VIDEO: “I Must Cross” – Myka 9

I feel like this video is relevant, if obliquely so, on the eve of !!!THE TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! (exclamation points added for emphasis, irony, hubris, or what-have-you).

We claim to be a Melting Pot, claim to have politics that encourage and value a diverse citizenship, but when our backs are up against the wall as a result of our own damning actions — as has been the case nearly ten years to the day — our true colors are revealed. We treat our immigrants like second/third/fourth-class citizens when, in fact, they are the true Americans. Living in New York City, amidst such a rich tableau of peoples who are here by choice and often by fire, I am reminded constantly of this. I’m thankful for the amazing luck that is my happenstance citizenry, the type that Chris Rock jokes about in the clip below (about 5 minutes in). And I’m disgusted at many of our State’s so-called leaders that have degraded, dehumanized and cheapened the lives of those aspiring to be Americans in the name of “Freedom.”

Video