“Multicultural” school yards

A man reports with whom he has been in school.

G.P.: Should I tell you the truth? We were all Greeks. The Greeks are with Greeks, the Chinese with Chinese, Italians they didn’t have many. We had some, I shouldn’t say… in a racist way, Afro-Americans as we say now, let’s say. It had some Portuguese. We hanged out with the Portuguese. Look we… we didn’t have a problem, let’s say. Generally, we all hanged out. We were all together. Because it was… the school was… I’d say it was, I’d say, 65% Greeks. Since when […] we had Jews too, many Jews. When there were Jewish holidays, they were definitely designated, the school was closed. However, when there were Greek holidays, like the 25th of March or our Easter, or if there was a holiday like Saint George’s, let’s say… I’m telling you, it was empty.
RES.: Ah!
G.P.: Yes, and it wasn’t like we were going to church to speak the truth now, alright? We simply didn’t go to school. We’d say that “Ah, school is a national holiday, big holiday”, we stayed at home. 25th of March and, that is, about Easter, we didn’t go. And the teachers knew and they didn’t say anything. Because we’re 60% of the school we were Greeks. […] Absolutely, in the end, there were when I finished myself in 1977, there were eight hundred, eight hundred and sixty children at school. I can say eh… let’s say, that five hundred and eighty, if not six hundred were Greeks.