What Does Being an American Mean

In our first writing assignment of the semester we read a poem written by Langston Hughes. He cried out against the racial prejudice he received because he was a black man. The words that come to mind are “one day they will see how beautiful I am and be ashamed.” He wrote this in response to the lack of respect and how inhumane and cruel white people were to blacks. My perplexing question is again “who is an American?” As we have gone through the class, we have learned about the struggles and difficulties different groups of people went through in American history. We have learned that all these groups are technically American because we live in a melting pot society. However, after the civil war, many African Americans were still judged and tortured based on their skin color. After reading “As the Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother’s Children” and the poems of McKay two things significantly stuck out to me. First in McKay’s poem “America” he states “Although she feeds me bread of bitterness and sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love the cultured hell that test my youth.” I believe that this relates to the idea of what is an American, because although African Americans have not been completely accepted into white society, it shows that they are still committed. This also made me think of the concept that Americans will be ashamed of their actions. Reflecting back on our treatment of African Americans in modern times, it is embarrassing to think that we would condemn a group of people based on skin color. Especially since I believe an American is combining all the heritages that fought to become a citizen in our nation. I believe America should be, for the most part, all-inclusive for those who want to be apart of it. Finally in Hopkin’s story, Stone admits that he is under investigation for murder and that he will be killed if the Reverend decides to turn him in, even though he has repeatedly spoke of his innocence in the matter. This is unique and important in two aspects. First, this shows that some Americans are trying to change. It does not matter if you are black, white, mixed racial background. Fifteen hundred dollars was a small fortune back then and it would have been easy for the Reverend to have not listened to Stone and cashed in the reward. Instead he allows him to stay until the danger is passed. I feel like this shows that American society was starting to change and not jump to the first conclusion as had happened in Colorado. Second, I believe that this is a change in what an American is. I do not feel like the town was judging African Americans because it shows that they were horrified when people were beaten within an inch of their life. I think it is important again to reflect on what an American is at this point in time and see how over time it has changed and become more flexible; this in turn has allowed us to create an all-inclusive society.