What does it mean to be an American a question that many people are thinking about but never want to ask. My name is Omario Daley and i will be answering the unanswered. To be American means to be free and express yourself and have equal rights.One example of being equal is The 13 Amendment allowed blacks to be free and seen in the society somehow equal. Blacks were also allowed to do more than just be free, The black codes It made blacks even more comfortable that they are actually seen as people because they get to vote and if they get to vote white supremacists will now try to break them down with a speech to other whites about blacks not being Americans.Trump is trying to build a wall but at the same time he doesn’t notice America is ran on mostly immigrants so now he has to see them as Americans in order to keep the US going. After blacks got the right to vote it took us around forty to sixty years before we got our first black president whom people are calling the best president(Obama). This shows that blacks are now seen as equals to whites and other races. which shows that we are moving on up to the point where we are excepted to being Americans. I also believe that to be an American it means to have the right to do any thing that your mind is set on. Including getting a driver licence even if you are not legally from America. An example from reconstruction the idea of blacks to vote or the black codes was a major move up for the African Americans. This example shows that to be American you have to be able to vote and be free to have a house and a driver’s license and live in America with no legal documents for a short amount of time. Because being American is not that special by being yourself is American enough. Similarly, events in modern times illustrate that most mexicans who probably illegally crossed the border refer to themselves as legal Americans and they try to forget their ethnicity until they get deported. Because of Trump many Illegal people in America is scared and they are trying to do anything in order not get deported is not do things that regular Americans do. Examples like get a Job, get a ticket for not having a license, or just not do anything that will get them notified. In recent history, Obama had a program for people that are illegal and trump stopped it. This program was supposed to secure most illegal people but now trump is in office he is trying to demolish this program. This event shows that trump who does not want anyone but himself to prosper. These events share many commonalities because _people are being deported and they are saying that Obama is a bad person because he is letting trump do this without him interfering and show that people do not know what side they should be rooting for. In conclusion To be an American means that you should have a value and have a license, get a job and most of all have legal documents to live in the United States of America.
Omario,
Thank you for your post I found it to be very interesting. I have a pretty good understanding of what it means to be an American, but sometimes I feel like society doesn’t. For many years being a successful American you had to have the ability to vote. Like you said voting rights, licensing, and etc is a huge deal to the government on how people should be labeled as Americans. They are legal documents and should be the right for someone to be an American. With racial discrimination going on as inequality for all genders/races will continue to go on. To be a good American I think that you must have the right legal documents as said but live by constitutional rights that we have according to law. Thank you for your post i really enjoyed reading it.