Sam Smith – One of the problems we have these days is that too many don’t accept the reality that others are not like them and that in America this is something to celebrate, not to pass laws against.
In trying to figure out why this concept has been so easy for me to accept, I realized that as one of six children I learned early in life that others weren’t all like me. This group eventually included not only your editor but a Trump supporter and a Puerto Rican-sister-in-law.
I was also introduced to the variety of the human species by what was then one of two high school anthropology courses in the country. Being in the ninth grade, where chances are high you don’t like the adult culture around you, learning about the real differences in the human species was not only educational it was liberating. The course was so powerful that I went on to major in anthropology at Harvard at a time when I was joined by only 1% of the students. Students could easily learn politics or economics but the true variety of the human species was not on the table.
Later, as a reporter I was introduced to the variety of Americanism on almost a daily basis. For example, for about four decades I was part of a white minority in DC yet one of the few unpleasant experiences was thanks to a black guy form New York City – Stokely Carmichael – who kicked whites like me out of the civil rights group SNCC even though, at the time, I was working closely with a DC black activist named Marion Barry.
Last night I attended a performance in my small town of Maine. One of the songs that was sung was “This Land Is My Land.” Written back in 1940 by Woody Guthrie, there have been lots of different versions. For example:
Well, one
bright Sunday morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the relief line I saw my people
As they stood there whistlin' they stood there hungry
Don't they know that this land was made for you and me?
Well, as I was walking, I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing"
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me!
You can hear one version here: "This Land Is Your Land"
Regardless of the version, the
key point is “this land was made for you and me,” a concept many have a hard time
accepting these days yet for me is just a simple but deep truth. I am not gay
or a Republican and have never had an abortion yet I have no problem sharing
this land with those that are or have.
But many have a hard time living with the true multiculturalism of America. Perhaps if we sang this nifty song more often we would remember that this land was made for you and me.
