Perhaps it is both ironic and poetic that this president is ushering in 250 years as a nation. It is perhaps the most honest declaration of what America really is and perhaps always was.
As it was founded—in stealing, breaking treaties, trafficking and oppression of other humans—it is returning…or perhaps revealing.
As we approach the semi-quincentennial, this is a great time to reflect on what the United States of America actually is. At its core, this is a nation built on mythology, borrowed symbolism and aspirations.
From its currency—with the all-seeing eye and unfinished pyramid (Egyptian), and 1776 in Roman numerals and E Pluribus Unum (Latin borrowed from the Romans) to the laying out of its capital and The Washington Monument (modeled after an obelisk in ancient Kemet) to the design of Congress and the Constitution itself, which is steeped in freemasonry—this is a nation of contradictions.
The country was seized, stolen, squatted on by the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, the Brits. The land was cultivated and nourished by the indigenous, whose names and traditions still lie hidden under this flag. From Alabama and Alaska to Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi and Missouri to Connecticut and Kentucky—the very names of states were borrowed from indigenous tribes. Even Texas comes from the Caddo people, and it is a word that means “friend.” Broadway in New York City is literally an indigenous trail that stands in defiance of the organized grid work of Manhattan. There are thousands of cities and traditions that hint that America folded in the indigenous culture. The attempt to erase or kill them failed. We remember.
Rice was as valuable to building the country as gold. And that rice traveled in the holds of ships that brought in the African master rice cultivators and enslaved them. South Carolina, one of the wealthiest of the colonies, was built on that expertise and technology.
And cotton. Cotton was king and it brought with it an explosion in the mass enslavement of the people they needed to pick it. And an explosion in the country’s wealth. There is a direct relationship there.
But those people didn’t just bring their hands. They brought their beliefs, their ways of knowing, their voices, their instruments—from the banjo to the bongo, the guitar to the kalimba. They brought joy to get through the pain. All of that is in America today.
It is the “give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” It is the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France modeled after an enslaved African woman. If you look, you can see the broken chains at her feet. The truth is hidden in plain sight.
America is found in the macaroni and cheese invented by James Heming, the brother of Sally, who was once enslaved by Thomas Jefferson. He remixed a dish he tasted in France and set the course for America’s culinary beginnings. The okra in the gumbo comes from Africa. Heck, the word gumbo is African! As is yam, which means to eat.
The Poles brought the sausage, the Italians brought the gravy, some brought the curry, others the cumin, another the saffron. We got all kinds of noodles and soy sauce and sesame oils. And language. What is English, after all? There’s a mixture of Yiddish and British, Spanish and French. Let’s not forget German—we couldn’t have a cookout without hamburger and sauerkraut. But let’s not have angst about it (angst is a German word). The word America comes from the Italians.
American English contains a mix of dialects and influences from every nation on the planet. And we won’t even get into how that language has been remixed and reimagined by us.
“Speak English,” you say? This is a country without an official language. How could it have one? The United States also has no official religion. Look it up! That’s a fact.
This is a land of the free and the home of the brave only because each of us is here being free and being brave.
Let’s not let ignorance reign. Let’s not let hate and fear define who we are or who we can be.
We have a responsibility—those who live within these manmade borders—to create the world we deserve. It’s not going to happen because we wish it. It’s only going to happen because we make it.
As the country simulates warfare with fireworks and some of us will be grilling and chilling with loved ones, fly your flag, sing your songs, posture patriotism, but remember: we built this. It’s ours, which means we have to fight to keep it and evolve it.
This is America. We are America!
