On the vital
importance of modeling an inclusive national community—and a couple specific
ways to support that work.
I’ve written
before, in a
post on how Rush Limbaugh uses Thanksgiving to present a largely false and entirely
propagandistic narrative of history, about some of the myths and realities of
our collective memories of the holiday. But however simplified the elementary
school stories of Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a holiday meal, I would
stress one exemplary side to that image: it presents an originating vision of
an inclusive national community, one defined by multiple cultures coming together
and creating something new out of that connection. Too many of our collective
narratives of American identity are dependent on exclusion instead, a process that
likewise began with the Pilgrims (as in William
Bradford’s description of “First Encounter,” the violent conflict with
Native Americans that marks the outset of the Pilgrim community in direct opposition
to those “others”). The inclusive vision can’t and doesn’t mean eliding our
memories of those exclusionary trends and their oppressive effects for
communities like Native Americans, but it means likewise remembering—and celebrating—the
moments and ways we’ve modeled a more shared national community instead.
In our own moment,
the exclusionary national narrative seems ascendant in both specific and overarching
ways, making it that much more important that we emphasize and support more
inclusive spaces and communities. I can think of few specific contemporary
histories that echo and extend the worst sides of our exclusionary past more
clearly than the violence directed at the
Dakota Access Pipeline protesters on the Standing Rock reservation in North
Dakota. The pipeline’s destruction of Standing Rock sacred land itself reflects
an exclusion of this community and its spiritual and social concerns from our
collective narratives; but the casual violence and brutality with which
officials have responded to the protests, and the relative
lack of mass media attention to that violence, represent additional layers
to an exclusionary vision of Standing Rock. So a first step in modeling an
inclusive vision of community would be simply to engage more fully and
collectively with what’s happening at Standing Rock, as we should any American
place and community experiencing such horrors. And then we could take that
engagement further and turn it into more direct action, such as in the options
highlighted in this recent piece on methods of registering collective
protest and solidarity with the Standing Rock activists and community.
On the more overarching
level, the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election has seen numerous prominent exclusionary
attitudes and actions: from the surge in hate crimes against minorities of all
kinds to the nomination of overt white supremacists such as Steve Bannon and
Jeff Sessions to key administration positions. One central thread of these
contemporary exclusions has been directed at immigrants, from Trump’s promise
to immediately deport “two to three million” undocumented Americans to his
surrogate’s use of Japanese
internment as a “precedent” for the creation of a registry of Muslim
arrivals and Americans. While of course I would argue that a
better understanding of our histories of exclusion and immigration would
help challenge this contemporary exclusion, it’s also vital that we more
actively support efforts and organizations to help immigrant communities. Many
of the organizations highlighted
on this site do vital work and are well worth your time and support; I
would point to this
specific organization, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), as one such effort. This
list likewise includes a number of wonderful organizations, such as the National Immigration Law Center. And finally, Jose
Antonio Vargas’ EmergingUS site and
hashtag models collective conversations about how we define this more
inclusive vision of American community.
I’m thankful for
all these organizations and efforts, and for all of us working to remember,
celebrate, and support an inclusive vision of America, now more than ever.
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Happy
Thanskgiving!
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