And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!"
(Katherine Lee Bates, 1895)
I can almost remember the first time I heard that song. I was filled with pride and a feeling that this country was a place that dreams can come true for anyone if they worked hard and did the right thing. Perhaps it was a bit naive but I was just a kid then. Now I'm older. I've seen children killed in their own bedrooms by a stray bullet. I've seen men run down in the streets like animals. Even more recently, I've seen unarmed men shot and killed. I've seen prayer removed from public schools. In history class, I heard of brown men being chained and enslaved and stripped of purpose and destiny. I read stories of red men being driven from their land and slaughtered when they refused to simply hand over their heritage, men invited to a banquet and before their food digested, they were extinguished. I was even regaled with accounts of men, women, and children crossing vast waters, escaping war and poverty in search of freedom and the "land of opportunity". These clutched hope with a white knuckle grip. I think we all did and perhaps still do.
"I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek ---
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
O let America be America again ----
The land that never has been yet ----
And yet must be ---- the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine --- the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's,
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again."
(Let America Be America Again - Langston Hughes, 1902-1967)
I don't know slavery. But I do know and love a woman who spent her entire life of nearly 97 years old as a domestic. I watched her endure hardness and still smile. I don't know the specific struggle of the civil rights movement. But I do know how it feels to be a Black man in America and still not be a criminal, gangbanger, father of multiple children, and a college educated, responsible husband, father, grandfather, and U.S. citizen. I don't know the pain of people being forced off of the land to build a pipeline. I don't know what it feels like to trust a man who gets you to sign away your land and business and, in a flash, you become instantly homeless and destitute. I don't know what it is like to be a woman, an immigrant, or a homeless man in today's America. I don't know a lot of things but I clearly know things have changed. Arguments can be made that things have changed for the better. Quite frankly though, it's hard to see that in absolutes. What I do know is things have changed for me, for my family, my friends, and their families, and for people who neither of us have ever met. With every innovation, a fiber of morality frays and the values that we used to hold dear are now really hard to find.
How has the country changed from what you remembered? Do you have stories of yourself, your parents, or your grandparents coming from other countries to America with a dream? Do you look at the inventions that we oft enjoy and remember the inventor fondly and with pride? Or do those names and faces languish in obscurity, forgotten or never even known at all?
A man that has left us far too soon and served as a mentor to my wife and I shared an incredible saying that I still remember vividly today. "When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable." Another relevant quote comes to mind "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." I can see the torrid history of this great country just like you can. I can touch the same library books, encyclopedias, and reference material and perhaps come to the same conclusions as you but I believe there is still something great about this country. It's not politics, or our favorite sports teams, or even a great victory in war times that make us great. It's always been about the people who live vigorously, who would die for what they believe, who enjoy incredible food from different cultures, and who work hard to make what started as a dream a full blown reality. They believe that this country is great and they sow seed into what they believe. Small businesses, "mom and pops" stores, charitable organizations, traffic lights, blood banks, spectrometers, carbon filament light bulbs, gas masks, color televisions, the artificial heart, the ball point pen, and pre-fabricated homes just to name a few. The hands that made these and so many other things we enjoy and desperately need came across lands, waters, bridges, borders, and, despite adverse conditions, achieved something extraordinary.
I'd love to hear what makes America such an incredible country in your opinion. Even if you don't share, maybe you can just show compassion to someone who the world at large has forgotten and remember them. God bless America and God bless you as well.
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