Finally, tonight, the declaration of Independence is words are timeless.
We hold these truths to be self evident.
But in this time of stark divisions, is it self evident what it means
to be an American.
Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. We reached out to Americans
we met on the National Mall in Washington, D C. Others who spoke
from their homes to talk about how we see ourselves.
What does it mean to you to be American? I think to me, um, Being
American is being free to express myself. It means community. I think,
obviously, you know, hard work because a part of that, um, I think
looking out for your neighbor.
I want to feel proud of my country right now, but it's hard to
With all the history we've been looking at. It's feeling like we're
Repeating history again like the same struggles. I thought we would
be over and
As an American right now, it feels conflicting to be an American
right now for me, and we are all our American. It doesn't matter
where you're from where you came from, because again, everyone's
immigrants. Unless you're native American American means freedom
to me.
Freedom to have an opinion and to voice that opinion. I wish America
would heal, and I wish that you know everybody can unify and we can
all come together, but I don't really see that happening right now,
and I see a lot of division. Everybody says we're divided by but
I don't
I see it as part of the process of the political system and feels
lower as divided. As you know, the media makes us out to be. You
know, we got opportunities and, you know
If you come to America is a lot of opportunities.
Of being
prospecting United States
Appreciate. It s be thankful, man. That's all. We still have. The
ability to live our dreams pursue happiness. It's not perfect, but
it's a blessing to live here. July 4th 9th 17 76.
My people and people look like me. We're on a plantation, so we weren't
free. So to me, it's just another day. I don't I don't feel any type
of ways. Anybody who looks realizes that it was Independence Day
for rich white males.
Long land
and it has taken us
All these many years.
To actually reach something near independence.
For people who are
Not straight people who are not white people who are not mail
today of remembrance. It's a day
Of sacrifice. It's the day the sacrifice began to create this country.
I don't know how much we have to really celebrate. I, for the most
part, have been celebrating Juneteenth since 2020.
And I think I'm going to continue to do that means seeing my family
and remembering all those people who fought for us to have freedom.
Part of being an American is acknowledging where we have fallen short
and then having that optimism that someday maybe we'll get there.
Someday we will fully realized these wonderful principles that were
included in our founding documents.
For more on what it means to be American. I'm joined by Eric Liu.
He's the CEO of Citizen University, a non profit organization that
teaches civic empowerment and Saudi Akane. She's the host of immigrant
Lee. It's a weekly podcast that focuses on the experiences of people
who immigrated to America.
Thanks to you both for joining us and Eric, let me start right off
the top. You spent a lot of time having this conversation about what
it means to be American.
Are there things that people agree on right now, about what That
means.
Well, I think you heard some of that in the clips. You just heard
from people all around the country and one of the themes that I think
you can draw from that is that on some fundamental level, what it
means to be American is to forever be contesting what it means to
be American.
We are a country that is drawn not from a single bloodline, not from
a single faith in a single God, not from a single history on a single
piece of soil. All we have to bind us together is this creed the
set of ideas and ideals and promises.
That from the beginning we were breaking and from the beginning we've
never fully lived up to the point isn't for us to get to some magical
consensus that all Americans believe XR. All Americans think this
way.
America is an argument and the more that we can get comfortable as
Americans recognizing that from the beginning, we were meant to contest
the tensions between liberty and equality.
Between strong national government and local control between a colorblind
approach to law and the Constitution and our color conscious one.
Um, all these tensions are baked into our whole system. And even
though our politics is toxic, Lee polarized right now, and we don't
need fewer arguments right now. We just need less stupid ones.
You chose to become an American.
I'm wondering, what did that mean? When you first became an American
citizen, being an American, and what does it mean to you? Now? It's
such a difficult question, because
For me being an American.
Is reconcile ng so many different parts of my identity. Right. So
back in silent part of my Pakistani identity, my American identity.
It's a balancing act, and there are times
When I feel more American, and then there are other times when I
feel less American, For instance, Um, when I became a citizen, I've
felt more American. There was a lot of hope. I
Felt like I had made, it could have admit it. Um, but now, almost
nine years after my citizenship, I feel less American because I see
so many
Racial and socioeconomic in equities, and I see
That in a way, we are regressing, and that is hurtful. And it's painful
as a nationalized citizen, and I'm also trying to navigate my own
place in America as a Muslim, Pakistani American first generation
moment of color.
Um, and that's becoming harder now than it did say, 10 years ago.
I'm curious. What you make of this idea of a conversation of Eric
is right that America is an argument.
Is that an argument that that is worth having, or has the argument
gone too far into conflict?
Absolutely. I think it is worth having now more than ever before,
because there are so many different narratives that we see right.
So people like myself. We have decided that we cannot sit on the
sidelines anymore, and we are part of that.
Political and social discourse. We are part of that argument and
two x point I totally agree because I feel America is working progress
so absolutely, yeah, we need to have more arguments than less. You
know, America is changing. Our demographics are changing for sure.
We're becoming more diverse. We also have a lot of disparity in this
country to, um
Is there an identity crisis? Because of these ideas? Let's look at
the three of us right now, in this conversation, uh, not only at
the beginning of the country, but even 50 years ago, um, for the
three of us to be composing a conversation about the meaning of American
identity would not have been the default setting of national media.
And here we are, right, And I think
The reality is that we are living through this time where, uh, whiteness
and Americanness are at last decoupling. And people are scared of
that. In some ways, people are hopeful in other ways, but the thing
that we are forced to reckon with right now.
Is that we've got to come together to define a notion of American
is that is not based on the default. Setting that to the American
is to be white. And to be American is to be male were not a white
monoculture, and we're not some multicultural, color coded collection
of different pots of culture.
We are a relentless hybrid generating garden that is just yielding
all kinds of ways of thinking, believing, praying, eating, imagining
creating that the rest of the world hasn't yet contemplated.
And that is our competitive advantage in the world. Right now I'm
the son of immigrants from China, and I will say very simply that
as strong as China, maybe getting and as powerful as they may be.
The United States retains a deep and enduring competitive advantage,
which you can boil down this way. America makes Chinese Americans
China does not make American Chinese China is not interested in trying
to take people from other parts of the world, bring them in and integrate
them and give them a chance. That is precisely what's happening here
in the United States in this combination of people
Like us right now, and others who are trying to give new life to
the ideas and the ideals of the American creed. That is the essence
of both the challenge and the opportunity right now, Eric Liu Thank
you so much. Saudia con. Thank you, too, for having this conversation
this holiday weekend.