The 4^th of July is approaching, and in the past I have always regarded this national holiday with mixed feelings. I like fireworks and picnics, but I never really understood patriotism. The United States has a nice standard of living, and a lot of pretty ideals, but as a consummate student of history, I have trouble with the concept of blind patriotism.

There are two types of wars: wars of ideology and wars of territory, and they often overlap. Jews have proved easy targets of both. As a religion and a nation, we have always been perceived of as a threat to the sovereign nations we call home. Jewish settlement in the Americas is certainly a result of this manifestation of anti-Semitism. The first Jew to visit this “new world” was Luis de Torres, who sailed with Christopher Columbus in 1492. He served as Columbus’s interpreter and some speculate that the first words spoken to indigenous Americans were in Hebrew. Torres was baptized to Catholicism days before the ship sailed so he could avoid being expelled from Spain. The first words in Columbus’s log were, “After you expelled the Jews, your Majesties sent me with a fleet.” [1]

I remember sitting on my grandmother’s carpet as a young child watching a School House Rock video. I vividly remember a song called, “The Great American Melting Pot,” which, I realize now, greatly romanticized the blend of cultures and ethnic groups in the United States. Certainly, when larger groups of Jewish immigrants came to New Amsterdam (now New York) in the seventeenth century they did not receive a warm welcome, thanks to their “abominable faith.” [2] Jews had to work hard for their right to be here. One hundred years later, just before this nation declared independence, Jews lobbied the Pennsylvania Congress to remove a ‘religious test’ banning them from political office. Rabbi Gershom Mendes Seixas was one of eleven clergy at George Washington’s inauguration, [3] but it wasn’t until 1826 that the state of Maryland passed the “Jew Bill,” the last state in the nation to finally allow Jews to vote and hold office.

Then, as now, we the people of the United States are not a homogenous whole. Despite the words of the Declaration of Independence, we are not equal. I know that my education, paid for by my parents, will allow me to do more and earn more than a person of equal intelligence and lesser means. I also know that there is no easy or quick solution, and possibly no solution at all to the problem of inequality.

And yet, there is hope. This 4^th of July will take on a new meaning for a lot of people in the USA and around the world. The United States has taken one giant step closer to the ideal of equality in the form of President Barak Obama. We aren’t in a post-race world; racism exists whether it’s against blacks, whites, Hispanics, or Jews. Chip Saltsman, the campaign coordinator for Mike Huckabee, distributed a song to the Republican National Committee (RNC) entitled “Barak the Magic Negro” for Christmas 2008. Whether or not it was meant as a work of political satire, it highlighted our national consciousness towards race in this past election. The song suggests that many people voted for President Obama out of guilt over our national history of slavery and disenfranchisement.

Obviously, racism still exists, but the backlash that resulted when news of this song hit the press, including Saltsman losing any chance of being elected chair of the RNC, is evidence that most of the country deemed his actions inappropriate. We are moving forward.

Our national history can certainly be a bitter pill to swallow, but this 4^th of July, I’m looking forward to singing our national anthem and eating my tofu dog because I believe we’re getting better all the time.