Superior Court United States

Being American is making a change, and making good changes. Being American is being welcoming, being caring about other people, being proud of the country. And it’s forgiveness. It’s not holding grudges on anything—I mean, where’s that going to get you? —Natalie Villafranca, 14, in Texas (born in Dallas)

Being American means protection by the law. Anyone can say whatever they want and, even if I don’t agree with them, they’re still protected by the law it’s my job to enforce. That’s their freedom. That’s their right. —Sean Larkin, 40, sergeant with Tulsa Police Department’s gang unit in Tulsa, Oklahoma (born in Virginia)

In 2014, New York Times reporter Damien Cave traveled the length of highway I-

35, which runs south to north through the middle of the United States, for his

“The Way North” project. Along the way, he asked 35 people, “What does it

mean to be American?” These are some of their answers.

Being American is red, white and blue and being free. It doesn’t matter what language you speak; if you’re born in America, you’re still American. No matter what you look like, no matter what. —Sebastien de la Cruz, 12, student who gained attention, and backlash, when he sang the national anthem during the 2013 NBA finals in a mariachi outfit (born and lives in San Antonio)

SITING THE SOURCE:

Facing History Content Team, ed. “What Does It Mean to ‘Be American’?” Facing History & Ourselves. Accessed June 17, 2017. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/my-part-story/what-does-it-mean-be-american.

The following excerpts are from other Americans discussing what they think it means to “be

American.” Among these voices are historians and writers who think about this topic a lot, as well

as individuals from other walks of life who participated in a discussion for the documentary film

A More Perfect Union.

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Precisely because we are not a people held together by blood, no one knows who an

American is except by what they believe. It's important that we do know our history,

because our history is the source of our Americanness. —Historian Gordon Wood

When people wrote "All men are created equal," they really meant men; but they didn't

mean any other men except white men who owned land. That's what they meant. But

because the ideas are powerful, there's no way that they could get away with holding to

that. It's not possible when you have an idea that's as powerful and as revolutionary as a

country founded on the idea that just because you're in the world, just because you're

here, you have a right to certain things that are common to all humanity. That's really

what we say in those documents. The idea that we begin the Constitution with, "We, the

People" . . . even though they didn't mean me! They had no idea I'd ever want to make a

claim on that. And they'd have been horrified if they'd known that any of us would. But

you can't let that powerful an idea out into the world without consequences. —Writer

Rosemary Bray

The American Dream has no meaning for me. What it was founded on, the Constitution

and the Bill of Rights, in many ways I feel are used as billy clubs against minorities and

cultural minorities, whether they be gay, or different in any way from the norm in this

country. I, for example, don't think I'd like to go to California because of what I look like. I

could be pulled over and carded, and I would have to prove my ancestry. And look how

long my family has been in northern New Mexico. Ten to twelve generations! —Vicente

ADOLFO S. GONZALEZ JR