a new face

My last post caused a surprising degree of tension among friends and family alike. Many were offended by my wording, that I was "finally" proud to be American, and that I was ashamed to be identified as one before Obama was elected as our next president. Even for those of us who travel occasionally out of the country, many of us can often miss the blatant disgust many in the world feel towards our country, misinterpreting it for snobbery or aloofness. It is often neither. Rather, this dislike stems from a perceived snobbery and aloofness on our part.

It has been difficult to convey these perceptions to my critics. But the point of my argument was illuminated in a conversation with a woman yesterday. She congratulated me on our new president, and we began to talk about the shifts that this election would bring. In the interest of not misquoting her, I will not quote her entire sentences. However, my new acquaintance said that before the election, to say one was "American" was like a "germ," that everyone would want to avoid you. Furthermore, she said that she "couldn't help it," that "whenever I see an American I see Bush." We are a direct reflection of our leadership. It is the beauty and the bitterness of democracy.

That afternoon, I also saw on a magazine cover a picture of Obama and the future first family, with the headline, "The New Mandela." Mandela was South Africa's Moses, the saviour of the downtrodden and the hopeless nation. He was also a symbol of South Africa's re-entry into the world after years of embargoes and international isolation. We must be critical of turning Obama into an untouchable, mythical figure, but the comparison is intriguing. It is our time to reconstruct the identity of our nation and re-enter the world.

I have been relatively successful in deconstructing our negative stereotype and shifting my non-American friends' perceptions of our country, but ideally, I would prefer to not wear the mask of the enemy at all. Is it possible for us to have a positive stereotype? And what would that stereotype look like?

"The Obama Dividend"

In his New York Times op-ed today, Nicholas Kristof, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, makes note of my contribution to his blog (and my most recent blog post). I am trying to contain my excitement. Enjoy.

you say you want a revolution

I watched the election results pour in tonight from a bar in Cape Town, South Africa. It is clear that the energy and electricity of our country and the significance of this election has vibrated across the world, and for the first time in recent memory, I can shout in the streets that I am American and be proud of the progress, hope, and color that now defines us. For too long, “American” has been a dirty word, and I have been ashamed to hang an American flag, to wear red, white and blue, or to tell anyone that I come from the country that has inflicted so much pain and destruction on the world.

But this morning, as my friends and I left the bar where we were watching CNN and walked along the bustling main road, all South Africans shared our joy and screamed out windows, honked horns, waved and showed huge smiles. We are not alone in our struggle any longer. We have rejoined the world. And I couldn’t be happier.

See Nicholas Kristof's NYT blog, "On the Ground," for my contribution.