The American Dream – Part 2

Who is Entitled to the American Dream?

The simple answer is anyone who is an American citizen. Early on in our history there is a stubborn refusal by our forefathers to consider women and non-white people as citizens. Only with the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (1868) do Blacks, former slaves and freed Blacks prior to the Civil War achieve citizenship. And still only Black men! But, this permanently shuts the door to an exclusively white man’s country. Women, more than half of the population, finally receives their citizenship rights on their own, independent of their husbands, even later. Native Americans, believe it or not, only become American citizens in 1924.

White-Male Privilege

Even before the establishment of the United States of America there is a political, economic and social order judging only white men eligible for citizenship. White men have always had easy access to the American Dream; all others could only wish. In defense of our forefathers, they did design a Constitution and Bill of Rights that would eventually enable more and more non-whites and women access to the American Dream. The problem, however, is that the original dichotomy runs deeper than proclamations or laws. We will continue to struggle with how to establish a more perfect union until we understand and dismantle the them-versus-us mentality. There are no simple fixes. The belief in differences continues to overwhelms our obvious similarities.

The Dichotomy

The definition of dichotomy is “a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.” A picture of a dichotomy looks like this…

Let’s say, white men are the circle and the grey is all others (Ac). Luckily, we’re all in the same universe (U). Over the last decades the pink is expanding. Our national goal is to create a Universe that is all pink and includes all people equal under the law. This is a laudable goal but obscured by prejudices built over millennia.

Inferiority of Women

In ancient Greece and Rome, women were Goddesses. In other ancient cultures some were powerful rulers. Many women throughout history had equal or, sometimes greater power, than men. Some Native American Indian tribes were matrilineal societies, and some may have even been matriarchys.  Somewhere along the way women became the weaker sex, even stupid and unable to manage their own affairs. (I can recall even in the 1970s when stores forbid women to have credit cards without their husband’s signature). In The Specter of Sex the author Sally Kitch explores the root of gender equality. One item from her research that pertains to our discussion is as follows…

Rights Delayed

“Women win the right to vote in 1920, but their citizenship remains through her father or husband until 1934 (see Cable Act 1922). Up until then, a woman would lose her citizenship if she marries a man from another country. If you had offspring outside of the U.S. with a non-American husband, your children wouldn’t have been seen as American because a woman couldn’t transfer her citizenship to her children,†Kitch says. Women have been fighting for equal rights for a long time. Many organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 were already fighting in the anti-slavery movement. Women and blacks were inferior to white males in the eyes of the law. Laws change but attitudes and actions are quite a different thing. Full equality for both nonwhites and women remains elusive.

European Colonialism & American Law

Racism is believing you’re superior to “the other.” Racism was lit on fire during European colonialism. Early contacts of Europeans with indigenous peoples, is crucial in the foundation and development of white privilege. Modern-era Europeans organized slavery, beginning in the 15th century and culminating in the British Empire and slavery in the United States. “This began a centuries-long progression of white privilege, and non-white subjugation.” Even after the abolition of slavery, American laws supported long-held beliefs that whites are superior to non-whites. Segregation and The Immigration Act of 1924 are prime examples.

Who Makes Our Laws?

Before 1945 non-whites represented a mere 1% of the Senate and House. As for women during the same period there were fewer than four congresswomen in either house. Below see two charts from the Pew Foundation showing composition of Congress is prior to WW2 … (and most all law-making institutions continue to be white and male dominated)…

America, A Huge Experiment

My grandfathers became U.S. citizens in the 1920’s. They were lucky to be white, northern-European Italians. This gave them an huge advantage. Our challenge is to create an inclusive culture eliminating the dichotomy. A chance for all U.S. citizens an equal shot at the Dream. In a John Stewart interview, he lays out the complexity of the American Experiment saying… “America is a singular experiment of a ‘multiethnic democracy’ and “America is not natural…Natural is tribal. We’re fighting against thousands of years of human behavior and history. That’s what’s exceptional about America. This ain’t easy.†I pray our country will unite and clear a path for all our citizens to receive what they have been promised and rightly deserve. As for all those non-citizens seeking the American Dream, enacting more enlightened immigration laws would help. Our young country remains a unique work in progress!