The Barometer Online

Issue date: 6/4/08 Section: Forum

Rather than sulk about his plight, my grandfather set an example for his children. He put food on the table by working long hours at an airplane factory. He was very active in his church, he was a talented singer, and he sang in the church choir. Eventually, he saved enough money to be able to buy his family a nice home in the Oakland hills. My dad and his two siblings were educated in private schools, and they all went on to attend college.
Despite my grandfather's attempts to Americanize his kids, it was hard to avoid the stigma of a last name like Wozich.
My father only quit one job his entire life. He left after the man he was working for called him a "dumb Polack." My dad has a forest engineering degree from Oregon State - he is far from stupid, yet this cretin could not see his value as a person. His perception of my father was derived from a negative stereotype of ethnic heritage.
This experience shaped my father greatly. He raised me to look past skin color, ethnicity and religion. I have never been called a Polack, but it hurts me just as much to think about the abuse my forefathers suffered. I have gained immense respect for my ethnic heritage and the trials that Polish people have gone through to obtain acceptance in this country.
Perhaps this is why I was infuriated when I read the sanctimonious, attention-seeking letter that was printed in the Forum section of the Barometer on May 21.
Steven Leider, the author of the letter, chastised the editors of the Barometer for allowing the use of the phrase "The jig is up" in a staff editorial headline. He claimed the phrase was coined in the South under Jim Crow law. In Leider's words, "It refers to that part of the lynching where the victim was hung by the neck. The whiter perpetrators used the phrase when calling to other whites, telling them that the victim had been strung up."
First, I would like to point out that Leider has misinterpreted the word "jig" in this context.
"The jig is up," has origins extending back hundreds of years before Jim Crow. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines jig in this context as "a trick or game." Webster's dates the word to 1560. The American Heritage Dictionary defines jig as "a joke or trick." The phrase has existed since the Renaissance and has absolutely no connection to hate crimes.

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