Are you an authentic American?

By Guest Contributor Madhuri, originally published at Restore Fairness

“Police officers giving drivers $204 tickets for not speaking English? It sounds like a rejected Monty Python sketch. Except the grim reality is that it has happened at least 39 times in Dallas since January 2007….All but one of the drivers were Hispanic.”

Reporting on the issue, a New York Times editorial asks the question – is racism alive and kicking in America? If this were a one off incident, it could be an aberration. But 39 times makes it a growing pattern of injustice.

So how does one question who or who is not an American? Does it have to do with language, race, ethnicity, how long one has been in the United States – or is it about the more legal aspect of possessing citizenship.

Recently, an incredible achievement by Meb Keflezighi’s, winner of Men’s NYC Marathon, kicked off a number of doubts about whether this is truly an “American” achievement, or one imported in from outside.

“Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he’s not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies.”

Comments from a CNBC Sports Business Reporter who half apologized in a post the next morning.

“Frankly I didn’t account for the fact that virtually all of Keflezighi’s running experience came as a U.S. citizen. I never said he didn’t deserve to be called American.”

Keflezighi came to the United States when he was 12 from war torn Eritrea. Is that enough time for him to be an American? Ironically the last American to win the marathon was also born in another country – Cuba. Alberto Salazar’s comments from a New York Times article are insightful.

“What if Meb’s parents had moved to this country a year before he was born? At what point is someone truly American? Only if your family traces itself back to 1800, will it count?“

The same article talks about the racial stereotypes that seem to be emerging to the surface.

“The debate reveals what some academics say are common assumptions and stereotypes about race and sports and athletic achievement in the United States. “Race is still extremely important when you think about athletics,” said David Wiggins, a professor at George Mason University who studies African-Americans and sports. “There is this notion about innate physiological gifts that certain races presumably possess. Quite frankly, I think it feeds into deep-seated stereotypes.”

So are we heading for a “clash of cultures” figuring out where the identity of America lies. This Huffington Post article has a few answers.

What’s been missing from our national discourse on “is it race or isn’t it?” is the distinction psychologists and neuroscientists have made for over two decades between conscious and unconscious (often called “explicit vs. implicit”) prejudice

Asking what the difference may have been if over the last 25 years, a half million Englishmen a year had entered the U.S., it wonders if

“what turns up the volume on Americans’ feelings about immigration is that immigrants are not white, English-speakers from London but brown-skinned Mexicans who may not speak our language well and don’t share our Anglo-American culture.”

Demographers now place it around 2040 when whites may be in the minority in the U.S. And so it seems, the best way to deal with this reality may be -

“There’s nothing shameful about admitting that you’re among the majority of Americans – of every color – who has sometimes judged another person on the color his skin instead of the content of his character – and then realized it wasn’t fair. The best antidote to unconscious bias is self-reflection. And the best way to foster that self-reflection is through telling the truth in a way that doesn’t make people defensive or point fingers – except at those who wear their prejudice proudly and deserve our scorn.”

(Photo courtesy of the New York Times.)

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Townhalls & Firewalls | Xenia Institute on 17 Nov 2009 at 9:04 am

[...] Are you an authentic American? | Racialicious So how does one question who or who is not an American? Does it have to do with language, race, ethnicity, how long one has been in the United States – or is it about the more legal aspect of possessing citizenship. [...]

Comments

Mooncat wrote:

What the crap? Can you really get a ticket for not speaking English in Dallas? How is that legal???

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 9:29 am ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:

Oh dear. I’m on a classic movie kick and I’ve been watching loads of old Hollywood films (including silent 1910s/1920s films) and films from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

The majority of these Hollywood icons weren’t born in the States. Oh dear, I guess they weren’t authentic American, either.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 10:59 am ¶
Eva wrote:

The CNBC “reporter” should have been asked would he have said the same thing about Martina Navratilova.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 11:48 am ¶
CDF wrote:

lmao! I don’t think any of us are “authentic” given whatever criteria is required…

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 12:40 pm ¶
yolanda wrote:

The majority of these Hollywood icons weren’t born in the States. Oh dear, I guess they weren’t authentic American, either.

that’s the thing…as long as you’re white you have the opportunity to become an “authentic american.” as a poc, who was born and raised here (as were generations before me) i’ll never truly be “american.”

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 12:48 pm ¶
jln wrote:

I wonder if a lot of the snideness in the reporting about Meb Keflezighi’s win isn’t just about what makes a person “authentically” American and actually about bolstering the “East Africans are the best distance runners” stereotype. For whatever reason a lot of people in endurance sports seem to accept that as a absolute fact, and it’s like they have to make sure to show their audience that they’re right and that Keflezighi is proving and not disproving the rule of regional superiority. In some ways I think that’s even worse than being an anti-immigrant thing, because it promotes the whole ethnicity=biology=destiny idea.

As an aside, I also saw reports of the wheelchair division of the NYC marathon refer to second place finisher (and top US finisher) Krige Schabort as a “South African-born American”. He’s white, but “ethnic”, so I wonder if they aren’t promoting of the idea of tribal-advantage there too since there’s a South African who has dominated wheelchair road racing for several years now, and they’re trying to tie the two together.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 1:35 pm ¶
Jess wrote:

Hmmm..

Given the kind of culture we are in, which has a complicated relationship with immigration, there are all sorts of problems in defining what a “real” American is. “White ethnics” were not considered “real” Americans not so long ago, and that includes Irish people who spoke English as their native language. Or Welshmen for that matter (ever use the term “welshing” on a bet?) Jews? Don’t get me started.

But with all that it would be hard to think of American culture without all those things that immigrants have brought. I can’t think of many “ethnic” food staples that wasn’t given the form we recognize here in the US. Pizza, knishes, “Chinese” food, even the burrito (at least in the shape you see it at Harry’s), “French” fries — were all given the shape they have in the US by immigrants from the relevant country.

Also, the very concept of being “black” — at least in terms of Hip-hop, jazz, blues, the vernacular used, all that stuff — that’s about as American as it gets. Can we imagine America without black culture? I can’t.

So to me, it just seems that to be an “authentic” American seems an odd way to put it — I mean, anyone who is a citizen is an American n a legal sense (and whatever stupid wingnuts say it was decided back in the early part of this century). And in some ways being an immigrant at all is sort of a uniquely American idea.

(And one could to a degree extend this to South America, where the idea of immigration is part of the identity of Argentinians and Chileans, to name two, though I am not sure that it has quite the same resonance as it does in the US. If there’s an Argentinian reading this please weigh in).

Certainly when you think of the idealizations of the experience that we all go through or experience at some point. The idea of opportunity and remaking oneself is still a powerful one. I mean, that is part of the reason people come to the US in the first place rather than going to say, France or the UK or Iceland, which are countries just as wealthy with as many jobs. (Or not, as the case may be).

To illustrate: when I was last in Poland in 2004, the line outside the US consulate was around the block. The EU consulates were nowhere near as mobbed — and the US is a lot tougher to get into).

So I might posit that being an American is as much about how you see yourself as it is about which country you happen to have been born in. So, maybe the point at which you become an American is when you embrace that idea and make it part of yourself. (And even though we all understand here that racism can limit opportunities, the fact that we think we should have them as a right is part of what I am taking about).

Keflezighi’s story — talk about American. His is a classic. He’s about as American as it gets, too, and it is duplicated a million times every day. Asking whether he is a “real” American seems bloody stupid and racist.

The very diversity of New York — it’s still one of the most diverse in the world — is what makes it an American city. The very diversity of the country we live in is what makes it what it is. I don’t think anyone would say people from New Hampshire — the most unrepresentative state in our political process — aren’t real Americans, though.

And the fact that while there is racism and that idiot sheriff in Dallas (who by the way is under some fire for the “driving while Spanish speaking” ticket issue) in the US part of the discussion is how you manage a diverse country and still have a cohesive idea of nationhood.

I can’t think of too many other places where that’s the case. Australia, perhaps(?)

I don’t want to sound polyanna-ish. But I do believe that at a certain point, the demographic changes will force certain cultural changes as well. The “white ethnics” were able to wrest power in part because of sheer numbers. And they voted, too. No politician, no matter how much he railed against the “Irish drunks” was going to ignore that. I do hope that we can break at least part of that pattern, tho — we needn’t have people cross over into whiteness. We need to make whiteness less important.

Sorry to ramble, but this brought up some complicated issues — and for me, complicated feelings as well.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 2:57 pm ¶
prettypithy wrote:

It is not simply a stereotype that East Africans are the best distance runners but it is not based in biology, rather the geographical advantages of the location in which they train. However, Meb would not have had those training advantages in the U.S. so lumping him in is an act of stereotyping.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 3:41 pm ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:

Yolanda: yeah, good point.

I was watching a 1927 silent film comedy starring MONTY BANKS, who was a popular comedian in the 1920s. I looked him up and I was surprised that his real name was Mario Bianchi and he was born in Italy, but changed his name to fit in with the WASP crowd in Hollywood. I didn’t know he was Italian, but he was white and he looked white.

but it’s a completely different story for non-white people, of course. I cannot believe that this “are you a real American” bullshit still continues TODAY.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 3:44 pm ¶
Jennifer dG wrote:

The comment in the post about “Englishmen” gave me pause because I’ve realized that I have trouble thinking of naturalized American citizens of British origin as Americans — because they have British accents! I can accept naturalized citizens with other accents, but somehow my brain has trouble with British ones, probably because of the traditional cultural juxtaposition of British and American.

My family was just laughing at me for a video showing me at 14, correcting my mother when she refers to a Northern European last name as “American” in contrast to other, Hispanic-origin last names. The idea that white equals American has always bothered me. And it’s even more galling that people who have made the conscious decision and effort to become Americans aren’t seen as Americans by people who didn’t have to do anything more difficult than being born in this country.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 4:32 pm ¶
Jay wrote:

Somewhat relevant Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCXqOFjsiZs

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 5:35 pm ¶
ummsqueakster wrote:

My egyptian born husband became an american citizen this last July. He already knows more about american history then most people our age (late 20s, early 30s), and knows just about everything in the constitution. He seriously contemplated the oath of citizenship and reflected on what it meant to swear to it. He can also name every wrestler in the WWE If he’s not an american, I don’t know who is.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 5:46 pm ¶
jln wrote:

prettypithy, it’s still a stereotype in the sense that it’s presented in the media as a genetic advantage (you regularly see articles in running magazines about UK/US/Canada-based people with Kenyan or Ethiopian parents who “redisover their running heritage” that play into that). Never mind the bigger fact that
there are enough high profile runners from Asia, Europe, South America and Southern Africa that put the lie to the “fact” of East African dominance.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 6:07 pm ¶
Meg wrote:

I thought the comments on Meb’s achievements were to do with american vs. other in terms of training techniques not who is allowed to call themselves american. That’s an important distinction. It’s not that unusual to hear about where athletes were training – particularly if the national programme is failing to produce success. But reading the ‘apology’ it seems like the assumption was made that he couldn’t possibly be american, which does get at the authenticity issue and sucks that he has to prove his american-ness to a ‘reporter’ who couldn’t be bothered finding out the basic facts in the first place. I think the stereotype that east africans are just naturally superior at distance events is so pervasive and the comment reflects the idea that biology has to be the reason he won the marathon. It couldn’t possibly be anything to do with hard work since all those authentic americans work hard but haven’t won the marathon in however many years.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 7:32 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:

Rita Cansino, anyone? Since DIMA dropped a Hollywood mention.

NGL- When I read Meb’s name, and saw that he was repping the US in the marathon, I was confused! His name completely threw me off because I’ve never heard one like it before…so at fist I thought they made a mistake in labeling him as either representing America or being the winner. But I would certainly not deny his authenticity.

A lot of the “Authentic American” talk you hear is based in deep-seated insecurity. When you think about it, American culture is so transient, so transparent, that it’d be really hard to pin any one thing down as unequivocally American- after all, America is just a big amalgam of myriad cultures, no? And, much as I had voiced in an earlier post(the great sari debate), as an American, without knowledge of your ethnic heritage, not being able to readily identify your culture can be quite unsettling. Ever know anyone who, after having gone around the circle asking about where people are from, say that they are “just black”? Major self-esteem killer. So it’s like that- because you have nothing that you can readily show as being yours and only yours, you are threatened by anyone who does- a language, a (time honored- with time being centuries) tradition, a facial characteristic. Not that that is any justification, but definitely a little insight on why many people feel the need to demand authenticity from or conversely invalidate Meb’s achievement, and the achievements of many others.

Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 11:52 pm ¶
in a land w/o sea wrote:

on a somewhat related note:
not having one’s US citizenship acknowledged can have fatal consequences. angry asian man recently posted a story about a mother, nurse and sick baby from AMERICAN samoa being detained by ICE in honolulu because there was some issue with the paperwork. apparently, the ICE agent didn’t realize that AMERICAN samoa is, well, american and that, despite being brown and having “foreign” names, they were all US citizens. the baby died because of the delay getting through customs.
http://www.angryasianman.com/2009/11/wrongful-death-suit-filed-for-baby-who.html

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 12:38 am ¶
Nate wrote:

Jess. Just to clarify – Poland joinedthe EU in 2004, so no visa would be requird for Polish citizen to travel anywhere in the EU, or work/reside for most EU states.

So that could be why no-one was queue-ing around the block. Also, US embassy have the quaint habit of insisting visa applicants queue outside the embassy building and are only allowed in for the acutal appointment. Or at least that’s how it works in london.

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 9:25 am ¶
Jess wrote:

@Nate —
Yah, I was there in June of that year, so you are right it probably changed by the time I was there.

But in other countries the phenomenon is very visible. Morocco, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary (pre-EU membership) — everywhere I have ever been and walked around the “embassy row” I see the same thing. Getting into the visa section of any US embassy is like getting into a U2 concert. (I always pitied the poor schlub who has to do crowd control. Talk about a thankless job).

People line up to come to the US. And since these folks aren’t fools, there is something about it that attracts. Ask how many visa applications the US Consulate gets and stack it up against anyplace else. The difference is ridiculous in some countries.

A straight up economic calculation doesn’t explain it, because a lot of EU countries might offer just as many opportunities — and I don’t have the added burden of needing to learn English.

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 11:15 am ¶
pololly wrote:

There is no doubt that there is a racist standard on who gets to be ‘native’ to a country and it is disgraceful.

Just to note another side of the same phenomenon: I have a general feeling that black people from abroad are generally seen as authentically american, as long as they can be easily boxed into black stereotypes. As a black non-American when in America I felt like being black provided an understandable context for white Americans to relate to, above nationality. I think what is throwing people off here is his name. It doesn’t sound European, it doesn’t sound ‘black’ and it doesn’t sound ‘African’ (yes I know – I mean to the general public). White names or names that Europeans can understand are still seen as the norm and it is still the white American’s right to revoke citizenship of the ‘other’.

When I was interning in the US, because I was a POC, I was treated like an immigrant even when all the white people around me were treated like ‘ex-pats’ and ‘internationals’. Sometimes this was helpful and sometimes it was not. However I had a lot of privilege in that situation (good job, legal advice, markers of educational privilege) which helped massively. I had health insurance, fluent English and was seen as ‘different’ to black stereotypes. Yes I wasn’t any different to Af-Ams but I was ‘comparable’ in some way because I looked similar and though I had an African name, it was pronounceable and not
If I didn’t have those things, it could have been very difficult.

I think that race and sports is a really horrible can of worms on top of this.

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 1:43 pm ¶
sandeep wrote:

i think its reprehensible that this runner was questioned of his legitimacy as an american having revealed he arrived in the country at age twelve. this kindof hits home for me as i arrived in this country at age nine. i am a bit of a mix as i was born in wales which is part of the united kingdom but my parents were born in punjab a state in india giving me brown skin. going through the september 11th shakedown many of us faced especially in conservative midwest smalltowns i know what its like to be put under the microscope and have my american-ness be challenged unnecessarily.

this is a country of immigrations as the original inhabitants were decimated. laws have been opened up to allow immigration a little more evenly from places around the world and this may contribute to more equal representation in the population of the united states of the future in terms of encapsulating the world. but currently we still suffer from the aftereffects of years of unfair immigration law and one specific world region being overrepresented on american soil.

Posted 19 Nov 2009 at 4:18 am ¶
Nate wrote:

Jess. Tue. I guess that does raisen some uncomfortable issues about immigration into the SU from a global south perspective(I’m not trying to derail honest!).

Outside of the US (and I’m saying this with love, and with full acknowledgement that being in west europe, its nearly true) the perspective is that the US is a machine for hegemony , that despite the best intents of some of its citzens, is essentially all about fucking the rest of the world over, not even for ‘national interest’ but for the narrow interest of the white, middle and upper classes, and indutrial/financial complexes.

As a chap with POC heritage (and yes, I’m accusing myself here ), people, including POC are lining up to join this, often in the asusmption, yeah, the US machine has this effect, but it advantages me, or my ethinc/raical/class group is vierwed by the white equivelant, so ‘they’ (or the system) won’t effect me.

Fine, we all make choices. Often of out immediate self interest or the interest of our families. So did the vichy. And the civil servants and local agents of the raj. The underlying question is, by using all the benefits of US privilege (or western europe et), that the system allows me to have – Am I a vichyite, collaborationist or fellow traveller? And what moral culpability do I have for supporting this oppression, and in the context of direct action and local resistence (armed or otherwise) does that make me and mine, the oppressor,(or at best a lackey)?

Posted 19 Nov 2009 at 7:33 am ¶