Steve Inskeep: “What does it mean to be American?”
Junot Diaz: “It is a question that as individuals and as a country we wrestle with every day. It’s the wrestling with that question that defines us, not any of the answers.”
NPR’s Morning Edition on November 24, 2008
It is Thanksgiving week and a time when all of us should think about those things that matter to us as a nation and for which we should be thankful. While it is difficult to contemplate the concept of our riches amid the steady stream of woeful news articles about global recession, failing banks, shrinking retirement accounts, and falling stock markets, it is, nonetheless, true that we, as a nation, are rich indeed. In fact, it may well be that these very market forces should cause each of us to examine the complexity of our nation and rejoice, once again, in simply being one, single ingredient in that most wonderful of stews – the American melting pot.
There are two things that unite everyone in this country – the diversity of our ultimate place of origin and the rights we share as American citizens and residents.
The idea that our very diversity is a source of unification might not be apparent to some, but it is the common heritage that everyone in this country shares. Because of North America’s geographic distance from the original home of mankind, all of our forebearers came from somewhere else – even those of the Native Americans who enjoy the unique role of being descended from those who settled here first. The land was a vacancy waiting to be filled, and we are still in the process of adding newcomers and filling it. The United States is a continuing grand experiment in mixing races, religions, cultures and viewpoints that has lasted since its inception as a nation. Just when some dominant group decides that their culture uniquely represents America and all others are foreign and inferior, reality sets in and the grand spirit of immigration overwhelms that group’s notion that they should control and define who we are once and for all.
It has been ever thus since our founding. J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur said in 1782 in his Letters from an American Farmer:
“…whence came all these people? They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes… What, then, is the American, this new man? He is neither a European nor the descendant of a European; hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. . . . The Americans were once scattered all over Europe; here they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever appeared.”
At the time it was written, the focus of de Crevecouer’s view upon our European heritage was not misplaced, even as it failed to recognize the existing strains of Native Americans and African Americans in our culture. And the truth is that little has changed since his writing except for the incredible array of additional ingredients now in the stew. Whether he would like it or not, de Crevecouer would recognize the strains of change due to increasing diversity in today’s society even if the present day majority does not. Change the spices to add those from Africa, the middle East, the Caribbean, Asia, South America, Africa, India and so many other parts of the world in addition to those from Europe, and de Crevecouer’s comments would remain valid today.
This ever increasing diversity has been our genius. Instead of being afraid of it, we should embrace it as the essence of the American spirit and accept it as the defining element of our nation. I am not trying to argue that the process of diversification is ever easy or that each new group suffers the same exact process of assimilation upon arrival. I could not argue either point of view, since both are incorrect. I am arguing, however, that the process of diversification – no matter how it may play out for any particular group – is the defining and unifying experience of our nation and one that we should embrace in the spirit of continual reinvention of the American stew.
The energy which comes from that constant reinvention of culture is what makes America unique. The rough and tumble of our politics and the constant spark of ingenuity that governs our science, our business and our culture comes from this, our diversity – from the constant rearranging and mixing of styles, cultures, viewpoints, and attitudes. I strongly suspect that without this incredible cornucopia of diversity, the United States would have been just another enclave of statehood where a dominant voice would have ruled to the exclusion of all else, and that its history would have been quite different, far less interesting and far less successful.
The other thing we all have in common is our form of government and, more importantly, the human rights that spring from that source of government. While we haven’t always been the best at granting or securing those rights for all, our history has been one of a gradual realization that everyone is entitled to those rights. Out of the common shame of slavery and World War II relocation camps has come the understanding that to deny uniquely American rights to some is as unamerican as it is possible to be. While I would like to think that those lessons have been learned for all time and that we will not repeat those mistakes in future, I am fairly certain that the strains of the melting pot will cause us to err again in a similar manner and that we will eventually learn from whatever particular error we do commit. That also seems to be part of the American stew – while it blends, it does so slowly and cautiously.
This constant struggle is of the essence of Americanism: because we care about our rights and their application to all peoples, the struggle will continue unabated into the future. This will happen because we are simultaneously human beings who remain afraid of the unknown and Americans who share a common sense of right and wrong as expressed in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. I have confidence that eventually the second strain of our character will see us to the right conclusions as the melting pot – the American stew – continues to boil and reinvent itself.
We have especially good reason to be thankful in this year of economic chaos. Amid that chaos has occurred a remarkable event that most of us didn’t anticipate for years to come – the election of a President who doesn’t look the same as his 43 predecessors and who is quintessentially American in his views and approaches. In sharp contrast to the present sitting President, he demonstrates intelligence and articulate rhetoric. He represents both immediate and long lasting change, for our American universe can never remain as it was prior to his arrival on the scene.
As we watch the melting pot boil on this Thanksgiving day, enjoy a helping of our American stew. Don’t bemoan the new ingredients, but think ahead to future Thanksgiving days and wonder with anticipation what the stew will then taste like. To our standard helpings of turkey and dressing, imagine the wonderful new foods that will come to define this day – and enjoy the prospect.
