This Bothers Me

From cnn.com, this was a comment on Sununu’s remarks on why Colin Powell backs Barack Obama “Sununu needs to go back to Cuba where he belongs. He is not a ‘real’ American.”

It was posted by someone with the tag annebeth66 and really bugged me.  Although I do not agree with Mr. Sununu’s remarks, annebeth66’s comment bothered me.  Why?  Well, who is this person to say who is a “real” American?  What tribe does her family belong to?  Because pretty much everybody who is non-Native American is descended from immigrants.  That’s right, folks, whether you are light brown, dark chocolate or lily white, you are descended from immigrants.  People not born here.  The only people that can actually be classified as “real” Americans, if you are going to take the position annebeth66 takes, are the Native Americans that were here when the Mayflower first docked at Plymouth Rock.

We are a nation of immigrants.  At one point or another our forefathers (and mothers, let’s keep things p.c. here) came to this country in search of a better life, be it freedom of speech, to find work, or freedom of religion.  A great many came over on slave ships.  Remember the folks who came over on the Mayflower?  They came here in search of religious freedom.  Wow, what a concept.  The ability to worship freely.  True, they did claim to be Christians.  So, one may say we were founded as a Christian nation.  But, still, we were founded on the basis of religious freedom.  Not the freedom to worship only as Christians, but the ability to worship freely, without fear of repercussion.  I tend to cringe whenever I hear the term “Christian” these days, because SO many people that bray (the loudest) about being Christian are anything but.  They are quick to point out the perceived faults in others, neglecting to see the huge beam poking out of their eye.  Sometimes I wonder if Jesus looks upon us from Heaven, slaps his forehead, sighs and goes “No, no, no, nooooo!”  Then I remember Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul, Gandhi, the many faceless, but nonetheless still there, people (some of whom I have the privilege of knowing and having as friends) that are in the trenches, quietly going about helping others, away from the spotlight, but truly practicing what others simply preach, and then I think, okay, there is hope.  They have differing political affiliations; however, instead of looking at their differences and arguing about them, they look for the similarities and ask “Okay, how can we work together?”  But I digress.

What makes a “real” American.  Well, hmmm, let’s see, when you are born in a country like ours you tend to take a lot of rights (which are really privileges) as a given and not really value them as the marvelous gifts they are.  Back in high school, it was popular to wear the U.S. flag on the seat of one’s jeans.  A lot of “real” Americans wore those jeans, they seemed to think it a great lark to sit on the symbol of one’s country.  Not one kid from an immigrant family wore those jeans.  Maybe because they couldn’t afford them, I don’t know.  I do know when I made a remark about that particular fashion at the dinner table one evening, I got an earful from both parents about the flag and why one should honor it.  This was around the time when saying the pledge of allegiance became non-mandatory.  A lot of “real” Americans chose to sit and blow spit bubbles while the rest of the kids were reciting it.  Who were the kids saying the pledge of allegiance?  Mostly immigrant kids, who later went on to become naturalized citizens.  You know, not “real” Americans.  We were taught respect.  Maybe those other kids’ parents were unaware their children were not saying the pledge of allegiance, but I tend to think kids, for the most part, mirror what they see at home.  I believe those who choose to become American citizens may be more “real” than those born here who take our precious rights, flag, Constitution for granted, not giving them the respect they so richly deserve.

When one becomes a naturalized citizen, one is CHOOSING to become American.  You are basically saying you are rejecting your birth country for this one.  You take an oath.  One of the phrases contained in that oath (or at least it was in there when I became a citizen many, many years ago, it may have been deleted or revised since) stated you are willing to take up arms against your birth country in defense of the United States.  My father had a problem with that aspect of the oath.  To him it meant he might possibly (not a likely scenario) have to take up arms against other Cubans.  He had family still in Cuba who sided with the Castro regime.  Even though these relatives did not bat an eyelash when he was carted off to jail, he had a problem with the concept of family taking up arms against family.  Not me.  I figured, heck, if I had to take up arms against other Cubans, well, they would be the ones who took my father to jail when Castro took power, or didn’t lift a finger to help him.  I had no trouble taking that oath.  Zip, nyet, nada.  Having arrived in the States when I was very young and having had a typical Southern Californian (back then) childhood, I consider myself American.  Proud of my Cuban heritage, customs, traditions, love the food, but still I consider myself American.  Who the heck is this annebeth66 to say I am not a “real” American?  If she wants me to row my way back to Cuba, because I was not born here, I want to see her row, row, rowing her … boat back to England or Ireland or whatever European nation her forebears came from.

Now, mind you, I do not agree with Mr. Sununu’s comment.  I found it distasteful and borderline (I am being generous here) racist.  Because, at least the way I interpreted it, he was inferring Colin Powell backs President Obama because of the race factor.  In other words, he has made his decision based on race, not as an informed, well-educated, intelligent citizen.  That is like saying, okay, well, if Marco Rubio is nominated for President one day, I will vote for him because he is from the same ethnic group I’m from.  Not because I agree with his politics.  I will vote for him merely because he is Cuban-American.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Let me go off point for a minute here and say I am sick and tired of the hyphenation deal.  Cuban-American, Italian-American, African-American.  Enough.  We are American.  Period.  Remember right after the horrific events on 9/11, how we came together as a nation?  Mourned together as a nation?  There was no “You’re a Democrat, I’m a Republican” or “You’re Catholic, I’m Baptist.”  We just were American.  We are a melting pot, true.  We retain and are proud of our ethnic backgrounds, but we are Americans.  Just sayin’.

One of our most cherished rights protected by our Constitution is freedom of speech.  So, just as annebeth66 has a right to spew her vitriolic assessment, oh, I do love the first three letters of that word, they do describe so many, many people, so does Mr. Sununu.  Freedom of speech.  Cherish that right, people.  Protect it.  Because the way we seem to be going, it may well disappear one day.

This presidential election is and has been one of the most distasteful, petty, all-out disgusting, on both sides of the coin, elections I can remember.  The name-calling and pettiness have given a well-publicized platform to a plethora of bigots (of all races, ethnicities and creeds).  Still this country, for all it gets beat up in the foreign press, and in our own press, is the best one in the world.  I love this country.  I have loved it since the day we arrived.  We were welcomed, not only by our friends already here, but by our neighbors, strangers who had no clue who these Spanish-speaking people were, but opened their arms just the same and made us feel at home, safe, wanted, welcomed.  I am profoundly grateful every single day to be here.  I am thankful my parents left behind their country, their way of life, language, families, to come here and give me a better life.  One where I would be able to speak freely.  I am mouthy if nothing else.  People risk their lives for the chance to live here.  They may turn around and criticize it out the ying-yang once they do get here.  That is called freedom of speech.  Freedom.  That is what we stand for.  Whether we agree with their opinion or not, the freedom for people to use their voices and be heard.  Please, get out and vote.  It is not a right as some claim, it is a hard-won privilege.

So, you see annebeth66, a “real” American is not necessarily one who was born here.  A “real” American is one who realizes what a privilege it is to be here.  Who cherishes this country, protects your right to speak your mind, even when they don’t necessarily agree with what you are saying.  A “real” American protects and serves, even when they are not an actual citizen, but a resident.  A “real” American pledges allegiance to the flag and is willing to defend with his, or her, life what it stands for.  That is a “real” American.  Oh, wait, one more thing, God bless America.