A picture of a section at a University of Texas football game is asking an uncomfortable question about America’s present, past and future.
And I have an uncomfortable answer.
I knew that a lot of people I generally agree with would react negatively to it.
My instinct was to do the same.
But before jumping on an ideological bandwagon, I decided to sit with it for a while, and try to understand what I thought and felt about it personally as opposed to the predictable response of an immigration hardliner.
I think people that I align with on most issues can have hysterical, histrionic tendencies and a bad habit of treating individuals like they’re statistics, or incapable of defying stereotypes.
Like, they adopt a borderline militant worldview that renders them incapable of differentiating a Clarence Thomas from a Karmelo Anthony.
The data tells us that my race produces far more Karmelo Anthonys than Clarence Thomases, but the Clarence Thomases still exist.
In the same way, I’m able to recognize that there are outliers in every group, while remaining aware of patterns, probability and the large-scale threats presented when we treat exceptions like they negate the rule.
I thought it was good that presumably second generation immigrants were immersing themselves in American culture.
People that come here from across the globe (or whose parents’ did) should participate in local traditions and pastimes.
They should integrate and assimilate, and on the surface, that’s exactly what they were doing.
But on another level, it seemed somewhat superficial.
It seemed like they were adopting the fun and fanfare of the American way of life without challenging themselves to embrace the country holistically.
Like, there’s nothing particularly difficult or taxing about cheering at a sports event, or wearing school colors.
But it takes real effort to start thinking of yourself not as a unit of a separate ethnic enclave, with a tribal loyalty that overrides your allegiance to America, and not an entitled special interest group with a list of demands, but a newcomer stewarding both the privilege and responsibility of residency in a country that doesn’t fully belong to you.
Obviously, I don’t know the students in the picture. I don’t know what they believe or what they espouse.
For all I know they could be like Nalin Haley, and vehemently opposed to the policies that disproportionately benefit other Indians.
What I did notice about the picture is that a large group of Indians chose to sit together, and while that could have explanations that have nothing to do with their origin, it points to a disposition that’s neglected the less convenient aspects of assimilation.
The inclination isn’t exclusive to Indians, or even contemporary immigrants.
The Irish, Italian, Polish and Chinese also congregated among themselves.
But after every immigration wave of the 19th and 20th centuries there was a nativist backlash or restrictions that encouraged integration.
And even in those cases, it often took families something like three generations to move beyond their insular communities.
People can argue that harsher standards are applied to new immigrants versus old immigrants, expecting them to expedite a process that took other immigrants much longer. And I don’t know that they’d be wrong.
But something changed with mass migration from Mexico.
No matter what company you’re calling, and no matter what state you’re in, it’s normal to be prompted to press 2 for Spanish or see advertisements, disclaimers, and other documents translated to accommodate the largest immigrant population.
And as other groups follow in their footsteps, it’s more and more common to see people take advantage of the many benefits of living here, and partake in the recreational customs, but treat any more substantial obligations of becoming American as if they were optional.
I know that many people like to tell themselves that the United States is nothing more than an idea, and that an Ethiopian that arrived yesterday on a Boeing 777 is just as American as a founding father, but even at my most liberal I don’t remember believing that.
History means something, and heritage means something.
To pretend that the American identity can be granted with the right piece of paper or bureaucrat’s signature — or the right accessories and the right paraphernalia — is to spit in the face of those that forged civilization from a wilderness, won their independence, preserved it and expanded it against all odds.
It’s part of what makes the standing interpretation of birthright citizenship such an abomination.
This country is an invention of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men.
I say that as a black woman whose family has been here since its beginning.
That doesn’t mean they’re the only ones that contributed, but it does mean that they played a unique and inextricable role in making America the greatest country in the world.
And the more we’ve tried to obscure or deny that, the more disarray, decay and decline we’ve seen.
I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
If I moved to Japan and put on a kimono, I wouldn’t suddenly become as Japanese as someone that can trace their lineage back a thousand years in the country. If I had a child there, they’d be more embedded in the culture, but they still wouldn’t be “as Japanese” as someone born and raised there by two native parents. Whether I moved to India and put on a saari, or moved to Germany and put on a dirndl, the principle would remain the same. These changes take intention and commitment sustained across generations.
Maybe people feel like America should be different because it’s a comparatively young nation, or maybe it’s because of a natural desire to want to claim a right to one of the most prosperous global superpowers whether or not it actually exists.
But no matter the motive, America as we know it will cease to exist if its citizens and leadership continue to treat it like an international Costco membership that anyone and everyone can obtain.
I don’t think anyone is inherently incapable of becoming American in a meaningful sense.
But a ticket to a football game and a cowboy hat aren’t what’s going to do it.
what do you think?