By Allison Perrine
RED BANK – What does it mean to be American?
That’s what attendees of the Red Bank Public Library’s latest installment of its Let’s Talk About Race program discussed last Wednesday. During the virtual event, Red Bank resident and activist Birgit Mondesir shared her perspectives. Then the public had a chance to weigh in.
“That might seem on the surface like a very easy question to maybe answer, but when we start giving it some real thought, it becomes more and more difficult, more involved,” said Mondesir, former chair of the Monmouth County Human Relations Commission, past board member of Lunch Break and current board member of The T. Thomas Fortune Foundation. “It’s taking a bit more conscientiousness on our parts to really dissect that and to really come to a conclusion about what being an American is for us as Americans.”
Mondesir started the framework for the conversation by asking the audience to consider when they think America was founded. For some, it could mean the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in 1619, the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620 or the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And those differences exist because people have different life experiences and ideologies that form those opinions. But where do those experiences and ideologies come from? To Mondesir, elements of America’s creation include the enslavement of Africans, genocide of American Indians, signing of the Constitution, greed, inequality and hypocrisy.
“The idea of America was great in concept but flawed in practice,” she said. “These institutional policies definitively established – now and then – that the first and foremost prerequisite of being American is to be white. This is the conclusion that we draw from our inception and this is what we move forward in our development.”
That development includes discriminative governmental policies such as those seen in the language used in the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, and the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation.
“These are all elements of the creation ofAmerica. They were there then and they are present now,” said Mondesir. “The whiter you are, the most American you are considered. The darker you are, the less American you are considered. And even now, when a person of color manages to transcend this line… their Americanness is often challenged.”
According to Mondesir, this could be seen in the uproar surrounding President Barack Obama when some doubted the lgitimacy of his birth certificate, claiming he was not a true American. It could also be seen in the case of NFL star Colin Kaepernick who was considered “un-American” and a “traitor” after he took a knee during the national anthem to peacefully protest police brutality.
“Even now, nonwhites often hear the refrain, ‘Go back to where you came from’ solely based on physical appearance of whiteness. People who say that to other people don’t know them; they simply presume that because the person they are referring to is not white that person must have come from somewhere else and therefore is not American,” she said. “That’s a lie… but it’s one of the ideologies that we have adapted because of the origins of our country.”
She added that whiteness not only presumes Americanness; it also affords certain inalienable privileges. That includes the automatic presumption of innocence, intelligence, integrity, credibility and acceptance, said Mondesir. It impacts educational opportunities, likelihood of incarceration, access to health care, life expectancy and the legacy of what is left to future generations.
“Therefore, being American means different things for different people – not to, but for,” she said.
After Mondesir’s presentation, members of the public had a chance to share their stories. One attendee shared his experience as an immigrant from India who came to America about 40 years ago. He came to the U.S. to see what it was like and at first things were good, but “at every step you could see that there’s an unseen border that you couldn’t cross,” he said. He shared a story of when he once felt demoralized by an older white man who told him a job in a university setting would be good, but not for him. He also said that while shopping, a fellow shopper once shouted out to him to “go back” to where he came from.
“As an educated professional, I don’t take an adversarial position and then talk back and say things. If I wanted to, I could have. But the way I’ve been brought up is different,” he said. “I used to more or less pity them than get mad at them.”
Another attendee said that she has been asked by multiple individuals throughout her life where she is from and “what” she is despite having been born in America – specifically in New Jersey. “Some even tell me I have an accent,” she said.
“I get that very same question as well: What are you? Where do you come from? And I dare to say that I’m sure there are lots of white people… who have come from other places but have never been asked that question,” Mondesir responded.
This article originally appeared in the May 6 – 12, 2021, print edition of The Two River Times.
