Understanding the Americans. A Talk With Some Members of the German Bundestag.
Back in 2003 Jane and I were in Berlin visiting our friend Sibylle Laurischk. Sibylle was a member of the Bundestag, the German parliament. She was with the Free Democrats, the fourth largest party. I had just completed a major project on Arab-Americans (the Detroit Arab-American Study) and offered to discuss the findings with any members of her party who were interested. She was her party's spokesperson on what we might call minority or immigrant affairs so I thought that might be of intrest. But she told me she was bringing in people who were specialists in foreign affairs. That sent me scrambling. What could I possibly tell them what they would want to hear? What I came up was this talk, which I called Understanding the Americans.
Questions for American listeners: Is this like looking into a mirror?
I am sorry to say that Sibylle died in 2020, much too early.