Fifteen hours of Ken Burns’ WWII documentary on PBS, yet not a single mention of the contributions my ancestors made to the war effort. You can’t tell me that Poles made no contribution. In my family alone, I had uncles serving in the Army, Navy and Marines, a grandmother who helped build military vehicles and a great-uncle who assembled tanks.
That from just one of hundreds of thousands of Polish families who called America home during the war. Still, not a single specific mention of Polish-Americans. Nor was there much mention, come to think of it, of Irish-Americans, Chinese-Americans, German-Americans, Slavs, or any other ethnic group, save for those of Jewish, Japanese or African descent who suffered distinct injustices during the war.
Why no outcry from these groups like we’ve heard from the Hispanic community, who argue they’ve been slighted by Ken Burns? Could it be that Poles served and fought and died like all other ethnic groups in America at the time? In other words, is it possible that Ken Burns saw no real distinction between immigrants called to fight?
Perhaps a better question is why an outcry from Latinos and Hispanics at all? Is it due to some special circumstance they experienced during the war, or is it due to some special circumstance that exists today? Could it be that the sheer number of current Hispanic immigrants has instilled a sort of group-think that has long since faded for most of the other immigrant groups that served at home and abroad during WWII?
No, Ken Burns didn’t slight Hispanics. He honored them by treating them for what they were – Americans. Just like every other American who came from somewhere else and willingly sacrificed to defend the one ideal that should unite, not divide us - liberty
