Not to draw this out, but integration is famously not one of Germany's strong points. The op asked about the none soccer kids, I said they most likely live in the platte and gave an example from my time in jena.
Jena is in East Germany and Plattenbau is very popular there. But most German-Americans grow up in the more multi-cultural West Germany - where Plattenbau is rather uncommon.
This is incorrect. Plattenbauten are quite common in the former West Germany. Further, whether they meet the technical definition or not, there are plenty of cheap tenements housing the lower classes of your so-called "multi-cultural" West Germany.
In any case, I am not sure how accurate it is to suggest that, unless their soccer skills are exceptional, the children of black American servicemen are living in Plattenbauten or any other form of low-income housing. Seems a pretty broad brush, no?
Yes, that was a mistake. Pardon me. It is just not very common in the part of Germany where I live (Bavaria) - hence we do associate it more with Eastern Germany. But I don`t see what`s wrong with my claim that West Germany is more multi-cultural than East Germany.
I lived in Bavaria from '86 to '89, and Hamburg in '94; they were common enough then. Regarding German "multi-culturalism", perhaps it is relatively "more" in the West, but "relative" is the operative word. There are always exceptions, but I find Germans generally very annoyed by the presence and influence of Ausländer. I think it is quite likely kids like Green never truly feel accepted there. Although I generally oppose players that exploit the US program for personal gain -- players that feel no US-affinity in their hearts -- I am always open to the possibility that they are still looking for a country to call home. In those cases, if the US can give them that, more power to them.
50% of my former Bavarian schoolmates are married to foreigners - and I have a foreign girlfriend. I would be suprised if a privileged kid like Julian Green did not feel at home in Bavaria. I had a similar discussion with a guy regarding Timothy Chandler on here, after Chandler played his first match for the United States. He was also convinced or wanted to believe that Timothy was a refugee from German racism who wanted to seek asylum in the USMNT. 12 months later he called Chandler a traitor. There is nothing wrong with scouting dual nationals for your national team, but most of them have two homes.
It is arguable that it is the tenements in New York where the melting pot really first existed. Poor and working class people of diverse backgrounds were brought together by the need for cheap housing. Choosing a neighborhood on the basis of racial segregation is a luxury that many people can't afford.
True. For that matter, choosing a neighborhood on the basis of anything other than necessity is a luxury many can't afford.
If half your schoolmates married foreigners, that speaks more to the school you attended and/or who you chose as friends than to the overall view of Germans towards foreigners. In any case, your experiences and mine are just two sets of anecdotes. Although I still read a lot, I haven't been to Germany in over 10 years, so maybe yours are more exemplary, and it's one big happy rainbow now. You say Green is privileged; was that before or after he signed a contract? Serious question, because I don't know. Regardless, I am not comparing Green to Chandler, I am not calling Chandler a traitor, and you and I have never conversed on the subject, so that is ALL you. I am not asserting either of them are fleeing "racism". I am suggesting that not fitting in is a motivation I could imagine for wanting to play for the country of one's father. I don't think there is anything wrong with scouting dual-nationals. Even better if they make their interest known to us. But I think there is a lot wrong with letting the US program become a dual-national's back-up plan. I'd rather support a team of heart-felt American Sunday-leaguers (regardless of where they were born), then a team of Subotic-like users.
Firstly, the use of the word "foreigner" here is a bit of a misnomer simply because Green is a citizen of Germany, along with all of those individuals you were referencing. Further, Green's socioeconomic background, doesn't play much of a factor here simply because this is regarding how he identifies himself. What the person you were arguing with was likely trying to say is that Chandler may, or may not, feel that Germany is his home due to the often times denigrating approach ethnic Germans take toward "Auslaender". Identity toward Germany, therefore, is often wavering from these "Auslaender" and people become splintered. It's one of the most interesting phenomenons I've ever seen. Additionally, I took umbrage with taylor's comment because most children of mixed-heritage in Germany are not raised in the "ghetto". It's as if he's saying that being of mixed black German-American heritage, without playing sports, means you're from the ghetto. I'm glad he did mention that a German "ghetto" juxtaposed to an American "ghetto" is not synonymous with one another. It's a very short-sighted comment to make, and I believe thinking like this plagues all attempts at integrating cultures there, while damaging how others look at Germans of mixed heritage abroad.
We're talking about Green and individuals of similar background. It's a relevant topic, in regards to many German-Americans, to boot. Of all the places for you to come whine about threads going off topic, you settle here? Sorry.
He was the top scorer last year (was it last year?), so I'm sure they like him... And it's nice that (according to his father) he is excited about choosing the USA over Germany. So that's good.
Not much of a choice at the moment. He hasn't been invited to a camp since 2011 despite his good statistics. Probably because he plays on the same position as Arsenal's Serge Gnabry.
Can you refresh my memory on what those are. I get all these guys back-stories mixed up and it doesn't help that I smoked too much weed in college.
Unlike a lot of these German players, Julian is close with his father who lives in Florida. He travels to Florida once or twice a year and his brother went to high school there. This is a nice quick read that touches on it. His Dad often gives updates on his twitter about Julian...I mean, just look at his background.
Thanks, man. As I was reading the dad's quotes in the Times story, I was like "man, the dad is a quote machine." Then I look at his twitter description and see he works in P.R. Duh! Julian's dad needs to give Timmy Chandler some P.R. tips!
This may be relevanT to the old and off topic of parents and affiliation (Boyd's story)... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/featur...painful-decision-to-play-for-the-u.s.?cc=5739