David Bajjalieh

E Pluribus Unum – How Then? How Now?

During World War II, a former English teacher and editor was called to active duty in the United States Naval Reserve. Lieutenant James A. Michener served as a naval historian in the Pacific theater. Following the war in 1948, Michener published his first book – Tales of the South Pacific, which became the basis for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway musical and film, “South Pacific”.

The book as well as the musicals explored racial prejudice, an issue that troubled Michener throughout his military service. In the musical, Marine Lt. Joe Cable reflects on whether prejudice is a natural or a learned trait, singing:

“You’ve got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a different shade,

You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You’ve got to be carefully taught.”

In the 1940s, America was a mosaic of immigrant communities, many of whom fled poverty and persecution in their home countries. To preserve scarce resources, newcomers would band with people of their native backgrounds. Large cities became patchworks of ethnic neighborhoods with names like Chinatown, Little Italy and Ukrainian Village.

Community members provided one another with support and aid, as well as social and job opportunities. The downside of tight ethnic communities, however, was a tendency to breed intolerance of other communities. In an effort to protect their children from the unfamiliar, parents taught their children to mistrust people who did not look, speak, or worship as they did.

            World War II challenged these attitudes, as people from diverse ethnic groups were called to defend their new, shared homeland. Confronted with common enemies and eager to prove their patriotism, Americans of all backgrounds worked to pursue a single goal. Temporarily and imperfectly, longstanding mistrusts were set to the side.

            In many ways, the challenges facing America today are akin to those of the 1940s. No, we are not being attacked by foreign military powers. But our shared sense of security is deeply shaken by layers of economic troubles, and nations around the world are looking to America for leadership in a deepening global crisis.

            Once again, Americans are putting aside longstanding mistrusts to embrace a common ideal and fortify a struggling nation. The election of President Barack Obama was achieved by reaching across ethnic, gender, religious and political divides in support of a broad vision for a united country. The very diversity of the American people, in fact, is what will help us surmount our unprecedented challenges, by stimulating creative conversations, incorporating multiple perspectives, and building bold solutions that draw on our breadth of experiences.

We have yet to see whether our shared vision and determination will yield the same success that was achieved in the 1940s. But whatever level of success we achieve, how will we build upon it to create – for the long term – One From Many? The saying E Pluribus Unum

refers to having made one nation from many states. How will we, today, create a lasting unity among our many divided communities?

            I call to mind again the song of Lt. Cable. The current generation can’t un-teach the lessons prior generations shared with their children. But looking ahead, we can choose to share new lessons with our own children, from our own life experience in a building a strong, diverse nation. As high school students approach the age when we will raise our own families, we should heed Lt. Cable’s cautionary message.

We need to be critical of messages that those who are unlike us are inherently suspect. Are the “oddly made” eyes of our classmates truly sinister – or merely different? Are skins of other shades really to be feared – or merely darker or lighter than our own?

            I recall my own experience of moving to a new town in sixth grade. After several lonely weeks at my new school, I invited a classmate over to my house to play X-Box. He replied “You’re vanilla, I’m chocolate. We don’t mix.” I realized that he meant nothing personal by the remark – it was simply a reflection of being raised in an enclosed environment. But it created a missed opportunity, for both of us.

Parents teach prejudice to their children, not with the intention of instilling hatred, but in the misguided belief they are shielding their children from pain and mistreatment. We can teach our children differently than the generations that came before us. We can equip the coming generations to interact more successfully in our complex, global society, by welcoming the invitations of those who are not exactly like us, and by extending such invitations as well.

hope that, in my future profession as a high school history teacher and in my future role as a parent, I can help children understand that there is no contradiction between cherishing your heritage and respecting the heritage of someone else. To the extent that future generations of Americans embrace this ideal, our nation truly can become, for the long term, E Pluribus Unum – One From Many.