and Berditchev which is west of Kiev. My mother was born in Russia but my maternal grandfather came to this country in the 1890s and I’m sure he originally came as a peddler. I don’t know whether he had a pushcart but he was a peddler and I was told that they were so poor, of course, that they lived in the "red light district" because that was the only place they could afford. That was Spring Street over by the prison and by the railroad station. They got off the train and found the cheapest place to live.

The interesting parallel to that is, my father was born in Manchester, England. My paternal grandparents were Michael Shamansky and his wife, Rachel whose maiden name had been Clayman. They were married, I believe, in Riga, which was the Russian empire but was in Latvia. They went to Manchester, England first, in 1892 where my father was born. He was the eldest of the surviving children. In 1981, I went to Manchester, England to look up his birth record. I thought he was born in 1895 but in fact, he was born in 1892 and when I went to the registry office in Manchester, I obviously have a Jewish name . . there’s a Jewish section of the library in Manchester. The public library in Manchester has a Jewish historical section.

At the registry, when I gave my name and they looked up my father’s birth record which was 1892, he was listed as being born in Cheatham and that was where the Jewish immigrants were living at the time, having come from Russia.

I then went to the Manchester Public Library to look up the history of Cheatham, got a map and . . . lo and behold! of course, it was behind a prison near the railroad station. Whether my paternal grandparents came from Riga to Manchester, that’s where they ended up living, obviously the poorest part of town where immigrants could come. That was my maternal grandparents experience in Columbus, having come directly from Russia, as far as I know."

There's no more railroad station or prison near Spring and 3rd, and it's not a "red-light" district anymore. But there is still plenty of segregation between haves and have-nots in Central Ohio. Mr. Shamansky and I are fortunate enough to reside in Bexley, a 'desirable' suburban island surrounded by Columbus's east side. There is another 'suburban' island on the east-side, called Whitehall. According to the 2000 census, the median family income in Franklin County was $53905, in Bexley it was $83363, and in Whitehall, it was $37296. In her recent interview with Meet the Bloggers, Emily made a wistful sounding joke that I don't think the panel of bloggers really got, not being from around here. When asked if she was born and bred in the district, she replied:

"I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but for most of my life I've lived in Central Ohio. I grew up on the East Side, in Whitehall, and graduated from Whitehall-Yearling. I arrived in Columbus via Greyhound Bus, (pause) just down the street from the Statehouse (laughs)."

The Greyhound Station is literally a 1000 feet from the Statehouse, but if you've been in both, you know the figurative distance is light-years. The shortest path definitely doesn't take you through Whitehall. It'll have taken her decades to travel those three blocks, but in less than three weeks from now, she'll have done it.

Republicans try to sell you something they call the American dream. Democrats embody it.