From Many, One

As we do every 4^th of July, my husband and I set up our American flag yesterday on the front of our house early in the morning. I was not as enthused about this ritual observance as I have been in years past. I did not say anything.

My enthusiasm for displaying the flag was down to about zero on a scale of one to ten. The problem is not the flag, but rather that in our current sociopolitical climate the flag is often used not to signify the nation that unites us but instead it is used to signify an ideology that divides.

In addition, instead of following established protocols for handling the flag with respect, many display it year round. I see faded and frayed flags, day in and day out. Although the official guidelines for displaying the flags are ignored, there are no penalties for disregarding them because of the First Amendment right of free speech. I find it ironic that the same President that wanted to punish flag burners with loss of citizenship and a year in jail saw nothing wrong with his flag bearing supporters breaching the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 to disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

Those thoughts were weighing heavily on me yesterday, a day which also has a special personal meaning for me, since that is the day I left Cuba, my country of birth, sixty one years ago. I left on the Joseph R. Parrot, a ferry that plied the waters from Havana to the Port of Palm Beach, a 24 hour journey. That makes today, July 5^th, the 61^st anniversary of my arriving in this country. That day marks the end of my life as a child and the beginning of my life as an adult, well, an almost-adult, since I was 13 years old but travelling alone. In my heart the celebration of American Independence and my migration experience are intertwined in a special way.

Trying to get my thoughts off the divisiveness that the American flag has come to signify in some quarters, I decided to look up the seal of the United States of America, which has inscribed on it the Latin phrase:  E pluribus unum, meaning “from many, one.” Originally the phrase referred to the thirteen colonies that united to form one nation. As the nation’s history has evolved, the phrase has come to mean that our nation is made from many people of different origins united as one.

One of the first links that I found on my initial internet search led me to a book that was published in 2021 with the title Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants. The book has 43 full color portraits of immigrants and their stories. The author: George W. Bush.  I read many of the comments written by people who have read it. While some, perhaps two or three readers blasted the author of the book and gave the book a 1 star rating, many more, including people who said they were not fans of the 43^rd President, gave the book a 4 and 5 star ratings.    I have not had a chance to read it but just finding about it today, made me feel good. This feeling came about not only because of my own immigrant experience, but also because of the welcoming spirit in which the book is written, captured in this statement by President Bush: “We must always be proud to welcome people as fellow Americans. Our new immigrants are just what they’ve always been – people willing to risk everything for the dream of freedom.”

On the 61^st anniversary of my arrival in this country as an unaccompanied refugee child, I join in this welcoming of today’s new immigrants.