What does it mean to be American?
He wore an Abercrombie&Fitch shirt with Levi’s 501 jeans. He listened to Eminem on his iPod and bobbed his head. But the long, black braid down his back, name, and tanned color skin revealed his Native heritage. He’s American.
She had a sachel full of freshly picked strawberries, weathered hands, and a slight hunch when she sat. She proudly stated in Spanish her governmental documents arrived and now she is officially a legal citizen. She smiled and went back to work in a strawberry field off the 101 freeway in California. She’s American.
Young and eager to learn English, she explained to me in a thick Japanese accent she was American. She’d never been to America, but she was born on a military base in Japan and therefore considered American. So yes, she’s American too.
I’m bi-cultural. I eat rice and beans and apple pie. I light off fireworks on the 4th of July and listen to salsa music. I speak English and I can pray in Spanish. I’m American too.
But what does it mean to be American?
A professor in college asked this question in class one day and I have yet to figure it out. Because the truth of the matter is that we can and do have prejudices toward people of different ethnic backgrounds. We make assumptions about how they should act, drive, talk, walk.
The only remedy to this ill is to first ask the bigger question: What does it mean to be a Christian? It is then we can provide a context and rubric of how to engage and dialog with our brothers and sisters living in America.
What does it mean to be a Christian? And in honor of Dr. Orozco, what does it mean to be American? I know we have international readers, so feel free to chime in 🙂 I’d love to read your perspective!
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