Thursday, December 6, 2018

Excerpt of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Hyphenated Americans”Speech 1915, Excerpt of “Shut the Door” Speech 1924, Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” 1940, LOOK Magazine’s “How to Spot a Communist” 1947, Political Cartoon “You read books, eh?” 1949, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s “Enemies from Within” Speech 1950, Excerpt of Port Huron Statement 1962, Black Panther Ten-Point Program 1966, Caesar Chavez “Letter from Delano” 1969, Equal Rights Amendment 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,George H.W. Bush on the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990, Maya Angelou “On the Pulse of the Morning” 1993, did Obama's election, as the first person of color to become President of the United States, resolve the questions and crises surrounding the definition of an American citizen?

While Obama's election as the first ever president of color was a momentous occasion and certainly cause for celebration, I don't think it resolved any of the questions and crises surrounding citizenship and being an "American person." Throughout the last century, many groups have faced oppression and become disenfranchised because they are not properly represented in leadership and their needs are not addressed.
While Obama is a minority individual, he is still an Ivy League–educated, extremely wealthy individual representing only one minority. It is certainly a step in the right direction to elect a minority president, but women, who constitute greater than fifty percent of the American population, have never had a president represent them, nor have Hispanic and Latino Americans, who comprise one of the next largest minority groups.
I think there are still lingering questions about what it means to be an American citizen and who will truly represent a person's interests.

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