Far, we've been traveling far
Without a home, but not without a star
Free, only want to be free
We huddle close, hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America
Home - don't it seem so far away?
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm
Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm
Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America
Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America
Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
. . .
Today, today, today, today
My country 'tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
~ Neil Diamond
Oh, the irony! While I am not particularly a fan of Neil Diamond (not even the iconic "Sweet Caroline"), this song is my pick for this traditional but controversial holiday once known to every baby-boomer as "Columbus Day." (And I am old enough to remember when Columbus Day was only celebrated on October 12, his birthday, which was not always on a Monday.) The song, which reeks of nationalism bordering on jingoism, appears on Diamond's 1980 release, The Jazz Singer.
So perhaps I've offended some of you already. Well, try to imagine how offended Native Americans were when they got news that Christopher Columbus, who never set foot on the continent, "discovered" America, the land they'd inhabited for tens of thousands of years. Columbus Day has been designated a national holiday since 1937. While I can remember making construction paper cut-outs of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria while passionately singing the 1492 song when I was in elementary school, these days the holiday means two things to me: we're at or near peak fall foliage, and there's no mail delivery. I find it difficult to "celebrate" a holiday that pays tribute to a man who promoted the trans-Atlantic slave trade and is responsible for the genocide of indigenous people. Western colonialism at its worst.
But Columbus Day aside, take a look or a listen again to the song lyrics above. Yes, the song is 37 years old, and yet many of us can remember a time when we would respond to such a song with pride and recognition of how great our country was. We knew our ethnic ancestry and visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty as rites of passage. We memorized and sang the ending to the Emma Lazarus ode to freedom, "The New Colossus": Give me your tired, your poor . . . There was no need to "make America great again" because, in our eyes (and perhaps our brainwashing) it was already great.
What has put America's greatness into question is not that we have allowed too many foreigners in. It's that we no longer do. Our sweet land of liberty is not so sweet anymore, especially if you are from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, or Yemen. What countries will be added to the list as this administration ramps up its xenophobia?
Meanwhile, whether you live in one of the growing list of American cities that celebrate it or not, Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!
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