This Is America: Part One

INTRO: “This Is America: Part One” is made up of lists. The lists are made up of facts. Those facts present truths about what makes up America. At our best, those truths are beautiful and inspiring and breathtaking.

The lists also reveal something else: we all contribute to something bigger than ourselves that’s called the American experiment, and the experiment always works best when we come together.

“We Are One: Part Two” then expands upon “This Is America” to reveal a global Truth.

America is Amanda and Jessica and Kayla and Winona and Maria and Yesensia and Darius and Marcus and Amy and Andy and Ashley and Brittany and Cody and Julie and Laki and Susie and Tommy and Zachary and Amber and Christopher and Tyler and Alexis and Denis and Jordan and Lauren and Megan and Ryan and Aiko and Alejandro and Dayo and Mato and Ahmad and Carlos and DeShaun and Evens and George and Jack and Juan and Michael and Monique and Nick and Nicole and Rohan and Sung and you and me.

Together.

This is America.

America is Danish and English and Irish and Scottish and Chinese and Japanese and Lebanese and Sudanese and Vietnamese and Brazilian and Italian and Kenyan and Cuban and Dominican and German and Haitian and Jamaican and Mexican and Native American and Puerto Rican and Russian and Salvadoran and Armenian and Argentinian and Austrian and Cameroonian and Canadian and Colombian and Ethiopian and Indian and Iranian and Korean and Lithuanian and Nigerian and Syrian and Ukrainian and Bangladeshi and Pakistani and Czech and Dutch and Filipino and French and all of us.

Living together — not apart.

This is America.

America is Episcopalian and Presbyterian and Rastafarian and Unitarian and Lutheran and Mormon and Wiccan and Baptist and Buddhist and Methodist and New Ageist and Spiritualist and Taoist and Catholic and Hindu and Inuit and Jewish and Muslim and Quaker and all the other spiritual pathways.

We pray together and grow love together and seek a higher power together as we strive to be an instrument of peace.

And even when our “leaders” try to divide us, we know that God is love, and love cannot be divided, and we cannot be divided.

We are together.

This is America.

America is bisexual and heterosexual and homosexual and queer and transgender and anything else that helps us direct our love to another.

We are loving another together or seeking the love of another together or loving from afar together or not seeking love together.

We are doing it all — together.

This is America.

America is the automotive worker and bartender and bus driver and carpenter and doctor and farmer and fashion designer and filmmaker and inventor and labor organizer and lawyer and nonprofit worker and police officer and professor and rapper and rancher and soldier and teacher and truck driver and writer and musician and surgeon and pilot and poet and fireman and holy man and holy woman and comedian and librarian and activist and artist and IT specialist and psychologist and scientist and astronaut and athlete and coach and judge and nurse and all the people that keep America running and advancing and flourishing.

Because we work — and strike — together.

This is America.

In 1861, a great American thinker said this:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

It was President Abraham Lincoln’s way of saying to his fellow Americans, “Hey, we’re all in this together.”

America is Appalachian and cajun and Hawaiian and disco and go-go and tejano and zydeco and hip hop and pop and funk and punk and Cree and R&B and rock ’n’ roll and soul and choral and heavy metal and bluegrass and blues and country and electronica and folk and gospel and jazz and all the other music that we make together and listen to together and sing together and dance to together and connect our souls through together.

This is America.

America is folk art and pop art and street art and abstract expressionism and impressionism and neo-expressionism and New Journalism and opera and orchestra and photography and poetry and all the music and architecture and ballet and literature and film and sculpture and stand-up and theater and TV and video and all the other art that we create together and learn from together and feel inspired by together and feel nourishment from together.

This is America.

America is baseball and basketball and football and softball and volleyball and bodybuilding and bowling and boxing and bull riding and cycling and figure skating and rowing and sailing and skateboarding and skiing and stock car racing and surfing and swimming and wrestling and hockey and rugby and gymnastics and lacrosse and soccer and tennis and track and all the sports that we play together and practice together and cheer for together and then wait for another season to do it all over again — together.

This is America.

Do you see the pattern?

Do you see what we share?

Do you see that we share it all together?

Isn’t that great?

America is the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers and Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong and Mildred Bailey and Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie and Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker and Hank Williams and Wes Montgomery and Sarah Vaughan and John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Link Wray and Ray Charles and Odetta and Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline and Little Richard and Quincy Jones and Willie Nelson and James Brown and Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison and Waylon Jennings and Marvin Gaye and Joan Baez and Pat Vegas and Bob Dylan and Ritchie Valens and Lou Reed and Aretha Franklin and Barbra Streisand and Jerry Garcia and Jimi Hendrix and Diana Ross and Neil Young and Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt and Carlos Santana and Kathleen Battle and Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder and Joey Ramone and David Hidalgo and Steve Earle and Sheila E. and Grandmaster Flash and Prince and Madonna and Michael Jackson and Joan Jett and Cindy Blackman Santana and Michael Stipe and Chuck D and Axl Rose and Garth Brooks and Flea and James Hetfield and Whitney Houston and Eddie Vedder and Dr. Dre and Stephen Malkmus and Kurt Cobain and Kathleen Hanna and Jay-Z and Queen Latifah and Q-Tip and Alicia Keys and Beyoncé and Tosin Abasi and Alynda Segarra and Lady Gaga and Frank Ocean and Taylor Swift and Luke Combs and Steve Lacy and Billie Eilish and Yahritza Martinez and…

America is Walt Whitman and Mary Ann Shadd and Emily Dickinson and Louisa May Alcott and Mark Twain and Edith Wharton and Ida B. Wells and Willa Cather and Upton Sinclair and Margaret Widdemer and Alain Locke and Zora Neale Hurston and Harold Ross and Dorothy Thompson and Dorothy Parker and John Dos Passos and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Betty Smith and Ernest Hemingway and Langston Hughes and James T. Farrell and Joseph Mitchell and Martha Gellhorn and Chester Himes and Elizabeth Bishop and Ralph Ellison and Carson McCullers and Gwendolyn Brooks and Katherine Graham and Lillian Ross and J.D. Salinger and Charles Bukowski and Ben Bradlee and Jack Kerouac and Kurt Vonnegut and James Baldwin and Truman Capote and Harper Lee and Allen Ginsburg and Maya Angelou and Jimmy Breslin and Tom Wolfe and Toni Morrison and John McPhee and Gay Talese and Slyvia Plath and Philip Roth and Joan Didion and Robert Caro and Don DeLillo and Hunter S. Thompson and Lynn Nesbit and Edna Buchanan and Robert Christgau and Bob Woodward and Alice Walker and Carl Bernstein and Greil Marcus and Stephen King and Leslie Marmon Silko and Juan Felipe Herrera and Randy Shilts and Walter Mosley and Amy Tan and Claire Smith and Sandra Cisneros and Gish Jen and Susan Orlean and Greg Tate and David Remnick and Hilton Als and Donna Tartt and Dana Canedy and Sherman Alexie and Junot Diaz and Colson Whitehead and Dave Eggers and Viet Thanh Nguyen and Jesmyn Ward and Lisa Lucas and Karan Mahajan and Veronica Roth and Yaa Gyasi and Amanda Gorman and…

America is Winslow Homer and Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent and Childe Hassam and Frederic Remington and Frank Lloyd Wright and Edward Hopper and Marguerite Zorach and Georgia O’Keefe and Man Ray and Augusta Savage and Beatrice Wood and Norman Rockwell and Paul R. Williams and Dorothea Lange and Weegee and Louise Nevelson and Richmond Barthé and Ansel Adams and Mark Rothko and Isamu Noguchi and Dorothea Tanning and Jackson Pollock and I.M. Pei and Andrew Wyeth and Jacob Lawrence and Diane Arbus and Roy Lictenstein and Robert Rauschenberg and Vivien Maier and Moneta Sleet Jr. and Satoru Abe and Betye Saar and Rosalyn Drexler and Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol and Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo and Frank Gehry and Jasper Johns and Marjorie Strider and James Rosenquist and Ed Ruscha and William Eggleston and Kinji Akagawa and Lynda Benglis and Barbara Kruger and Ana Mendieta and Annie Leibovitz and Julian Schnabel and Jeffrey Deitch and Nan Goldin and Cindy Sherman and Futura and Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf and Fab 5 Freddy and Lee Quinones and Lorna Simpson and Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mark Bradford and Larry Poncho Brown and JonOne and Simone Leigh and Sarah Sze and Shepard Fairey and Mickalene Thomas and Violet Oakley and Keltie Farris and Eddie Martinez and Julia Rommel and Nathlie Provosty and Tauba Auerbach and Ann Lewis and Jesse Mockrin and Julio Reyes and Nina Chanel Abney and Katie Ruiz and EJ Hill and Ariele Alasko and Lucien Smith and Jordan Casteel and Alex Chaves and Tschabalala Self and Khari Turner and Caleb Hahne Quintana and…

America is Frances Marion and Hattie McDaniel and Orson Welles and Paddy Chayefsky and Marlon Brando and Paul Newman and the Maysles brothers and William Greaves and Sidney Poitier and John Cassevetes and Fredrick Wiseman and Clint Eastwood and Gena Rowlands and James Dean and Rita Moreno and Elizabeth Taylor and Melvin Van Peebles and Robert Redford and Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and Francis Ford Coppola and Thelma Schoonmaker and Al Pacino and Harrison Ford and Martin Scorcese and Robert DeNiro and George Lucas and John Waters and Oliver Stone and Sally Field and Steven Spielberg and Edward James Olmos and David Letterman and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Samuel L. Jackson and Meryl Streep and Bill Murray and Kathryn Bigelow and Alfre Woodward and Jim Jarmusch and Jerry Seinfeld and Denzel Washington and Whoopi Goldberg and Andy Garcia and Tom Hanks and Spike Lee and Frances McDormand and Gregg Araki and Lee Daniels and Sean Penn and Eddie Murphy and George Clooney and Forest Whitaker and Joe Berlinger and Roddy Bogawa and Michelle Yeoh and Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt and Rosie Perez and Viola Davis and Halle Berry and Salma Hayek Pinault and Julia Roberts and Jamie Foxx and John Singleton and Lucy Liu and Wes Anderson and Tyler Perry and Octavia Spencer and River Phoenix and Sofia Coppola and Mahershala Ali and Leonardo DiCaprio and Rachel Morrison and Barry Jenkins and Diablo Cody and Oscar Isaac and Jennifer Lame and Greta Gerwig and Steve Yeun and Michael B. Jordan and Emma Stone and Quinta Brunson and Jennifer Lawrence and Timothée Chalamet…

America is Jim Thorpe and Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Buck O’Neil and Jesse Owens and Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson and Sammy Lee and Wat Misaka and Vicki Draves and Yogi Berra and Althea Gibson and Jim Shoulders and Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron and Bill Russell and Mickey Wright and Jim Brown and Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough and Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus and Shirley Muldowney and Wilma Rudolph and Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving and Dale Earnhardt and Mike Eruzione and Chris Evert and Doug Williams and Joe Montana and Dorothy Hamill and Carol Blazejowki and Martina Navratilova and Larry Bird and Nancy Lopez and Lawrence Taylor and John McEnroe and Magic Johnson and Florence Griffith-Joyner and Greg Louganis and Don Mattingly and Dot Richardson and Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan and Bonnie Blair and Tony Hawk and Ken Griffey Jr. and Lisa Fernandez and Sheryl Swoopes and Jeff Gordon and Lisa Leslie and Jenny Thompson and Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods and Tom Brady and Crystl Bustos and Bode Miller and Kobe Bryant and Kim Rhode and Abby Wambach and Serena Williams and Apolo Ohno and Diana Taurasi and Carli Lloyd and Lebron James and Shaun White and Stephen Curry and Clayton Kershaw and Mookie Betts and Mikaela Shiffrin and Patrick Mahomes and Chase Elliott and Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky and Noah Lyles and Tyler Adams and Coco Gauff and…

America is George Washington and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony and Chief Joseph and Thomas Edison and Eugene V. Debs and W.E.B Du Bois and Frances Perkins and Lucy Randolph Mason and Jovita Idar and A. Philip Randolph and Amelia Earhart and Rachel Carson and Bayard Rustin and Rosa Parks and Jonas Salk and Thomas Merton and Morris Kight and Betty Friedan and Malcolm X and William F. Buckley Jr. and Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. and Dolores Huerta and Neil Armstrong and Gloria Steinem and Gloria Anzaldúa and Alice Callaghan and Ann Tsukamoto and Michael Weinstein and Oprah Winfrey and Ruby Bridges and Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and Satya Nadella and Derrick Johnson and Liz Shuler and Larry Page and Kimberly Oliver and Ebony Twilley Martin and Patrisse Cullors and Mark Zuckerberg and Jerome Foster and Charitie Ropati and…

We’re on the lists, too.

Together — not apart.

This is America.

In 1963, another great American thinker wrote this:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

It was the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s way of saying to his fellow Americans, “We really are in this together.”

America is the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and the transatlantic slave trade and the Trail of Tears and the Civil War and the transcontinental railroad and the Emancipation Proclamation and Whitman’s Memoranda During the War and the creation of jazz and World War I and the Women’s Right to Vote and the creation of country music and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and the Great Depression and Welles’s Citizen Kane and World War II and the invention of the polio vaccine and the creation of rock ’n’ roll and Davis’ Kind of Blue and the Civil Rights Act and the Vietnam War and the Great Society and Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem and the Stonewall Uprising and Apollo 11 landing on the Moon and Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Watergate and the creation of hip hop and Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York” and Warhol paints with Basquiat and the introduction of the Mac and Richard Petty winning the Firecracker 400 and A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” and Morrison’s Jazz and the invention of HIV drug treatment and September 11 and the California Supermarket Strike and the invention of Facebook and Dylan’s “Workingman’s Blues #2” and the invention of the iPhone and the election of Obama and Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and the George Floyd protests and Simone Leigh winning the Golden Lion…

We make our history together.

We witness our history together.

We share our history together.

This is America.

At its best, America is fair and just and diverse and equal and united and free.

At its best, America is inventive and creative and industrious and conscientious and brilliant and wise.

At its best, America is cheerful and hopeful and peaceful and soulful and forgiving and loving and generous and gentle and funny and fun.

So shouldn’t we, together, strive for our best?

Read “We Are One: Part Two” — the companion piece to “This Is America: Part One.”