Born in the U.S.A. — Is it Enough to Make You an American?
When PJM's Aaron Hanscom sees athletes born in the U.S. choosing to compete for Mexico, and Mexican flags at rallies, he gets worried about patriotism among immigrants. Isn't citizenship more than a piece of paper, he asks? Or is waving another nation's flag while simultaneously demanding all the rights afforded to American citizens as benign as eating a burrito on the 4th of July?
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A recent Los Angeles Times article brings to mind an important - and sure to be controversial - question: Is Giovanni Lanaro an American?
Who’s Giovanni Lanaro?
He’s the seventh-best pole vaulter in the world. To help answer the first question I raised, here’s some pertinent information:
- Lanaro was born in Los Angeles.
- Lanaro is quoted in the Times as saying: “I live in the States. Everything I do is in the U.S.”
- Describing the reception he gets when he competes in Mexico, Lanaro says, “You come in and you are American.”
My question is too easy, right? Surely this guy is as American as apple pie. But wait, there’s more:
- Lanaro was born to an American father and Mexican mother, qualifying him for dual citizenship.
- Lanaro thinks he could have made the U.S. team for this month’s championships. “But that’s not what I want,” he says.
- What does he want? “Ever since I was young, I wanted to compete for Mexico.”
- Why? “We live in the U.S., but the culture is a Mexican culture and that’s what I grew up around.”
Lanaro’s wish has come true. He is one of no fewer than nine athletes born in the U.S. but named to the Mexican Pan American team. A post on radio talk show host Dennis Prager’s blog characterized this as a disturbing trend: “Born, raised and educated in the U.S., they identify with another country.”
Indeed, radio talk show hosts have born the brunt of the criticism from supporters of the now-defeated Senate immigration bill. They have often been called nativists or racists for their opposition to illegal immigration and amnesty plans. The over-the-top rhetoric of some shock jocks notwithstanding, most critics of the bill were simply echoing the concerns of the majority of the public.
Peggy Noonan described their feelings in a Wall Street Journal piece last year: “It’s the broad public knowledge, or intuition, in America, that we are not assimilating our immigrants patriotically. And if you don’t do that, you’ll lose it all.”
It’s not as if patriotism is a dirty word for most immigrants. At immigration rallies held in cities across the country, Mexican flags have been ubiquitous. The apex of this Mexican patriotism was reached last year at a rally in the city of Maywood near Los Angeles, when “protesters raised the Mexican flag on the pole in front of the U.S. Post Office.”
While many bloggers commented on the lack of American pride on display at these demonstrations, the mainstream media was relatively quiet on the subject. Mickey Kaus noted that the Los Angeles Times didn’t mention the sea of Mexican flags at one huge Los Angeles rally in 2006. The paper did, however, report that there were “more American flags than those from any other country.” To prove the disingenuousness of this claim, Kaus linked to a representative Times photo of the crowd that showed there were at least as many Mexican flags as American flags at the demonstration.
One can argue that this is not a significant development. Perhaps waving another nation’s flag while simultaneously demanding all the rights afforded to American citizens is as benign as eating a burrito on the 4th of July. But to ignore the story completely prevents any debate from taking place.
It’s quite possible that the Mexican flags are symbolic of multiculturalism’s negative effects. While there’s nothing wrong with fostering cultural pride, we are doing immigrants no favors by failing to instill in them a deep respect and abiding love for America. PJM blogger and author of “Mexifornia,” Victor Davis Hanson, has described this moment in the nation’s history as the only time when the majority has felt it easier to allow immigrants to keep their own culture rather than join the majority. Hanson’s description of life for Mexican-Americans in modern day America is revealing:
A limited annual visit or a family reunion nourishes enough nostalgia for Mexico to war with the creation of a truly American identity. For Mexican immigrants, the idea of Mexico has shifted from a liability to an important benchmark of ethnic pride in the last two decades. A visiting Mexican soccer club playing almost any American team will find in our local fans a home-crowd advantage - despite being 1,000 miles from home. Mexicans in California turn out to vote in booths set up in California for local and national candidates in Mexico…
Mexicans also receive school letters in Spanish. I know because I passed them out regularly during my years as a substitute teacher in a largely Hispanic section of Los Angeles.
Teachers are sometimes afforded a glimpse into the future before the rest of the population. As I’ve written before, one question I always tried to ask students was: “What country do you live in?” “California” and “Los Angeles” were the most popular responses. When my students - after a helpful reminder from me that they pledged allegiance to this country earlier in the day - finally realized that they live in the United States of America, I asked them to name one of the fifty states. Only on rare occurrences was “Mexico” not mentioned. Indeed, in more ways than one “Mexifornia” has already arrived.
I should mention here - in order to counter the inevitable charges of being anti-Spanish and anti-immigrant - that I speak Spanish at home. I’m married to a native Spaniard, who has become a permanent resident of the United States. While she will always love Spain, she chose to live in America because she believes it’s the greatest country in the world. In fact, when we returned from our most recent trip to Spain she told me that she “felt like she was home.”
I think feeling American is just as important as being American. That’s why I’d answer the question I posed above in the affirmative: Giovanni Lanaro is indeed an American. This was made clear in the Times article when Lanaro talks about hearing the American national anthem: “When I would hear it, it was like, ‘Wow, it’s amazing.’ Even when I hear it to this day, I still have the same feeling.”
His feeling is duly noted. But Lanaro shouldn’t be surprised at the feelings many Americans are going to have about his decision to compete for Mexico.
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22 Comments
Larry Rasczak:Aaron, I have to ask, have you ever been to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade?
What about a Columbus Day Parade? Ever see any Italian flags there? What about the flags at Italian Resturants? Ever seen an Israeli flag at a Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) Celebration? I have. Heck have you ever been to a “Little Siagon” area or seen a Catholic Church where they have the Vatican Flag? Why don’t you mention any of these?
There are two reasons I bring this up… first because this article strikes me as decidedly anti-Mexican, bigoted even. Secondly because the same sort of nativist, “know nothing” bigotry was directed against all those other groups I named at one time or another in American history. This is just the same “Know Nothing” “No Irish Need Apply” bigotry that brought us the KKK and the Chinese Exclusion Act, only with a slightly hipper wrap.
I had hoped that this sort of prejudiced crud went out the window when JFK was elected in 1960, but sadly it looks like I was wrong.
Aug 2, 2007 - 7:46 am Larry Rasczak:I would like to say one thing though Aaron… you are right that “I think feeling American is just as important as being American.” America is in much more danger from people who were born in (or represent) places like New York, Illiois, Delaware, or Massachusets that oppose the American VALUES of individual liberty, small government that can be held to account, economic competition and oportunity, and equality before the law, than we are from Hispanic immigrants.
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:15 am Charlie:I don’t think there is any one way to “be an American”. I also don’t see any threat from Mexican immigrants remaining cultural Mexicans.
People immigrate to this country for all sorts of reasons, among others: (1) escaping political persecution (2) escaping poverty (3) greater economic opportunity (4) joining relatives already here and (5) enjoying/embracing the trappings of American citizenship. To me, these are all valid motivations.
But, of course, a person here with the sole intent of saving enough money to buy a house or farm back home probably won’t have much interest in becoming a cultural American.
Does that make their presence here invalid or harmful in some way?
As long as somebody is obeying the law (setting aside the question of illegal entry), I don’t have a problem with them defining their “American-ness” differently than I might define mine. How does their cultural approach devalue mine?
Plus, how could we even begin to define what counts as satisfactory “American-ness”? Making geographic or civic knowledge a requirement would eliminate a lot of native born Anglos, no doubt.
Aaron, where is the threat here?
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:32 am JKRibera:This is a difficult problem. I don’t believe the piece was “nativist,” but any time someone writes about this, he or she is accused of such things. The author apparently taught at an inner city school. It’s a question of balance, obviously.
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:33 am Maria:Great article. It’s shocking to me that this athlete says he lives in a Mexican culture–in Los Angeles. Hanson’s book “Mexifornia” was way ahead of its time.
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:34 am favre4favre:Larry you are a moron. Why is it bigoted to want Americans be American? If you dont want to be an American citizen then why come here? The exsamples you use make you sound like a 3rd grader. The Mexicans PROTESTING our laws and trying to justify breaking the laws are not the same as the St. Patty’s Day parade and you know it. Justifying illegal immigration is as ignorant.
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:53 am Eric:Larry, your comparison of Italian, Irish, et al flags displayed to those Mexican flags recently displayed during the illegal alien protests is disingenuous. Ask any of those Italian or Irish flag wavers where their identities and loyalties lie and they will in all cases say that they are Americans first and foremost. Having pride in ones heritage and being a proud American are not mutually exclusive. However, the Mexicans we’re discussing here have their loyalties in Mexico and consider themselves Mexicans, not Americans. This is much more than ethnic pride. If you want to be Mexican…you know the way home.
Aug 2, 2007 - 10:16 am AJK:The last three comments are right on, and Larry, you are way off. I don’t understand why people use the Irish/Italian comparisons. Those folks speak the language and are 100% American, often in the military, never playing for or siding with their “native lands” in the socio-political theatre. People come to America for many reasons. America is the most tolerant, least racist, most gender and religious equitable place in the world, and always has been; the Mexicans in LA or the Dominicans in NYC know this.
Can you imagine a Saint Pattie’s Day parade where the “Irish” denonced America or acted as though Ireland was superior? Nope. What about an Italian living here 20 years but never learning English? Never happens.
Mexicans, like Muslims and some East Asian exchange students, stick with their former or “home” country first. Most Euro immigrants, having escaped the barbarism of Eurabia, do no such thing.
Lastly, as soon as folks like Larry call a piece bigoted, their views no longer hold credence to me.
And Charlie, dear lord, are you a lawyer? I’ve never seen such legal relativism in my life. I’m guessing you’re a late 20s/early 30s NYC or LA lawyer, secular, single, wealthy, loves Europe, etc. Am I wrong? Doubtful. So transparent with those views. Wake up, man, and stop lying.
Aug 2, 2007 - 12:11 pm Darin:Why do people come to America? Why did the Pilgrims and everyone else that followed come to America? To get away from other governments telling them how to live their lives. America doesnt do that and it shouldnt in this instance.
I dont know exactly what it means to be an American or to be patriotic or who is more patriotic than someone else. Patriotic is certainly not criticizing other Americans for playing for other countries in sports. Thats unAmerican. In other countries that would not be so easily tolerated or ignored as it is here. You can do what you want to do.
There are plenty of Latinos and Muslims in the military. Now if Giovanni Lanaro decided to go fight for Mexico in a future Mexican-American war, well, that obv would be un-American.
Aug 2, 2007 - 12:38 pm Morton Doodslag:This is what we get for bestowing without merit our most precious treasures: our hard-won American freedoms and rights. We scatter them before the refuse of the world like they were a cheap give-aways on bat or ball day.
Aug 2, 2007 - 1:09 pm Aaron Hanscom:Thanks for the comments.
I knew there would be strong reactions to this piece. And I knew a lot of them wouldn’t be positive. But I think this is an issue that needs to be discussed.
I think Eric makes an excellent point when he writes, “Having pride in ones heritage and being a proud American are not mutually exclusive.” Of course this is true. America is a much richer nation because of its diversity, and that’s one of the things I love most about it.
Am I a nativist or racist? Far from it. I love Spanish cultures(so much so that I married into one). For several years as an elementary school teacher, I taught mostly Hispanic students — many of whom couldn’t speak a word of English when they arrived here. Watching them pick up the language so quickly and adapt to a new country was inspiring. (As I mention in my piece, it was less inspiring when they didn’t know the name of the country they now live in.) If I had to pick a stranger off the street to trust, I’d probably choose one of the many immigrants who stand on the street all day waiting for a few hours of work so they can earn enough money to feed their families.
If my Spanish wife stopped cooking paella or gazpacho just because she now lives in America, I’d be furious. We plan on speaking to our children in Spanish and English. But — and this is what intrigued me about the Lanaro story — I’d be very upset if my children grew up to think of themselves as Spaniards first because their mother is from Spain (If we lived in Spain, the situation would be different.) Or if they were to say “We live in America but this is a Spanish culture, so we want to represent Spain.”
How confident can one be about the future of America if its citizens identify with another country first?
Aug 2, 2007 - 1:45 pm Suja:Very topical. The concept of citizenship is inherent in every immigrant’s psyche: acquiring citizenship of a new country includes imbibing values and allegiance to the adopted land. This is true of immigrants from other parts of the world too. For example, Indians who immigrate to the US have to give up their citizenship and cannot have ‘dual citizenship’ motivating them to conciously choose.
Aug 2, 2007 - 1:54 pm Martin Lindeskog:Aaron,
I am an American in spirit and I would give up my Swedish citizenship in a heartbeat. For more on this issue, please read my post, Immigration Reform. I am interested to learn more about an organization called English First.
Aug 2, 2007 - 3:57 pm AJK:The reason sites like Pajamas and writers like Aaron succeed and blogs like HuffPo, Kos and stations like Err America fail is precisely evident here. Hanscom did not have to defend his piece, but he did. He did so because he has facts and courage toback up what he says. You don’t see that on the left—EVER.
Aug 2, 2007 - 4:10 pm gcblues:what this really is about is the false belief that there really is or should be a static american culture.
i have had the privilidge of knowing a few of what i considered great people. none of them, and neither should a great country act as insecure children demanding others act like them or be shunned as unpatriotic.
given the option of hiring some dead beat gringo or an hispanic illegal i take the illegal anytime. to not do so is illogical. nativism props up sloth, arrogance, and is anti intellectual.
bastante!
Aug 2, 2007 - 5:27 pm Bleepless:Italian, etc., flags are harmless nostalgia. Mexican ones are malevolent politics.
Aug 2, 2007 - 6:05 pm Shourik:Aaron et al
Your piece is well written and I didn’t pick up any racism in it. You do raise some interesting issues and surprisingly enough other races/countries have grappled with these for a long time.
It is impossible to respond in full detail in a comment, and I hope to blog about this topic in the future.
I just wanted to reiterate the idea that citizenship is more than where you were born and belonging does not just come from a passport.
For example, the British “imported” thousands of Indian workers to both toil and administer their colonies in East Africa. Most learnt the (usually more than one) local language but were housed and schooled differently. Now, three or four generations later you still have a distinction between say a “Kenyan” (read: black African) and an “Indian” (read: African born and bred, but parentage and ancestry Indian), even though they carry the same passport. This is just one example.
I live in Australia which has, since WW2, allowed immigration from Southern Europe even though nobody could speak English - which used to be a migration requirement. (We also had the White only immigration policy on the books until 1975) Contrary to the comments above, many older Italians and Greeks (particularly ladies in the home) have existed in Australia for a generation or more without ever learning English. With the advent of satellites, they watch Italian/Greek TV and now have been allowed to vote at the last elections in those countries as well. Are these people citizens? Do they feel they belong here?
Citzenship, nationality, belonging and race are, in this globalised world, increasingly fluid concepts. I am sure you can find the opposite of Lanaro as well. “Jose” might have become “Joseph”, a proud American now but born in Mexico.
I am not claiming to be particularly qualified or a so-called “expert” but I think that each case must be assessed on its merits. Is it ok to be UK born and bred and want to overthrow the “state” because it is attempting to crush muslims? Of course not. But what about running on a “muslims first” political platform and attempting to get elected? Or reflexively, do we ban far right parties such as in Germany and Austria, driving them underground and breeding a deeper resentment of immigrants and non-whites?
Finally, the article talks about the “carpetbagger” title that Lanaro gets from Mexicans when he goes to compete. At the end of the day, he won’t be able to please the wider populations of either country, for the reasons you and other commenters highlight.
Perhaps he’s just got to please himself?
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:03 pm Raymond Barry:You might be interested in knowing how things look through the other end of the telescope. Although I’m a second generation Canadian, my ancestry is American as far as I can trace it. Some of those ancestors were veterans of the Civil War, the Mexican War, and the American Revolution. I myself served in the US Navy off the coast of Viet Nam. In many ways I feel I should be entitled to American citizenship, but I’m not. In any event, I prefer living in Canada, but I sometimes wish the border to the south of me was abolished and replaced by one somewhere east of Alberta. And It would give me great pleasure to vote against Patti Murray if I could.
Aug 2, 2007 - 8:51 pm Travis Pahl:I just want to point out that Ron Paul is the only major candidate for president from either party that is promoting getting rid of the birth right citizenship.
I disagree with the idea but agree with most everything else Paul supports.
Aug 2, 2007 - 9:16 pm John Moore:Today, the new religion of multiculturalism represents a serious danger. It removes some disincentives for not assimilating, even discouraging it. It provides an ideology of group identities, complete with a “grievances” and demands.
Welfare and other social benefits only add to the problem, allowing migrants (or far more likely, their children) to avoid the forced assimilation that a requirement to work presents.
To be an American is to share the spirit and inherited cultural values of America. Even too many native “Americans” these days have lost this in their multiculturalist and transnational confusion.
I grew up in 1950’s New Mexico, a consciously multicultural American society. Spanish was required to be taught in grade school (as a secondary language) We celebrated the contributions to our culture of the Native Americans, Spanish and Mexicans; but, we were all Americans. We shared the dreams and the culture, even as we swung at pinatas or watched the luminarias on Christmas eve.
This is what we need today. I have met many immigrants from Mexico who want to be Americans - who share the desire, who work hard, and want their children to share the American dream. I also work with some Europeans who don’t even understand the concept of national identity - so brainwashed by transnational idealism that they cannot understand that America has something of value to be preserved beyond our economy.
The danger is not so much immigration as the lack of a strong ideology of assimilation; the lack of expectations for migrants to become true Americans; the divisive lures of multiculturalism; and, the lack of confidence in Americanism by too many native born Americans.
Aug 2, 2007 - 10:23 pm Tom H:Aaron - Great article. There’s nothing wrong with pride in one’s heritage. Several Italian-Americans I know (second and third generation) are participating in a cultural rebirth, travelling to Italy, learning the language, etc. The difference is that their parents and grandparents insisted on immersion and “becoming American” first.
Aug 2, 2007 - 11:23 pm emmekelley:Aaron I was reading your article and was amazed how times have changed since the day of my grandfather. He use to tell me stories about his dad coming over from Germany and couldn’t wait to get here to America. He was proud of his German heritage but all he could think about was some day when he had children he would teach them how to speak English and to be a part of America. My grandfather always considered himself American that had German roots never a hyphenated German-American. I read a great article about this subject. It is a great read…..
http://www.fauxnews.org/blog/2007/08/05/whatever-happened-to-the-melting-pot/
Aug 5, 2007 - 7:11 pm