What does being American mean to you?

Joy is an act of resistance.

What does being American mean to you?

Freedom to say anything, however indecorous.

What does being American mean to you?

Supervivencia.

What does being American mean to you?

We all exist because of our history, no matter how ugly, and we have to find a way to wrestle with it, come to terms with it.

What does being American mean to you?

So many of us have clamped down on our particular version of truth, the same way that my dog holds his favorite chew toy . . . If we squeeze truth that hard, it can perish.

What does being American mean to you?

My America is a place committed to the tenuous dream of personal, social, and environmental renewal.

What does being American mean to you?

As the Bruce Springsteen lyric goes, I have “a wide open country in my eyes / And these romantic dreams in my head.” 

What does being American mean to you?

I am a free person. I don’t have to let other people define who I am.

What does being American mean to you?

I can’t help but reference W. E. B. Du Bois’s famous passage on double consciousness. To be an African American is an ongoing reconciliation of two warring selves.

What does being American mean to you?

It means being knowledgeable, appreciative, and critical of the full spectrum of our history in order to learn from the past and aim for a more peaceful, equitable, and sustainable future.

Being an American means to me being free, especially free to worship and free to express myself. It means belonging , being a part of a story with so many different characters.

Phoebe F., Dumont, NJ

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