At the beginning of the year, I asked my students if they are hopeful or fearful for America’s future. A majority said that they were fearful. Alarmed, I have made an intentional effort to distinguish the differences and effects of fear and hope. Fear leads to anger, jealousy, malice and hatred, while hope can lead to dignity, courage, inclusion and innovation. How are we to commemorate America 250, with hope or fear?
I once had a student who asked me a sincere question that I will never forget. While she appreciated the passion and excitement of our lessons, she had problems relating to my love of America. Bluntly she asked, “How can I love a nation that hates me?”
She went on and told me more about her story. Her parents were refugees from Iraq where they were freedom fighters against the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Years later they became U.S. citizens and loved the safety and opportunity of America and had hope for their family.
Things changed on Sept. 11, 2001, and instead of safety, they now feel fear. In fifth grade when her family went on a trip to visit Iraq, one of her classmate’s parents held a “the-terrorist-is-gone” party. In middle school, a student ripped off her hijab and called her slurs. In 2017, an executive order was signed by the president, banning Muslims from certain nations from entering the U.S. This ban separated her family.
I asked if we could both try to find the answer to her question. Some answers came from historical figures like Frederick Douglass, Mabel Ping Hua Lee and Tibor Rubin, but I will focus on Abraham Lincoln. On July 10, 1858 — 168 years ago today — he gave a speech to commemorate the Independence of America. During the 1850s the nation was a tense place. There was fear of a potential war over slavery, and tensions persisted due to economic and social instability. These fears caused some to turn against immigrants, specifically the Irish. In fact, in 1854 a new political party called the American Party or the “Know-Nothings” rose to target these newcomers.
America can be a welcoming place to all if we advance our ideals of equality and of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness instead of hate, exclusion or selfish apathy.
Lincoln was in a tough position — he needed to bring people together who feared each other. To do this, at a Fourth of July celebration he said the following:
“We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it … We feel more attached the one to the other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit … But after we have done all this, we have not yet reached the whole; … among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men … If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us."
One of the things I have noticed is that many of our citizens, specifically those like my student, the children of immigrants, do not feel they are a part of us. But Lincoln continues:
“But when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ … That is the electric cord in that declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world."
This quote helped my student find her voice and realize that America can be a welcoming place to all if we advance our ideals of equality and of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness instead of hate, exclusion or selfish apathy. So for America 250, I hope that all of us can grab hold of the “electric cord,” and include others in the inheritance offered by the Declaration of Independence.