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Who IS a 'Real American?'
By Rowan Wolf (about the author) Page 1 of 3 page(s)
For OpEdNews: Rowan Wolf - Writer
I don't know about you, but I have had it with the ever narrowing circle of who is a "real American." For sure this is not something new. We have seen it over and over in U.S. history, and always it has been tremendously destructive. The bombardment of who is not a "real" American has been the bread and butter of the Republican campaigns. However, the effects of it will last long after November 4, 2008.
Palin came out with her constant references to "Hockey Moms" and "Joe Six-Packs" which stereotypically define a white population. Then we had Bill Ayers introduced an Obama "paling around with terrorists." We have heard Palin's talking about "real America" followed by her denials, followed by more references to draw lines of "real" "patriotic" Americans. We have heard oft repeated that Obama is a Muslim. Most recently, the accusation is that Rashid Khalidi is a PLO supporter (which he is not) and that Obama supports him (neither here nor there).
The contagion has spread to other Republican campaigns. We have Congresswoman Michelle Bachman (R - Minnesota) arguing that members of Congress should be investigated for being "anti-American." We have Senator Elizabeth Dole labeling Kay Hagan as a supporter of "Godless Americans"." We have McCain calling Obama a "socialist" for wanting to "share the wealth."
What is up?
We already went through, (and survived mostly) the "my country right or wrong," if you don't support Bush, if you don't support the war, rhetoric of (real) American versus anti-American. I can understand the frustration and anger that drove Sojourner Truth to stand up at the 1851 Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio presenting what has come to be called her "Ain't I a Woman" speech. It was not a prepared speech, but a fit of passionate response to the hypocrisy of the arguments.
The "Real American" conflict goes way back; however, current claims rest on that deep and institutionalized foundation. In 1790, the U.S. Congress immortalized what was then already a common bias with the United States first naturalization legislation - Naturalization Act of 1790. The U.S. Congress restricted the right to become a naturalized citizen to:
"any alien being a free white person who shall have resided within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States for a term of two years."
Thereafter, there was deep legal and cultural institutionalization of the concept (and reality) of who was a "real American." Being a U.S. citizen depended on one's race, and that race was "white."
This almost consistently has become intertwined with the claim that the United States is a "Christian" country. While we could argue that culturally, most "whites" identify as "Christian," the U.S. was not founded on Christianity. In fact, every effort was made to keep Christianity (and religion in general) out of the founding principles, Constitution, and government. Why? To protect religion. While there are governmental references to "God," (for example on the U.S. currency) that was not aimed at a Christianity. In fact, in the Declaration of Independence, it states (emphasis mine):
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The concept that won the day was actually Deism and not Christianity. Deism is the belief in a supreme being, and that reason not revelation was the path to truth.
However, in the construction of whiteness (which has evolved over time), race, and religion have become entwined to a degree. Therefore, claiming that someone is a "Muslim" has been constructed to mean they are not "white," and more recently that they are "terrorists." Therefore being called a "terrorist" raises racial classification, and being a "friend" of "terrorists" means one is a (white) "race traitor." Given the twisted, conceptual, and stereotypical interlinking where "white" means "American," then non-whites (and non-Christians) by default are under suspicion of being "not American." However, throwing in the "terrorism" claim makes them "anti-American" as well.
The definition of the "Real" American gets narrower and meaner. It is becoming (if it has not already become) and very small circle of white, fundamentalist Christian, militaristic, imperialistic, anything goes if my "president" says so, ideologues. The (glorious) end justifies the (immoral) means.
This is not the "America" I was taught, nor the "American" I want to -or can - be.
www/uncommonthought.com/mtblog/
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