Last week, Tyler Anderson talked about the idea of "us and them" in the Declaration. When Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he articulated an anger towards King George III and that anger is certainly reminiscent of the anger percolating throughout this country today.
So in reading this wonderful article my initial thought was this: Who am I? Don't get me wrong, I'm Ben Gibson but who is Ben Gibson? Well, he is a lot of things. I am a teacher, a father, a NoVa resident, a UVA graduate, a husband, a Freedom Eagle, a male, a history lover, a blogger apparently and a Hamilton enthusiast (in no particular order). Identity is a fundamental theme of American history, so much so it is one of the key themes in the College Board AP US History curriculum. What does it mean to be an American? Who is included and who is excluded? A major goal of the Declaration is to define what is an American I would argue. This document lines out what it means to be an American, this is what we believe in and if you believe it then come join our cause. So our bond is not based upon common ancestry or nationality but an ideology. This is very different from many countries in world history. This concept is amplified by the famous question "What is An American?" by Michel Guillame Jean de Crevecoeur. His "Letters From an American Farmer" is often quoted in AP classes throughout the country, the most quotable part being: What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of an 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. This melting pot notion has a modern equivalent in this viral video that I saw on July 4th.
So defining an American is a difficult task and yet one we have constantly been obsessed with throughout our history.
Are Native Americans, American? I mean technically they have the biggest claim to the title and yet they are normally put in that "other" or "them" category. Are non-English speakers American? I know legally they can be but culturally there is a stigma there. Just ask Tim James. How do you "prove" your Americanness and why does it matter so much? I think it stems back to the final point Mr. Anderson made, in order to prop up the American there must be an other, even if it is a straw man. There has to be two identities for a comparison to take place. This becomes dangerous because labels typically do more damage than good. Yes labels can bring solidarity and camaraderie. I watch sports fans bond over nothing except the love of their team. I hugged random people when UVA football beat Florida State in 2005 and I would do it again. Yet that unifying force is just as powerful at dividing. That same passion for your soccer team leads to hooliganism and violence in France, like Russian and British fans did in the Euros this year. Love of one thing can easily lead to hate of the "other". Passions can overflow when we lose sight of what truly matters. Case and point, this week of violence where people of all labels and all backgrounds felt scared, angry and confused at what happened in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas (among others). Exploiting labels for political purposes is heinous. Ignoring realities of life for groups of people is reprehensible. We could do a lot better in this country and this world if we emphasized one label above everything else. Not the label of your nationality or race or gender, I am talking about the label every single one of us shares. Human. When we lose sight of this label, when we stop treating people like humans, incredibly scary things happen. That is the greatness of this document I am obsessed with studying: "ALL men are created equal". The Declaration is not for Americans it is for everybody. These are not civil rights, they are human rights. It is what we believe and if you are a true American then you believe in the rights of life, liberty and happiness for all. That's an identity I can live with.
2 Comments
Patty
7/11/2016 08:33:58 am
LOVE that you quoted de Crèvecouer, one of my favorite texts that I teach in Eng 11cc! This issue of identity is crucial in American literature as well (b/c of course, Am lit and Am history are, really, one and the same...) -- and it's the cornerstone of my class. I would say it is THE major focus of most of our discussions. Certainly, it is also crucial to the idea of the American Dream -- that we can re-invent ourselves (isn't that idea at the heart of Gatsby? Even though that text demonstrates the falseness of that idea) -- doesn't de Crèvecoeur also say "there is room for everybody in America" --? Russell Banks has said that the two things that divide American lit from all other literatures are the notions of "race" and "space." I use that, too, to frame my class discussions...I am loving this blog!
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Mr. Gibson
7/23/2016 08:26:03 am
That is a very good quote by Banks, I had never heard it but it's so true. Race defines American history much more so than European history and it blinds us from other possible identifiers, most notably class.
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