A superhero defends what makes America great
It doesn't matter what astronomers say. The autumnal equinox may be a couple of weeks away, but Labor Day's passed and classes have started. Summer's done.
In thinking back over my last lazy, hazy crazy three months, two events stand out, both barbecues - one with a gaggle of family members and another with a gang of old high school classmates.
At the family function, I had a chance to catch up with my brother-in-law for the first time since he'd retired from a Bay Area police department. He'd just picked up a side hustle as a security guard. Not Jewish himself, his first gig will be to protect a local synagogue during this month's Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
At the backyard picnic, a high school classmate told me of an incident in Palo Alto, California, where he and his wife had been accosted out of the blue in a pedestrian tunnel by thugs who blamed them for bringing COVID-19 to the United States. My classmate is Chinese American. His family has lived in the country for generations. The attack took place a few hundred yards from the Stanford campus, ranked No. 3 on the U.S. News list of best global universities.
What is going on? The Bay Area synagogue that is hiring my brother-in-law is only doing what is prudent. Just five years ago, a gunman murdered 11 people praying at Sabbath services at a Pittsburgh synagogue. In the last decade, the number of antisemitic incidents have increased almost five times in the United States.
The attack on my classmate and his wife can be no surprise either. In 2021, anti-Asian hate crimes in San Francisco increased by 567% from the previous year. It's a good day when there are no reports of race-based murders featured on the news. Aug. 26 was a bad day, where a masked white man shot to death three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida, with a gun painted with a swastika.
My father fought in World War II and was there when the Dachau concentration camp was liberated. My classmate was in the army during the Vietnam War era. Is this the country they served? Are we not better than this?
The motto of the United States is "e pluribus unum" - out of many, one. To me, it means out of persons from all over the globe, we have forged one people - Americans. Today, I am a resident scholar in the same dorm I lived in as an undergraduate decades ago. All four of my grandparents were born outside the United States.
Every day, I see my own youth reflected back at me. I listen to students' stories and hear American stories - students whose parents or grandparents came to this country to seek opportunity. Every day, I see young adults of all races, all religions, all ancestries grappling with becoming adult Americans. It was my story, now it's their story, and it's still the American story.
Back in 1949, DC Comics released a poster of Superman talking to a diverse group of children. He explained that our country was "made up of Americans of many different races, religions and national origins." He told them, "If you hear anyone talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of his religion, race, or national origin - don't wait: tell him that kind of talk is un-American."
Superman had it right. And we would do well to extend his advice from the schoolyard and campus to kitchen tables, places of worship, workplaces, neighborhoods, campaign rallies and legislatures around the country.
It's up to us to respond each time we hear un-American attacks. The answer is not to turn the other way or ban books. Politicians who open a Pandora's box of hate, racism and antisemitism to curry votes must be told that what they're doing is un-American.
Iron is a soft metal. It is only when mixed with other elements like carbon, manganese and molybdenum that it becomes hardened steel. Of course, the Man of Steel would understand that a blend of many elements leads to greater strength.
© Creators, 2023