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“Patriotism is not just about singing the anthem very loudly,” she said. “If you want a really unified country and to give meaning to this idea of a strong America, it has to be a country where the constitutional rights feel real and legitimate to all groups.” Of course, various minority groups have been denied those rights throughout America’s history; the same men who wrote that “all men are created equal” enslaved men, women, and children. This moment is “unprecedented,” Chua said, in that the historically hegemonic group is visibly losing its grip on economic and social power. The current moment is a test, then, of just how binding ideals can be.
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That’s why it might take some “renegotiating” of what the American dream and national identity really are, Chua said. That’s not a simple task, but “generation after generation, there have been nativist, xenophobic voices. And every generation before us has overcome it.”
In Chua’s mind, all is not lost. She argues that moving away from more tribalistic impulses starts with embracing the idea that America is a “super-group.” A super-group, per Chua, allows subgroups—Japanese Americans, for example—to maintain distinct identities. At the same time, it bonds them through some sort of “connective tissue”: in America’s case, the ideals put forth by the Constitution.— Lena Felton
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