What Does It Mean To Be An American?

As the rights protected under the first amendment of the US Constitution have been exercised around the world, with people protesting the continued violence against people of color perpetrated by law enforcement officers, many are looking more deeply at the systemic racism inherent in the American system. While many are calling for the removal of statues venerating the legacies of slaveholders and traitors to freedom, how will we come to grips with the fact that the entire country we live in and the land mass upon which it has been stationed were not only named after a slave owner, but a…