Unify, don’t separate America

Concord Monitor, Op-Ed

Vikram Mansharamani lives in Lincoln and is a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Having taught at Harvard for the past five years and Yale for the eight years prior to that, I’ve had a front-row seat to watch the evolution of our culture on campus. And let me be blunt, it’s disturbing.

When I graduated from college, I remember commencement as a celebration of unity, a celebration that brought all together, regardless of religion, skin color or socioeconomic background. The graduation garb was the literal embodiment of commonality. We all wore the same robes, same graduation caps, and same tassels.

Today’s graduations emphasize differences rather than similarities. It’s now commonplace to have separate graduation ceremonies for students who identify differently. Harvard, for instance, doesn’t have one graduation. This year there was a Black graduation, a Native American graduation, and a LatinX graduation (a term that Hispanics detest, by the way). There was also a FirstGen graduation, an APIDA graduation for Asian/Pacific Islander/Desi-Americans, and a Lavender graduation for the LGBTQ+ community.

And Harvard is not alone. This is a growing trend with colleges and universities around the country. Columbia had six “identity-focused” graduations, including an “FLI” graduation for first-generation college graduates and low-income students. Princeton had six, including a Women/Femme graduation and a Pan-African graduation. The list goes on.

Of course, it’s not just about the multi-cultural graduations. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the “woke” ideology stomping its way through our institutions. The “new segregationists,” mostly white elites, are reversing 50 years of progress by pushing for separate dorms and programs based upon ethnicity and race.

Scolds rail against “cultural appropriation” and tell us what foods we can eat or what music we can listen to; which actors and actresses can play which parts. Holidays canceled in the name of “inclusivity” and “equity,” and progressives police our choice of Halloween costumes and even our hairstyles.

Our lexicon is now littered with words like “privilege,” “implicit bias,” and “problematic.” Seminars push the Privilege Pie and White Supremacy Pyramid while everyone is encouraged to find their place in the grievance hierarchy.

Meetings begin with cult-like incantations reminding participants the gathering is being held on “stolen land.” Everything is white supremacy: showing up on time, working hard, or even using proper grammar. And saying that you believe America is a “melting pot” now makes you racist.

The American Revolution is being replaced by a Cultural Revolution, one that is upending U.S. history. Instead of America, however imperfect, being founded in 1776 in the name of liberty and rights, this Cultural Revolution now pushes 1619, when the first African slave landed in Virginia, as our real founding.

Revolutionaries encourage kneeling during the Star-Spangled Banner and push for alternative “national anthems” to be played before NFL games. Cornell recently removed a bust of Abraham Lincoln and a plaque of the Gettysburg Address from its library. There are calls to remove Washington’s and Jefferson’s names from schools and buildings. Books are being banned and bookshelves “decolonized.” Beethoven’s music, they say, bolsters white males at the expense of women, minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community.

And while many proudly fly the stars and stripes outside of our homes, the Cultural Revolution marches through the streets under alternative flags and calls for the American flag to be redesigned.

The New York Times finds the American flag ”alienating.” One reporter was “disturbed” to see so many American flags flying; another was bothered to see it carried by our athletes at the Olympics.

None of this is to say that the country is perfect. Racism, slavery, and Jim Crow are stains on our history, a betrayal of what America stands for. Liberal elites, however, think that is what America stands for. They think our country is irredeemably racist; that we have racism woven into our very DNA and that we must tear down our history, constitution, and democracy so it can be built anew.

History offers lessons we should heed. My parents were immigrants from India, fleeing violence after Partition. The British had divided the country in two, one for Hindus and one for Muslims, and overnight neighbor was set against neighbor.

Howling mobs prowled the streets, killing anyone who was different from them. At the time of Partition, Muhammad Jinnah, a Muslim, pushed for the creation of a separate Muslim homeland, while Mohandas Gandhi, a Hindu, fought to keep the country together.

Jinnah told Gandhi that when looking back on the sweep of history, the Muslims’ heroes were the Hindus’ villains, and the Hindus’ heroes were the Muslims’ villains. How could we be one country, he asked?

All countries and peoples need a common history and set of shared values. If we no longer share a common American identity, a common American story, with the same heroes and idols, are we destined to fray?

If we instead celebrate different holidays, fly different flags, and stand for different anthems, how can we remain one country? And if we can’t agree that George Washington was the father of our nation and Abraham Lincoln a savior, what hope do we have for unity? It’s time for Americans to unify around achieving the ideal of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice (and equality of opportunity) for all.

My parents say that the proudest day of their lives was the day they became Americans. I carry their nationalization papers with me as a reminder of their sacrifice and of how lucky I am to have been born in this country.

And my father, while proud of his heritage, doesn’t need hyphens, made-up words, or an alphabet soup of acronyms to explain who he is. “I’m an American,” he says.