Sara

"Immigrants are going to replace our culture!" What culture is that, exactly? Is it the Iowa State Fair? Seeing the Hawkeyes play the Cyclones on Saturday night? Eating pork chops on a stick? Church choirs volunteering to help rebuild homes after a tornado? Is it barbacoa on Sunday morning before mass and your little girl's quinceañera? Or accordion-driven Tejano music playing from a pickup truck? Is it moms dropping their kids off for Calabasas ballet in Range Rovers and Teslas? Lululemon and Vuori? Angry meetings about fence heights at the HOA? Is it salsa coming through open windows on hot days? Folding chairs gathered around a domino game? Puerto Rican and American flags everywhere to honor Marines coming home? Is it Southern comfort food at Mary Mac's Tea Room? Morehouse and Spelman grads meeting to network? Southern rap blasting at Magic City? People afraid of being "replaced" have too narrow a view of what America is about. And yes, America can include a statue of the Hindu god Hanuman in Houston. (Because, c'mon, what is more over-the-top Texan than a 90-foot golden statue of a dude wielding a huge bad-ass club?) My American culture doesn't discriminate based on ethnic background. My American culture is one that can deal with immigrants because it embraces their myriad varieties. My American culture holds dear democracy, freedom, and independence. My America believes in self-governance, from jury rooms, where 12 strangers gather to decide a fellow citizen's fate, to town halls, to local elections, to national campaigns. It's watching locals grill an annoyed city council about a new park or too much crime downtown. My America believes in free speech so much that we put it at the top of the Bill of Rights. I get to call my leaders idiots and feel no fear of prison or punishment. I believe in allowing marches and protests, from the good ones (Selma and Stonewall) to the ones I dislike (Proud Boys or Antifa). My America is proud to see rows of new citizens lined up at city hall, with many different skin tones but the same expression of hope and anticipation. Because my America is Ronald Reagan's America, "still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home." So it's ok if some people march in a St Patrick's Day parade while others celebrate the Vietnamese (Tet) New Year, as long as they are all committed to freedom, democracy, the Constitution, and this amazing thing called "America." 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸