Reminding Myself of the Idea of America

If you have read this, you have seen me get more and more disheartened by my fellow American Citizens. Every now and then I try to pull myself out of it. One of the true representations of hope, for me, are Black Americans.

Americans are a bit different than French, British or Chinese in that all but the indigenous people of this country are adopted by the land. If you are not Sioux or Navajo (for example) you or your ancestors have somehow chosen to be an American. You can buy into the dream and try to be a"good" person, or you can leave. Even the asshole white nationalists are choosing to stay.

Now think of the (majority of) Black Americans. They are descended from slaves. Their choices to come here were made for them. After a century of slavery (and further centuries before we were a country), they were "freed" for a decade or two before Jim Crow laws restricted their lives and their votes for another 80 years!

And yet, they continue to choose to be Americans. Since the voting rights act in the mid-1960s, this group votes in higher percentages than any other ethnic group - year after year. Imagine! Black Americans trust a government that spend 2/3s of its lifespan keeping them as "less than human". Despite all the evidence, they believe in the innate goodness of the American Government and Americans. They still believe in the ideal of America.

And Black Americans fight through the hardship of voting now, because they remember it used to be worse. There were times they could not vote legally. And then there were times we (White Americans) made it impossible even when it was legal. 

I admire that optimism, that hope, that belief that we can and will become better. And, on my good days I try to believe the same thing. I wish I was that strong.