America - Americans - United States Citizen - July 4
I am an American. So are people in Canada, the Caribbean’s extending from the Bahamas and Mexico to Argentina and Chile, Greenland, Saint-Pierce, Miquelon, and Bermuda. I am also a United States Citizen. I am not a Native American.
I do not live in America. I live in the Americans. Sadly, often when I identify myself as American, I am implying that only the United States comprises America. Technically I am American, but the United States is not America. Not only is it inaccurate to imply that only those who are United States citizens are American it creates the first layers of an intellectual and spiritual prison which has deeply affected the trajectory of the historical relationships between the United States and its geographical family.
As we near the holiday known in the United States as Independence Day many will gather in the relatively small groups which include some in their extended nuclear family and perhaps some in their neighborhood or even a larger community. A particularly poignant aspect of the gatherings this year may be the absence of those who are excluded because of the temperature of the emotions of some who may be self or other labeled as left, right, anti-environment, environmentalists or tree huggers, pro-life, baby killers, MAGA supporters, legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and I suspect, a host of other labels. Some will gather according to their Latino, African American, or Native American origins. The later may gather with many mixed feelings of homesickness, gratitude, anger, relief, and confusion. Some will not gather because their journey of dreams to find safety and a way of taking care of their family in the United States has ended in death in some isolated place or in the non-air-conditioned confines of a truck driven by one who has fallen victim to a call to survive by taking advantage of the desperation of others.
A few will bring the symbols of their ties to the earth of their homeland; colorful garments, dance, food and music.
This past weekend I spent time at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The current special exhibit is the work of Frida Kahlo as well as some of the paintings of her husband and the paintings and photography of others who were part of their rich circle of people who did not separate the passion of their art from their passion for social justice or their awareness that their lifeblood intermingled with that of the animals, plants, all parts of nature. Their art extends to not only the canvas, but the richness of the wall paint colors, the dance of the plants, and the vibrancy of their clothes which demand they take ownership of their dance.
I do not mean to imply that those originating elsewhere or living in other parts of the Americas are immune to the human frailties of character and behavior which afflict the rest of us. I do not want to ignore corruption, addiction to power, violence and other symptoms of the distance us humans can travel from our roots in the soil; the roots which connect all of us just beneath the surface. I do mean to imply that those who have wrapped themselves in spirt of artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, George O’Keeffe may also reflect the best of who we are as humans,
As we approach this Independence Day let us contemplate the depth of what it means to be independent. Surely we want to be independent of the tyranny of those who would impose “taxation without representation”, from the limited vision of the entire life cycle of us humans; from the false dichotomy of gender; from the imposed limits of with whom and how we create our dance of love; from the prison of poverty created by the unequal taking, hoarding and use of resources; from the labels which create criminals out of the mentally ill, from chains of slavery, the belief that land belongs to some and not all of us; from laws which limits reproductive rights; from the redistricting created to promote racism; from decisions which negate treaties and from a host of other symptoms of imprisonment. We want to be independent of anger and hate; from the marriage of fear and guns in this and many other countries; from the labels such as American which create borders. We deserve to be free of the illusion that we are without our internal and external contradictions.
As we approach this holiday let us wrap ourselves in the bright colors of the art and life of nature which is reflected in the art of such relatives as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Let us embrace our humanness as mirrored in these two complex, passionate, earth rooted spirits who live on in their art. Let us embrace the mindset which demands that we remove the constructs intended to convince us we are enemies.
Written June 30, 2022
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I am an American. So are people in Canada, the Caribbean’s extending from the Bahamas and Mexico to Argentina and Chile, Greenland, Saint-Pierce, Miquelon, and Bermuda. I am also a United States Citizen. I am not a Native American.
I do not live in America. I live in the Americans. Sadly, often when I identify myself as American, I am implying that only the United States comprises America. Technically I am American, but the United States is not America. Not only is it inaccurate to imply that only those who are United States citizens are American it creates the first layers of an intellectual and spiritual prison which has deeply affected the trajectory of the historical relationships between the United States and its geographical family.
As we near the holiday known in the United States as Independence Day many will gather in the relatively small groups which include some in their extended nuclear family and perhaps some in their neighborhood or even a larger community. A particularly poignant aspect of the gatherings this year may be the absence of those who are excluded because of the temperature of the emotions of some who may be self or other labeled as left, right, anti-environment, environmentalists or tree huggers, pro-life, baby killers, MAGA supporters, legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and I suspect, a host of other labels. Some will gather according to their Latino, African American, or Native American origins. The later may gather with many mixed feelings of homesickness, gratitude, anger, relief, and confusion. Some will not gather because their journey of dreams to find safety and a way of taking care of their family in the United States has ended in death in some isolated place or in the non-air-conditioned confines of a truck driven by one who has fallen victim to a call to survive by taking advantage of the desperation of others.
A few will bring the symbols of their ties to the earth of their homeland; colorful garments, dance, food and music.
This past weekend I spent time at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The current special exhibit is the work of Frida Kahlo as well as some of the paintings of her husband and the paintings and photography of others who were part of their rich circle of people who did not separate the passion of their art from their passion for social justice or their awareness that their lifeblood intermingled with that of the animals, plants, all parts of nature. Their art extends to not only the canvas, but the richness of the wall paint colors, the dance of the plants, and the vibrancy of their clothes which demand they take ownership of their dance.
I do not mean to imply that those originating elsewhere or living in other parts of the Americas are immune to the human frailties of character and behavior which afflict the rest of us. I do not want to ignore corruption, addiction to power, violence and other symptoms of the distance us humans can travel from our roots in the soil; the roots which connect all of us just beneath the surface. I do mean to imply that those who have wrapped themselves in spirt of artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, George O’Keeffe may also reflect the best of who we are as humans,
As we approach this Independence Day let us contemplate the depth of what it means to be independent. Surely we want to be independent of the tyranny of those who would impose “taxation without representation”, from the limited vision of the entire life cycle of us humans; from the false dichotomy of gender; from the imposed limits of with whom and how we create our dance of love; from the prison of poverty created by the unequal taking, hoarding and use of resources; from the labels which create criminals out of the mentally ill, from chains of slavery, the belief that land belongs to some and not all of us; from laws which limits reproductive rights; from the redistricting created to promote racism; from decisions which negate treaties and from a host of other symptoms of imprisonment. We want to be independent of anger and hate; from the marriage of fear and guns in this and many other countries; from the labels such as American which create borders. We deserve to be free of the illusion that we are without our internal and external contradictions.
As we approach this holiday let us wrap ourselves in the bright colors of the art and life of nature which is reflected in the art of such relatives as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Let us embrace our humanness as mirrored in these two complex, passionate, earth rooted spirits who live on in their art. Let us embrace the mindset which demands that we remove the constructs intended to convince us we are enemies.
Written June 30, 2022
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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