The 250th anniversary of the United States of America is a good time to reflect on the essential characteristics and values of the country. American history reveals that diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental to the United States. We should debate how best to manage our diversity and how best to achieve equity and inclusion, but the United States can’t be the United States without these three things.

Diversity

The United States has always been racially and ethnically diverse. The first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The settlement at first relied upon the Powhatan American Indians for food, and then later it was at war with the Powhatans. By the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the labor of enslaved people of African descent were a crucial part of Virginia’s economic engine.

The Plymouth, Massachusetts settlement was founded in 1620, and it was soon followed by the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630. Initially, the English had peaceful relations with the Massachusetts tribe of American Indians (the state is named after the tribe), but later they were at war. By the time of the American Revolution, Massachusetts was a colony with White, Black (free and enslaved), Mulatto, and American Indian people.

The Dutch settled in New Amsterdam, which would become New York City, in 1624. They too warred with the local American Indians called the Manhattans. The Dutch soon lost control of the territory to the English. Colonial New York quickly transformed into “a diverse population of Dutch, English, Welsh, Irish, Scots, Germans, French Huguenots, Portuguese Jews, and Africans.” As the Museum of the City of New York reports, “By 1740 one in every five New Yorkers was an enslaved African or African American.”

The United States has been racially and ethnically diverse for every year of its existence. While racial and ethnic conflict is as American as apple pie, everything that the United States has achieved, it achieved as a diverse country. There is no America without this history of diversity.

Equity

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – excerpt from the Declaration of Independence

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. –excerpt from the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. –emphasis added, The Pledge of Allegiance

A rejection of equity is a rejection of a founding ideal of the United States. The United States has been imbued with lofty ideals of equality beginning with the Declaration of Independence. Of course, in fact, all people are not created equal. There are innumerable differences of all sorts. For example, some are tall and some are short; some are rich, and some are poor. What the authors of the Declaration of Independence meant is that in spite of these differences, the ideal is for all people to be treated equally and fairly and to have the opportunity to achieve happiness.

The United States has not lived up to this ideal. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” It is important to recognize here that King did not reject the creed, but grasped hold of it. He recognized that it is far better to face discrimination in a society with an ideal of equality, than in a society founded on principles of inequality and hierarchy. With the ideal of equality, there is hope for justice. In a feudal society or in a caste society, there are no values to appeal to for fairness and equal treatment.

Inclusion

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . .  –excerpt from the First Amendment of the US Constitution

The United States does not have a state religion. The authors of the Constitution refused to establish a state religion, as existed in some European countries at the time, because they wanted the United States to be inclusive of people of various religious beliefs. Inclusion is a founding principle of the United States.

President Ronald Reagan recognized and celebrated this principle with regard to immigration. Reagan did many terrible things, but he was right on his views on immigration and its importance in the making of America. He agreed that anyone could become American. Reagan expressed his support for this ideal as he recounted a letter he received: 

A man wrote and found it necessary to say this, and I’m pleased that he did. He said, you can go to live in another land — you can go to live in France, but you can’t become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany, but you can’t become a German. You can go to live in Japan or Turkey, and you cannot become Japanese or Turkish. But anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.

Reagan also recognized that the strength and economic prosperity of the United States is enhanced by immigrants. He stated:

We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.

The data is clear that Reagan is correct on this point. Immigrants have revived declining American communities. Contrary to the right-wing rhetoric, they help to reduce crime rates. They are overrepresented as small business owners and as owners of technology firms. The United States has reaped many benefits from its immigrants.

Today, there is a White nationalist movement against diversity, against equity, and against inclusion. These individuals may wrap themselves in the American flag, but they are in fact anti-American. America has always been diverse, and equity and inclusion are among the founding ideals of the country.

The White nationalists do not want to live in the United States. They want to live in a country that is not diverse, that worships a king, and that has no immigration except for White people who benefitted from the apartheid regime. As Reagan pointed out, if the United States were to follow this White nationalist path, it would be a recipe for the decline of America.