I Love America (and not just the idea of it)
by Kana Rasmussen
I Love America.
I hear people say it all the time. After all, it’s ingrained into us. As kids, we stood up for the Pledge of Allegiance, facing the neatly sized down classroom American flag hanging off the whiteboard, reciting those verses known to nearly every person who lives in this country.
I’m still a kid; every Monday our class rises–some reluctant to leave their seats, lay our hands on our hearts, and listen to the pledge travel through the building. We take off our hats for the national anthem before sporting events. Our city streets are named after past presidents.
Yes, I love America, too. But I don’t just love the idea of it. With all of the unrest in Los Angeles in the past weeks, the conversations around it that I’ve heard interest me almost as much as the actual events taking place. I do think that immigrants should be allowed to stay in America, but not just because of their positive economic impact (which is essential to the US economy) like many are saying. Immigrants should be able to stay in this country because they deserve just as much as any of us. They have homes, families, and jobs. They are not in America just to serve the rest of us or create revenue.
People say, “Well, who will clean our airports or pick our produce when Trump has deported all of the immigrants?” This is absolutely true: lots of immigrants are a critical part of the working class, and the importance of the working class is extraordinarily undervalued.
Here’s another question. Who will your daughter play with if her best friend is deported? This isn’t just a matter of who we’re losing in the workplace, but who we are losing in the community. Each of us should be seen as more than a profession. We’re losing those with unique and valuable personalities, and deep connections among their neighborhoods, their coworkers, their cities. The America that I love, the one that I’m willing to stand up for every morning for the Pledge of Allegiance, that America doesn’t measure the worth of people based on how much wealth they create or what their perceived importance to society is.
There are no guidelines for what makes someone worthy of being an American. Be born on American soil, apply for citizenship. Being able to live in America should be achievable; it shouldn’t be exclusive. Everyone should have the opportunity to be American, and it shouldn’t rely on what kind of labor they do, or how it’s going to benefit our country as a whole. Immigrants are not simply cogs in the machine of America.
When there is a day that the National Guard combs through elementary school graduations looking to deport children that they deem unworthy of America–the same America that these kids have pledged their allegiance to in school classrooms–we have to step back and wonder to ourselves.
“Love your neighbor,” they say– and yes, of course you should love your neighbor. But often it’s not our neighbors we have to remind ourselves to love. After all, they live in the same neighborhood as us. Love the people who come by your home at dawn to empty your garbage from the end of your driveway. Love the volunteers working endless hours for people to get paid fair wages. Love the kids in your child’s class who wait for however long it takes for their parents to pick them up from school. This is the America that we have grown to love. This is the America that I will stand up for every single time the national anthem plays at a game.
Our love for America does not have to be unconditional. We can ask ourselves for more. Because when it comes down to it, America is the people in it. Holding the door for another, balancing five bags of groceries. Jump-starting someone’s dead car battery. People shaking hands as they watch their children play together at the playground.
So when I hear about the Los Angeles unrest and the mass deportations across the country, I think about those facing the worst of it, from protesters blinking away tear gas to the kids too afraid to show up to their graduations. I think about how they’re the same people holding the door, jumping your car, shaking your hand at the playground. The same people who stood for the pledge of allegiance when they were young, who still do now.
They love America, too.
Maybe they don’t love the way America is treating its citizens at the current moment, or how America has treated us in the past, but they love it enough to take to the streets and stand up for all of us. Because they care. And that, to me, is maybe the most unconditional form of love.
About the Writer:
Hi! I’m Kana Rasmussen. I’m a sophomore at Memorial High School and I would consider myself to be pretty politically active and progressive. I’m the co-president of the High School Democrats and I love running, writing, and playing a variety of instruments. I’m really excited to be running the club and writing for the Dems this year. We’re always welcoming new members and would LOVE to have you and your friends. Even if you’re not sure all of your values align, that’s completely okay: stop by and join us!