The esteemable Woody Guthrie’s most famous song, elegant in its simplicity, “This Land is Your Land” reigns supreme in my mind’s rolodex of folk music. I could even suggest it as a replacement national anthem. Its essence is that of inclusion and hope and equality. It was ahead of its time.
Sadly as we see from a story out of Illinois, the song would still, to this day, be ahead of its time. The pain borne on the part of Xuna Hu, the aggrieved patron at Lowe’s, is evident even without seeing her face. The pain in my heart, that I share, upon hearing, and ultimately, seeing her experience is that of a man who deeply loves his country, even if he is so ashamed of so many of his fellow citizens.
You see as so many brave and independent people like Xuna Hu show, being an American is not a title morally conferred at birth, not really. At birth you are a citizen. To be an American is something never to be defined by a border. The pride I once felt for being an American had nothing to do with swagger, or power. It had to do with humanity. The day a family crosses into this country with a dream and a willingness to contribute is the day they should be welcomed. For you see America is not a place, or a government, or even a tradition.
It is a state of mind, and a purity of heart.
An Asian American woman took out her cell phone camera and demanded an apology after another shopper allegedly told her to “go back to your country.” Xina Hu said the woman approached her as she sat on two fire pits as she waited for her father to return with a cart to help her load the merchandise. “One lady came up with a Lowe’s worker said ‘I want one of these.’ I said ‘I’m sorry, I’m taking both. I’m just waiting for my dad to help me load it.’ “She said ‘did you pay for it?’ “Not yet.” “Then I’m going to take one from you.” “Alright, “I’m going to give you one.”
Ms Hu, aggrieved and passionately committed to her stance, approached the woman asking for an apology. She was then castigated by a Lowe’s employee.
A Lowe’s employee asked her to delete the video. “There’s nothing you need the video for. There’s no crime being commited,” the employee said.“You’re making it a much bigger thing with your phone out right now…you’re being hostile. To me you are the threatening one in this situation.”
I will defer to Ms. Hu to relay the incident in her own words..
As is often the case, the victim is told she is in the wrong, that she is aggressive, that she is the confrontational one. The employee is trying to make her believe that the incident is insignificant, and that it should roll off of her back. It is a spin on “Don’t be so sensitive, or a snowflake.”
One could view it as gaslighting.
What the employee fails to understand, and I doubt he even cares, is that for Ms. Hu, her security in this country is underpinned by an ability to extract an apology.
In order for her to feel confident in her safety, and her feeling of acceptance, this can not stand. While I have no faith the woman accused has even a rudimentary knowledge of Asian culture, it should be known that a key element of it is respect, both onto others and towards oneself. It is demanded, it is required, and it is seen as central to the evolution of humanity.
The person accused allegedly used a classic tactic of dehumanization in an attempt to bully Ms. Hu into getting what she wanted. Citizens who engage in such tactics are endowed with the belief that the United States is the supreme ruler of all the world, that all and everywhere else is inferior, and that all and everywhere else bends to our will.
They do not, and more importantly, if we want to finally progress into the kind of country my chin once again raises in pride of, they should not. We should be aware of our faults, of our ignorance, of our contrived ways of life, of the capitalistic malevolence that cannibalizes our own people.
We should realize that the part of America we enjoy is really just a tapestry of the light and talents and contributions from in most cases, literally, other parts of the globe. From Chicken Tikka to music, to cinema, to sports, we are an interwoven collection of what the ignorant view as the “other” from whom out of many we became one.
But my heart hurts because Ms. Hu’s heart hurts, because at some point I can’t help but feel I personally failed her. How many times in my 45 plus years did I choose to not get involved, or try “not to make a scene?” How many times did I sit in silence, fearful of a gun, or a threat of a violent reaction, as Ms. Hu shows concern for in her video? I don’t know those answers.
But I know this, she is by default my friend as that is how I approach all of humanity. She is a partner, even if not tangibly connected to me, in fighting for a just and respectful society.
And if she will accept these brief words on her behalf, written here, to be placed into the internet record, I would be honored.
As a citizen, particularly as a white male I was born with an elevator at my disposal. Brave souls such as Xuna Hu are still forced to take the stairs, and often times, knocked down. But as she rises, and demonstrates her strength, it is far past time that I take the physical risk of standing in the doorway of the elevator, and asking her desired floor, and request of those so used to the conveniences of societal automated transportation upward to wait, and to respect.
And to accept.
We must acknowledge that to truly ascend to more than just a citizen, to earn the right to be called a good American and most importantly, a good human being goes beyond borders. It goes beyond a birth certificate.
The elevator we take for granted is one that nice people like Xuna Hu are denied access to daily.
But I must do more than merely hold the door for her.
For this land to truly be “Your land and my land,” from “California, to the New York island” we must ackowledge as one people with one voice that what most of what makes up this land, ancesterally, are those from other lands near and far.
And we must realize that those people, so hopeful, so dedicated to the truths the actions of so many born here ignore, and misunderstand, are not burdens.
They are blessings.
They are America.
-ROC
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Next week’s theme? Togetherness.
Love,
-ROC