Our Pledge of Allegiance reads: “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (regardless of race or skin color, right?)
If you’ve filled out the 2010 Census already, than you know that right under your name, birthday and marital status comes a fascinatingly in-depth question about something that many of us thought we left behind in the 60s. Your race.
Aren’t we supposed to judge a man not on the color of his skin, but the content of his character? What about the Melting Pot effect of Americanism, and how so many of us don’t even know precisely what our race even is? Isn’t begging that question with such focus on detail just divide us more?
I put my race as “American” because that is what I am. I am not “white”. I am American. I am not worried about which foreign soil my forefathers came from. I am American. I am the daughter of hard-working people who long ago sweated to make this country their own. Not so they could look down on other races, not so we could focus on our differences, but so that we can say, with pride and clarity, that we are Americans. We may disagree on points of policy, but we are not a divided nation, brawling with one another over melanin levels – why are we being pushed in such an unhealthy direction?
I’m offended by this question. I’m saddened that my answer may be illegal, that this administration could demand that I see myself and everyone else through the lens of race instead of unity. I’m saddened we can’t band together, that believing in Americanism has become a shameful thing. We were established as one nation, under God, and I think it’s time we put foolish differences aside and remember that.
Posted on March 26, 2010
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