Assyrians in the USA

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Assyrians in the U.S. are U.S. citizens of Assyrian and Chaldean origins. Many came from Turkey in the wake of the Assyrian genocide in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire and Persia .

With 110,807 to 400,000 members, the United States is the largest diaspora community after the Assyrians in Sweden . It is a Semitic , Aramaic-speaking Christian group, descended from the ancient Mesopotamians . Almost all of them are followers of the Chaldean Catholic Church , the Assyrian Church of the East , the Old Church of the East , the Syrian Orthodox Church or the Syrian Catholic Church ; small minorities are members of various Assyrian- Protestant and Aramaic free churches .

Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church of St. Paul in Vanowen, North Hollywood , Los Angeles

Mostly English , New Aramaic and Arabic are spoken .

history

Genocide of the Assyrians and after

Assyrians have lived in the United States since the 19th century. The first known Assyrian to immigrate to the United States was Zia Attala , a hotel owner in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Assyrians came in small groups from the early 20th century.

From 1914 to 1920 they emigrated from what is now Iraq , southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran due to the genocide of the Assyrians . In the following years, the immigration of Assyrians even increased dramatically, due to the conflicts in the Middle East - it continues to this day due to the Iraq war .

Before the 1970s, Assyrians and Chaldeans came to the United States in search of greater economic opportunity. After the 1970s, many fled their home countries in search of political freedom, especially after Saddam Hussein came to power and after the Second Gulf War . Some Chaldeans have been drawn to the economic opportunities that have successfully affected their family members who have already immigrated. Less stringent immigration laws during the 1960s and 1970s facilitated larger waves of immigration - the 1970s became the time when the largest number of Chaldeans came to the United States.

The time of Saddam Hussein and the present

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein donated several hundred thousand dollars to Chaldean Catholic churches in Detroit and received a key to the city from Mayor Coleman Young in the 1980s - even when the Baathist government was an ally of the United States government. However, Hussein's relations with the city of Detroit began as early as 1979 when the Reverend Jacob Yasso of the Sacred Heart Chaldean Church congratulated Hussein on his presidency. In return, Yasso's Church received $ 250,000. The money helped build the Chaldean Center of America , which is on Seven Mile Street next to the Chaldean Sacred Heart Church, which previously received a gift from Hussein worth $ 250,000. Additional Iraqi money went to other churches around Detroit as well as across the country.

The United States is now home to the third largest Aramaic, Chaldean, and Assyrian communities in the world. The 2000 US census counted 82,355 Aramaeans, Chaldeans, and Assyrians in the country, of whom 42% (34,484) lived in Michigan . The Aramaic, Chaldean, and Assyrian organizations calculated their 2010 population to be over 400,000. The highest concentration is in Detroit and Chicago . In 2005, the first Assyrian school in the United States, the Assyrian American Christian School, opened in Tarzana , Los Angeles .

Chaldean Catholic Church in Detroit

In Detroit

Assyrian-Chaldean immigrants were originally primarily drawn to the job opportunities at Ford Motor Company River Rouge in Detroit. In 1962 the number of Assyrian and Chaldean grocery stores was only 120, but rose to 278 by 1972. The main reason for this was the 1967 race riots in Detroit , after which Jewish grocers left the area and allowed the Chaldeans to take over the work that had become vacant. Often times these Jews sold their old businesses to Assyrians and Chaldeans.

The largest Iraqi Assyrian-Chaldean diaspora is located in the greater Detroit area , where an estimated 121,000 members live. Almost all Assyrian-Chaldean immigrants and low-income citizens tend to settle in Detroit, on Seven Mile Street between Woodward Avenue and John R Street. This area was officially renamed Chaldean Town (Chaldean City) in 1999 . More and more Assyrian-Chaldeans, however, are quickly emigrating from Detroit when they are financially established and moving to other areas, particularly San Diego and cities in Arizona .

There are a total of eight Chaldean Catholic churches in the greater Detroit area, located in West Bloomfield, Troy (where there are two), Oak Park, Southfield, Warren, Sterling Heights, and Detroit itself.

Name conflict

The US federal government uses the English term Syrian to refer to Arabs from Syria - not as one of the terms used to identify the Assyrians ( Assyrians / Chaldaeans / Aramaeans ). The Syrian Orthodox Church ( Syriac Orthodox Church ) previously served as Syrian Orthodox Church known until a Holy Synod in 2000 it was true, it in Syriac turn change to differ from the Arabs. Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim wrote a letter to the Assyrians in 2000 asking them to register in the census as a Syriac with a C , rather than a Syrian ( Syrian with an N ), to avoid confusion. He also urged them not to register Syrians as a country of origin. In the US census, there is a selection field for the Assyrian / Chaldean / Syriacs , which is listed separately from Syrian , as Syrian (Syrians) is a sub-category of Arab (Arabs).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates
  2. ↑ a b c BetBasoo, Peter. Diaspora: 1918 to present , History of Assyrians , Assyrian International News Agency (AINA).
  3. ↑ Moses, Alexandra R. "Saddam Once Received Key to Detroit" ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Associated Press , Zinda Magazine , March 31, 2003. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zindamagazine.com
  4. ↑ Saddam Reportedly Given Key To Detroit ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.clickondetroit.com
  5. ↑ 2000 United States census ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.euroamericans.net
  6. ^ US Census, QT-P13. Ancestry: 2000 ( Memento from December 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Homepage of the Assyrian American Christian School
  8. ↑ Chafets, Ze'ev. Devils Night: and Other True Tales of Detroit . New York: Random House, 1990
  9. ↑ http://www.chaldeanchamber.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=66
  10. ↑ http://www.cityscapedetroit.org/Detroit_neighborhoods.html#
  11. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.syrianorthodoxchurch.org
  12. ↑ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-state=dt&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_PCT016&-tree_id=403&-redoLog=Ngeo_c & all & - redoLog = Ngeo_true & -geo_id = 16000US1235000 & -geo_id = 86000US32216 & -search_results = 01000US & -format = & -_ lang = en