DUMMERSTON — I grew up in Latin America, mostly in countries where one was considered either “white” (of Hispanic descent), Indian, or a mixture of both. So, I grew up thinking I was white. Then I came to the United States and discovered I was brown.
But I was not alone.
Many of my friends from Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela who back home were considered “white” were also going through a similar rebranding process here in the U.S. We first became part of the group “people of color,” then they began calling us “Latinx” and, more recently, the “BIPOC community.” (BIPOC stands for “Black, Indigenous, and people of color.”)
The Brattleboro area, where I have now lived for well over 50 years, has been a haven to foreign people. In the '60s, when I first arrived, I was one of only a few foreigners in the area. Eventually, I met other women from abroad through a variety of community connections.
The first such person was Blanche Moyse from Switzerland, whom I met when I joined the Brattleboro Music Chorus (BMC, as it was called back then). Also connected with the BMC were Hanne Steinmeyer, a teacher of German at Brattleboro Union High School, and her husband, Georg, a BMC trustee, both friends of Blanche and eventually beloved friends of mine, too.
I then met Toshiko Phipps from Japan, another chorus member and a staff member at Putney School. And, of course, most people knew Oskar and Ursula Dalem, both from Germany, who operated a motel and restaurant in West Brattleboro, and celebrated Oktoberfest dinners for the community.
Later, I met Iedje Hornsby, who came from The Netherlands. She and I were married to staff members at The Experiment in International Living (EIL), now a division of World Learning. Both Iedje and I were busy raising bilingual children and teaching Dutch and Spanish, respectively, to students traveling with Experiment programs abroad.
Another person I met in the area was Hi Kyung Brandt from Korea, who, besides teaching Korean, introduced egg rolls to the Brattleboro and Putney communities.
That was the budding international scene back in the '60s. Those were also the Kennedy years, a time when programs like the Peace Corps provided young Americans with the opportunity to serve abroad, visit foreign lands, and learn other languages and about other cultures - in the process, establishing close personal friendships with people abroad.
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Our own presence back then, conversely, brought a modicum of international diversity to the area. We were often seen as a novelty. And while some thought that our accents were “cute,” others, unaccustomed to interacting with foreigners with thick accents, often had difficulty understanding us.
But they still appreciated the contributions we made.
Blanche Moyse, for example, provided the musical inspiration that made southern Vermont famous for the Marlboro concerts and the Bach festivals.
Many who were high school students at the time will remember Hanne Steinmeyer's lessons in German and may still refer to her as “Frau Steinmeyer.”
Toshiko, a champion skier in her own right and a former ski instructor to the Japanese emperor and his children, taught skiing at Stratton and shared Japanese specialties with the community - at the Putney School, at many benefits, and in her home.
As for me, I sometimes held empanada parties at my home and, because my husband is of Italian background, I was often invited to demonstrate how to make homemade pasta at Dummerston School - long before Putney Pasta existed.
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During the ensuing years, it was not uncommon to see women wearing saris or dressed in colorful African or Guatemalan attire walking down Main Street.
Most of these individuals were employed as language instructors for the many Peace Corps training projects held at Sandanona, the former private estate that became the School for International Training and is today World Learning, or they were participants in one of its many “incoming” programs.
People treated these visiting students kindly and often engaged them in conversations about their families and their countries. Meanwhile, other local residents hosted many international students of English in their homes.
Those of us raising children felt lucky to be in this area and to have our children exposed to people of so many other cultures. We were accepted, respected, and felt supported, and I can personally add that my children could not have had better friends and experiences than the ones they had in childhood as students at our local Dummerston School.
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Much has happened since then, as political refugees from Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Vietnam, and lately Venezuela found their way to the hills of Vermont. Apple pickers from Jamaica began arriving as seasonal laborers at local orchards. And Mexicans now provide needed help on many local dairy farms throughout the state.
Whereas, just a few years ago, one could not find a tortilla within hundreds of miles, they - as well as many other international foods - are now commonly sold at every supermarket and provided by many local restaurants.
People in this area have developed a taste for African, Cambodian, Chinese, Indian, Jamaican, Korean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Thai, Turkish, and other foreign foods, and they welcome new ethnic restaurants.
In short, the lovely little town of Brattleboro has developed quite an international flavor.
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And what about today? Unfortunately, things are different.
I have been shocked and saddened to read of incidents of prejudice occurring around the country - even in Vermont.
What went wrong? It's hard to say.
One of the requisites for developing tolerance, respect, and understanding is exposure to “different-ness.” Of course, exposure alone is insufficient. We also need opportunities to get to know one another, to interact, and to build relationships.
This notion has been at the heart of World Learning through all of its programs for nearly 90 years. Those who are fortunate to have had intercultural experiences abroad are often transformed, and they can help others appreciate other ways of being in the world.
And those who cannot travel across an ocean (especially these days, because of the pandemic) can, with the many options of technology, explore other cultures right here at home.
In this era of global communications, we need to learn about each other's different-ness, and to see each other as members of the same human race.
We must not be frightened by diversity but recognize how it can enrich all of us.
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Living in Brattleboro has been a learning experience. And one of the most important lessons has been knowing how other people see me.
For some, I am the same person who came to Brattleboro in 1966. For others, I wear one of the more recent political labels that are assigned to people like me.
Anyway, no matter how people see me, I still hold the same perspective on other people around me.
In the end, the foreign becomes domestic over time. And, in the end, one's ethnic or racial identity does not matter at all.