What Happened to You, America?
Racism, Conspiracy Theories, COVID-19
I was amazed by the United States since I was a five-year-old girl from a small town in Germany. Even though I didn’t speak a single word of English, I remember asking my mom to turn up the radio when George W. Bush won the presidential election in 2000. Deep down I knew that I wanted to live in this country that was more than 5,000 miles away. I don’t know why I felt that way, or where my passion and interest in the U.S. came from. But I remember a fire of curiosity burning inside of me. I wanted to fly across the Atlantic as soon as possible.
On Christmas Day in 2009, I stepped on American soil for the first time. I remember a picture of Barack Obama greeting me at JFK airport. There was this immense happiness I felt while standing on top of the Rockefeller Center. It was priceless. After just a few days in Manhattan, I was certain that this was my dream country.
I characterized (most) Americans as forward-thinking, highly creative, tolerant, open-minded, and bold.
In my opinion, no place on earth was a more interesting melting pot––a magical mix of different cultures, freedom, and endless possibilities. Something, my home country was lacking. Or, so I thought...
Now, in 2020, all that is left is a heartache. Writing these first paragraphs made me tear up. I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the past 10 months. It was a dream come true. But almost everything I associated with the country I so admired just a couple of years ago has changed. Where are the forward-thinking people I was praising? Almost all I can see is hate, division, narcissism. I’m in disbelief when I see people recklessly spreading conspiracy theories instead of wearing masks to save others. I’m hurting when racists refer to statues of confederate generals as America’s proud heritage. I’m internally screaming when I hear the president publicly naming the Black Lives Matter movement a symbol of hate. Or when he purposely calls the coronavirus “Kung Flu.”
What in the world has happened to the country I once so admired?
What happened to attributes like tolerance and friendliness? What happened to all those positive traits I was missing in my own home country? I dreamed of being part of this great nation for years because I thought it cherished and supported immigration. I wanted to learn and grow with all the talented people living here, in a country that supposedly gives its citizens nearly endless possibilities to succeed and thrive.
Boy, was I completely wrong all along? Or has a lot just changed? I never felt more unwelcome, furious, devastated, heartbroken than I am right now. In my opinion, one main catalyst is the 45th U.S. President, Donald J. Trump. He mainly won the election in 2016 based on a campaign of keeping immigrants out of the country. His primary goal was to shut America’s borders. By now, his wall includes everyone who is planning to pursue a career or find shelter in America. On June 22, simultaneously to the skyrocketing COVID numbers, Trump signed a proclamation suspending aliens to enter the U.S. because they would present a risk to the labor market. Present a risk?! As a German in Los Angeles, I never thought I could be a risk just by wanting to live abroad. I never thought I could be a threat that Americans needed protection from.
The proclamation states: “American workers compete against foreign nationals for jobs in every sector of our economy, including against millions of aliens who enter the United States to perform temporary work.”
It further reads: “…under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, certain nonimmigrant visa programs authorizing such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers.”
Even though I won’t be affected by the measures of the proclamation which took effect on June 24 and will remain in place through December 31, the whole thing makes me incredibly furious. Why? Because more than half of the immigration visas issued in a typical year will be denied. Instead of saving the economy, Trump will potentially worsen the economic hardship suffered by millions. Even major U.S. businesses like Facebook, Google, and Apple publicly spoke out against the president’s proclamation, because “putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses, and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back.”
Anderson Cooper recently said on CNN: “If divisive, inflammatory, racist words could kill the coronavirus, then the president of the United States would be heading to Stockholm right now to pick up his Nobel price in medicine.” What Donald Trump is doing is, to put it mildly, dangerous. He riled up the entire country and somehow managed to make a pandemic political. Or as Cooper put it: “He is trying to persuade the country that the virus is simply vanishing.” Looking at the utter madness that is taking place on Twitter, FOX News, etc., I’m in shock. As a German, I also followed the COVID crisis in Germany for the past months. Even though my home country had to face a lot of issues like racism, or divisions between left and right: the pandemic weirdly brought the country closer together. Everyone acknowledged its seriousness and worked together to get it under control.
In Germany, masks never caused nationwide outrage.
But in the U.S., it feels as if nothing in the world could unite Republicans and Democrats. It’s heartbreaking to see that not even hundreds of thousands of dead Americans can bring opposing sides to the table, to solve an unprecedented crisis. That’s why, for the first time, I am proud to be German. I am proud of the country’s stability, a strong economy, and a working healthcare system. Why is it so infuriating to pay a little more taxes so you won’t have to pay off dooming debt caused by medical bills? I will never understand the sense behind paying billions of dollars to the police and military but not to your healthcare and educational system. Looking at Europe, it almost seems boring compared to what’s happening here right now. There’s no narcissistic America First, no Fake News-tweeting national leader, or “coronavirus is made up by the radical left” chants.
But you know what? Boring sounds pretty good right now.
Of course, I wouldn’t still be here without the slightest bit of hope. With an eye on the election coming up on November 3rd, I hope Americans prove themselves and the rest of the world wrong. Wrong? Yes. The United States has lost a lot of credibility and respect since the 2016 election. But I believe that there are still enough forward-thinking, tolerant, and bold people out there that can turn everything around. They just need to get to the voting booths! I will listen — just like in 2000 when I was a five-year-old girl. Only this time, I will understand how important the outcome of an election is.
