This Is America: Part One
INTRO: “This Is America” 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 inspiring, beautiful, and breathtaking.
The lists also reveal something else. As Americans, we all contribute to something bigger than ourselves. That bigger thing is the American experiment. Since 1776, it has always worked best when we come together.
“We Are One: Part Two” then expands upon “This Is America” to reveal a global truth. Both are dedicated to my family.
America is Amanda and Jessica, Kayla and Winona, Darius and Marcus, Amy and Andy, Ashley and Brittany, Cody and Julie, Laki and Tommy, Amber and Christopher, Alexis and Dennis, Jordan and Lauren, DeShaun and Evens, George and Juan, Monique and Rohan, and you and me.
Together.
This is America.
America is Danish and English, Irish and Scottish, Chinese and Japanese, Lebanese and Vietnamese, Brazilian and Italian, Cuban and Jamaican, Mexican and Native American, Puerto Rican and Russian, Ethiopian and Indian, Iranian and Korean, Lithuanian and Nigerian, Syrian and Ukrainian, Czech and Pakistani, Dutch and Filipino, and you and me.
Living together — not apart.
This is America.
America is Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Rastafarian and Unitarian, Lutheran and Mormon, Buddhist and Methodist, Baptist and Spiritualist, Catholic and Jewish, Quaker and Muslim, 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 the powerful 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, homosexual 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, bus driver and carpenter, farmer and filmmaker, labor organizer and police officer, professor and rapper, rancher and soldier, teacher and writer, musician and surgeon, pilot and poet, activist and IT specialist, astronaut and coach, 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 disco and go-go, Tejano and zydeco, funk and punk, Cree and R&B, rock ’n’ roll and soul, choral and heavy metal, bluegrass and blues, country and electronica, folk and gospel, hip hop 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, Abstract Expressionism and Impressionism, Neo-Expressionism and New Journalism, opera and orchestra, photography and poetry, all the music, architecture and literature, ballet and film, theater and TV, 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, football and softball, boxing and bull riding, figure skating and rowing, skateboarding and skiing, stock car racing and surfing, swimming and wrestling, gymnastics and track, soccer and tennis, 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, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey and Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie and Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker and Hank Williams, Sarah Vaughan and John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Link Wray, Ray Charles and Odetta, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, Little Richard and Quincy Jones, Willie Nelson and James Brown, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and Marvin Gaye, Joan Baez and Pat Vegas, Bob Dylan and Ritchie Valens, Lou Reed and Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand and Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and Diana Ross, Neil Young and Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Carlos Santana, Kathleen Battle and Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Joey Ramone, David Hidalgo and Steve Earle, Sheila E. and Grandmaster Flash, Prince and Madonna, Michael Jackson and Joan Jett, Cindy Blackman Santana and Michael Stipe, Chuck D and Axl Rose, Garth Brooks and Flea, James Hetfield and Whitney Houston, Eddie Vedder and Dr. Dre, Stephen Malkmus and Kurt Cobain, Kathleen Hanna and Jay-Z, Queen Latifah and Q-Tip, Alicia Keys and Beyoncé, Tosin Abasi and Alynda Segarra, Lady Gaga and Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift and Luke Combs, Steve Lacy and Billie Eilish…
America is Walt Whitman and Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson and Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain and Edith Wharton, Ida B. Wells and Willa Cather, Upton Sinclair and Margaret Widdemer, Alain Locke and Zora Neale Hurston, Harold Ross and Dorothy Thompson, John Dos Passos and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Betty Smith and Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes and James T. Farrell, Joseph Mitchell and Martha Gellhorn, Elizabeth Bishop and Ralph Ellison, Carson McCullers and Katherine Graham, Lillian Ross and J.D. Salinger, Charles Bukowski and Ben Bradlee, Jack Kerouac and Kurt Vonnegut, James Baldwin and Truman Capote, Harper Lee and Allen Ginsburg, Maya Angelou and Jimmy Breslin, Tom Wolfe and Toni Morrison, John McPhee and Gay Talese, Slyvia Plath and Philip Roth, Joan Didion and Robert Caro, Don DeLillo and Hunter S. Thompson, Lynn Nesbit and Edna Buchanan, Robert Christgau and Bob Woodward, Alice Walker and Carl Bernstein, Stephen King and Leslie Marmon Silko, Juan Felipe Herrera and Randy Shilts, Walter Mosley and Amy Tan, Claire Smith and Sandra Cisneros, Gish Jen and Susan Orlean, Greg Tate and David Remnick, Hilton Als and Donna Tartt, Dana Canedy and Sherman Alexie, Junot Diaz and Colson Whitehead, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Jesmyn Ward, Lisa Lucas and Karan Mahajan, Veronica Roth and Amanda Gorman…
America is Winslow Homer and Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent and Childe Hassam, Frederic Remington and Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Hopper and Marguerite Zorach, Georgia O’Keefe and Man Ray, Augusta Savage and Beatrice Wood, Norman Rockwell and Paul R. Williams, Dorothea Lange and Louise Nevelson, Richmond Barthé and Ansel Adams, Mark Rothko and Isamu Noguchi, Dorothea Tanning and Jackson Pollock, I.M. Pei and Andrew Wyeth, Jacob Lawrence and Diane Arbus, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg, Vivien Maier and Moneta Sleet Jr., Satoru Abe and Betye Saar, Rosalyn Drexler and Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol and Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo, Frank Gehry and Jasper Johns, Marjorie Strider and Ed Ruscha, William Eggleston and Kinji Akagawa, Lynda Benglis and Barbara Kruger, Ana Mendieta and Annie Leibovitz, Julian Schnabel and Jeffrey Deitch, Nan Goldin and Cindy Sherman, Futura and Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quinones and Lorna Simpson, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mark Bradford, Larry Poncho Brown and JonOne, Simone Leigh and Sarah Sze, Shepard Fairey and Mickalene Thomas, Violet Oakley and Keltie Farris, Eddie Martinez and Julia Rommel, Nathlie Provosty and Tauba Auerbach, Ann Lewis and Jesse Mockrin, Julio Reyes and Nina Chanel Abney, Katie Ruiz and EJ Hill, Ariele Alasko and Lucien Smith, Jordan Casteel and Alex Chaves, Tschabalala Self and Caleb Hahne Quintana…
America is Frances Marion and Hattie McDaniel, Orson Welles and Paddy Chayefsky, Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, the Maysles brothers and William Greaves, Sidney Poitier and John Cassevetes, Fredrick Wiseman and Clint Eastwood, Gena Rowlands and James Dean, Rita Moreno and Elizabeth Taylor, Melvin Van Peebles and Robert Redford, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman and Francis Ford Coppola, Thelma Schoonmaker and Al Pacino, Harrison Ford and Martin Scorcese, Robert DeNiro and George Lucas, John Waters and Oliver Stone, Sally Field and Steven Spielberg, Edward James Olmos and David Letterman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Samuel L. Jackson, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray, Kathryn Bigelow and Alfre Woodward, Jim Jarmusch and Jerry Seinfeld, Denzel Washington and Whoopi Goldberg, Andy Garcia and Tom Hanks, Spike Lee and Frances McDormand, Gregg Araki and Lee Daniels, Sean Penn and Eddie Murphy, George Clooney and Forest Whitaker, Joe Berlinger and Roddy Bogawa, Michelle Yeoh and Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Rosie Perez, Viola Davis and Halle Berry, Salma Hayek Pinault and Julia Roberts, John Singleton and Lucy Liu, Wes Anderson and Tyler Perry, Octavia Spencer and River Phoenix, Sofia Coppola and Mahershala Ali, Leonardo DiCaprio and Rachel Morrison, Barry Jenkins and Diablo Cody, Oscar Isaac and Jennifer Lame, Greta Gerwig and Steve Yeun, Michael B. Jordan and Emma Stone, Quinta Brunson and Timothée Chalamet…
America is Jim Thorpe and Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Buck O’Neil, Jesse Owens and Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson and Sammy Lee, Wat Misaka and Vicki Draves, Yogi Berra and Althea Gibson, Jim Shoulders and Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron, Bill Russell and Mickey Wright, Jim Brown and Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus and Shirley Muldowney, Wilma Rudolph and Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving, Dale Earnhardt and Mike Eruzione, Chris Evert and Doug Williams, Joe Montana and Dorothy Hamill, Carol Blazejowki and Martina Navratilova, Larry Bird and Nancy Lopez, Lawrence Taylor and John McEnroe, Magic Johnson and Florence Griffith-Joyner, Greg Louganis and Don Mattingly, Dot Richardson and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan, Bonnie Blair and Tony Hawk, Ken Griffey Jr. and Lisa Fernandez, Sheryl Swoopes and Jeff Gordon, Lisa Leslie and Jenny Thompson, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and Crystl Bustos, Bode Miller and Kobe Bryant, Kim Rhode and Abby Wambach, Serena Williams and Apolo Ohno, Diana Taurasi and Carli Lloyd, Lebron James and Shaun White, Stephen Curry and Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Mikaela Shiffrin, Patrick Mahomes and Chase Elliott, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, Noah Lyles and Coco Gauff…
America is George Washington and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony, Chief Joseph and Thomas Edison, Eugene V. Debs and W.E.B Du Bois, Frances Perkins and Lucy Randolph Mason, Jovita Idar and A. Philip Randolph, Amelia Earhart and Rachel Carson, Bayard Rustin and Rosa Parks, Jonas Salk and Thomas Merton, Morris Kight and Betty Friedan, Malcolm X and William F. Buckley Jr., Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr., Dolores Huerta and Neil Armstrong, Gloria Steinem and Gloria Anzaldúa, Alice Callaghan and Ann Tsukamoto, Michael Weinstein and Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, Satya Nadella and Derrick Johnson, Liz Shuler and Larry Page, Kimberly Oliver and Ebony Twilley Martin, Patrisse Cullors and Mark Zuckerberg, Jerome Foster and Charitie Ropati…
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, the U.S. Constitution and the transatlantic slave trade, the Trail of Tears and the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad and the Emancipation Proclamation, Whitman’s Memoranda During the War and the creation of jazz, World War I and the Women’s Right to Vote, the creation of country music and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the Great Depression and Welles’s Citizen Kane, World War II and the invention of the polio vaccine, the creation of rock ’n’ roll and Davis’s Kind of Blue, the Civil Rights Act and the Vietnam War, the Great Society and Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, the Stonewall Uprising and Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, Gaye’s What’s Going On and Watergate, the creation of hip hop and Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York”, Warhol paints with Basquiat and the introduction of the Mac, Richard Petty winning the Firecracker 400 and A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”, Morrison’s Jazz and the invention of HIV drug treatment, September 11 and the California Supermarket Strike, the invention of Facebook and Dylan’s “Workingman’s Blues #2”, the invention of the iPhone and the election of Obama, Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad 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, diverse and equal, free and united, peaceful and soulful.
At its best, America is creative and inventive, conscientious and industrious, brilliant and wise, charitable and welcoming.
At its best, America is cheerful and hopeful, forgiving and loving, generous and gentle, fun and funny.
So shouldn’t we, together, strive for our best?
Read “We Are One: Part Two” — the companion piece to “This Is America: Part One.”
