22 August 2011
My Independence Day Story and view of Ukraine's future

Like so many Ukrainian-American teenagers from the northeastern United States, I found myself heading with my family to the New Jersey Shore during the last half of August 1991. I remember vividly my father, along with our family cat “Myrka,” waking me up on a late Monday morning with the words: “Son, wake up, you are missing history. There is a coup in Moscow.”

We were glued to CNN watching what turned out to be the final days of the Soviet Union. Watching those brave people in Moscow and their leaders stand up to tyranny and tanks with only their spirit and hope, I could not help noticing that as the days progressed an increasing number of Ukrainian flags, at times rivaling the number of Russian flags, were being waved in front of the Russian White House (which ironically faces the Hotel Ukraina and Naberezhna Taras Shevchenko).

Over dinner that evening, I remember my father innocently saying if this coup fails, Ukraine will declare independence immediately. Later that week, it was becoming clear the coup was being defeated but quite disappointingly for the Ukrainian-American community, Friday evening had come and gone and there was no news from Ukraine regarding any declarations of independence.

That weekend my father decided to check the family into one of the mega-casino and hotel resorts in Atlantic City. We were all huddled around the TV Saturday morning, when we heard a CNN anchor say the words that changed everything for Ukrainians around the world, “We can now confirm that the Soviet Republic of Ukraine has just declared independence.”

Once the first generation born and educated in an independent Ukraine begins to govern the country, Ukraine will change and become more European at the grass roots level.

After those words, we all screamed in joy and the first thing my sister and I did was run to the Atlantic City mall and much to our surprise immediately found a flag store with two large Ukrainian flags in the front, which we quickly purchased (the sales clerk told us that they were selling like hotcakes “for some reason” that day).

We hung one flag from our high-floor hotel room (visibly a good way along the Boardwalk) and then we unsuccessfully negotiated with the hotel management for them to raise the other one at the hotel entrance.

That evening, deliriously happy, we joined other Ukrainian-American friends and celebrated like never before. Many of my diaspora contemporaries I saw that night were ready to move to Ukraine immediately. Over the last 20 years virtually all of us, including my sister and me, have lived in Ukraine for extended periods and found our soulmates there too.

Looking back on these 20 years, although many here in the Ukrainian community in the U.S. have become disenchanted with the slow pace of economic and democratic reforms in Ukraine, I remain optimistic for the long term and truly believe once the first generation born and educated in an independent Ukraine begins to govern the country in the coming decades, Ukraine will change and choose a European path at the grass roots level.

As for me, Aug. 24, 1991, will always be one of the most important and significant days in my life. The events on that day opened the door for me to live, work and prosper both professionally and personally in Ukraine for many years and I am deeply grateful for this.

Andrew Mac, an American with Ukrainian roots, is a longtime partner at Magisters. The Kyiv-based law group has spread throughout the CIS in recent years and agreed this year to merge with top Russian law firm EPAM. After spending many years in Kyiv, Mac is currently residing in Washington, D.C., where he is setting up an office for the newly-merged law group.