Whenever “Columbus Day,” now more commonly known as Indigenous Peoples Day, rolls around, I always have deep questions about what it really means to be an American. Yes, I gladly take the day off of work and enjoy the rest, but I am always left struggling with what this identity truly means, especially now.
Even though there have been great attempts to erase the founding brutalities of this nation, the genocide of native peoples and the enslavement of African newcomers, as we fast-forward roughly four centuries, we are still grappling with exactly who can claim the mantle of “American.” I pondered this question in my first book, Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream (Oxford University Press, 2013), when I asked if Black people could ever be considered Americans without a prefix attached to their American status. As we see ICE raids on immigrant communities, both undocumented and documented, and now Black American communities, questions that we thought we were once asked and answered are now once again fresh in the minds of many.
For this particular administration, the answer is simple: To be American is to be white. That is non-negotiable for this current administration, everyone else is called into question. Many in this current presidential administration are only second- or third-generation American, but it matters not to them. Their identification as white emboldens them to believe that they are the true (and only) individuals able and allowed to claim themselves as the true Americans worthy of being on this soil; all others are called into question, no matter their generational status.
As the vice president rails against immigrants, he clearly does not look at members of his own wife’s family (same for the president). The hypocrisy is astounding and, for so many families and communities, the cruelty is frightening. Now more than ever, it is imperative that racial and ethnic groups build coalitions (whether short-term or long-term) to help protect one another from an administration that is very clear about wanting to return America back into a country where women, people of color, and immigrants have little if any rights. The attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion were the first blow, and the current tactics of ICE agents have been the second more physical blow.
Mandating that schools and universities make pledges and pacts to follow the exclusionary whims of this administration are tactics of brutal dictators. For so many Black people in this country, our parents and grandparents remember the days of rampant racism and inequity, and we are swiftly and sadly losing any strides we once made. This is not acceptable and as Americans, it is our duty not to accept this as the new normal.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.