Here’s an interesting thing. Only 49.6 percent of all births in the U.S. in the 12-month period ending in July of last year were Caucasian (for the purposes of this survey, Hispanics weren’t counted as white). Minorities reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history. This is according to stats from the U.S. Census Bureau.
America’s Future
Personally, I think that’s totally cool, for two reasons. One is all the usual good things that are associated with cultural diversity: you can’t possibly have too many Chinese and Mexican restaurants, for instance. Also, we would never have invented rock ‘n roll without black people. Seriously.
Second, believe it or not, is this thingie called American Exceptionalism that all the teabaggers are so fond of talking about. Allow me to explain.
I believe that the U.S. does have a unique, and proud, position in human history. It’s just not for the reason that the above mentioned white supremacist shitstains on the North American continent think we do.
They seem to believe that America is exceptional because we have, by far, the world’s largest military and most of the money, too. But we’re not the 1st country to be in that position. Rome had that enviable distinction for centuries, longer than the U.S. has existed. Britain had that distinction through most of the 18th and 19th centuries. Even poverty stricken desert wasteland Egypt held that distinction at one point. It’s nothing to be especially proud of, and it won’t last.
No, America is exceptional because of the American Revolution. It was the end of kings, the beginning of modern democracy. It represented, for people around the world, a beacon of hope. It was a land where people could come and make a new life for themselves, a virgin land (Yes, I’m glossing over the genocide of the Indians. I’m also not talking about slavery. I’m trying to focus on the good stuff here) where there was plenty of opportunity for everybody, regardless of how low caste and powerless you were in the old country. It was a beautiful concept. And it was not supposed to be exclusive.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty it says “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” It does NOT say “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled white masses.” That would totally throw off the meter and pollute the sweetly humanistic sentiment of the poem.
We’ve come a long way since then. Ever since the Chinese exclusion act of 1882, we have become an increasingly paranoid nation, trying to preserve a northern European version of America which was never part of what the revolution was supposed to be about.
Myself, I am extremely happy that that effort has failed.
www.gurukalehuru.com 