What it means to be American

This morning my children and I listened to Harry Blalock read an article expressing a view of what it means to be an American and a patriot. If you heard it, you know that he thinks it means to qualify you have to be a Christian, English speaker and not like things like multi-culturalism. It was a very strict definition that my children and I decided we did not agree with.

To me being a patriotic American means being someone who cherishes the ideals and principles that have made America great. Those ideals and principles have been strengthened through the different waves of immigrants who have become American. We are great because we are African and Italian and German, Filipino and Chinese and Pacific Islander. We are Muslim and Hindu and Jewish and Christian and everything else.

We are a great country because it doesn’t matter what country your parents came from, as long as they had the dream to be part of a society that protects the weak with laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It doesn’t matter what religion or color you are if you cherish freedom of speech for those with unpopular ideas.

Some people think that September 11 means that we should narrow our eyes and pull in and cut the freedoms that they were afraid of in the first place. They think it means we narrow our definition of what America is and invite those who don’t share the view to get the heck out.

For me and a lot of other Americans of every color and religion, September 11 showed what a beautiful country we have all built together with our different languages and different cultures coming together to celebrate a nation of freedom and justice for all. September 11 made freedom-loving Americans realize that, to keep America great, we need all of us to work together, to speak out against injustice and intolerance and not let anyone narrow our definition of what is patriotic or American.

What my children and I heard Mr. Blalock describe on the radio this morning was not the America my immigrant ancestors traveled to generations ago in search of a better life. Let’s remember that, in great part, it’s our differences that make America great.

Above all, we have to strive not to become like the intolerant fundamentalists who attacked us.

Vicki King Taitano
Capitol Hill