Dear Refugee Children, I hope I am not the first to welcome you to the United States.
I do know that for some of you, this is your first Fourth of July, the day we celebrate the birth of our country.
I know you to be intelligent and aware – your own building was set afire last year, people have said hateful things to some of you, and all the tires on the RISSE vans were slashed – so I will not patronize you.
You know, I am sure, that this is a difficult and confusing time for our country, there is a raging debate underway about our very soul and future. I want to tell you that we are a nation of confusing and difficult times, many far worse than this one. I hope you will keep your faith in us as we work this out. Democracy can be stirring, but it is never simple or pretty.
I do not argue my beliefs, not on Facebook or anywhere else, my beliefs are personal, they belong to me. But I have to share my feelings about you. I know what many of you have suffered, and how difficult you lives can be.
On this day I want to tell you that many of us are happy to welcome you and support you. You have already seen some of the greetings and gifts by a group of fellow patriots I call the Army Of Good. They are eager to support you, and grateful for the opportunity.
We want you to know that the news you see is only a part of the American story, we are another part, a big part, even though you will never see us on the news. We are not loud enough, and we prefer to do good rather than argue.
So many of us are immigrants and refugees ourselves, or who come from the families of immigrants and refugees. For all the argument about immigration, most Americans are close to this experience, it runs through our blood.
I have to be honest with you, our vaunted system of government, and of democracy, which has survived for more than 200 years, seems broken. We are struggling to understand how to fix it, peacefully and with civility and empathy. It is not a perfect system, and it has never fully worked for everyone, but we believe it is the best system we know of for ensuring liberty and the peaceful transfer of power.
I love my country, I doubt I would be alive on the earth without it. Over the years America has given hope and refuge to countless millions of people, they are the backbone, history and memory of our country. America has always meant dignity and generosity to so many people in the world.
On the Fourth of July, I celebrate this experiment in freedom, as flawed as it is, and many of you have already seen some of the flaws firsthand. Hatred and cruelty are not confined to any one part of the world.
I have already spoken with some of you about this. I have urged you to be steady and tolerant, and to not be afraid. It is painful for me to write this on the Fourth of July, America has never been about frightening vulnerable people. Be patient with us, you are really, in so many ways, what our country celebrates on the Fourth of July. We will catch up with ourselves, we always do. In many of your birth countries, there is great conflict between the rich and the poor. I won’t lie to you, you will find this here as well.
We call ourselves the land of equal opportunity, and for many, this is not the reality of their lives. That is part of the struggle for our soul. Our boasts are ahead of our reality sometimes, but I think for all that, we are still better than almost anything else.
On this day, I often read the writings of Thomas Paine, an outsider political activist, journalist and philosopher who helped inspire the American Revolution, perhaps the greatest experiment in freedom (for white men and European people) in the history of the world.
He always speaks to my idea of what America is about, and I recommend reading him for any of you who wish to understand the spirit of your new country better.
“Independence is my happiness,” he wrote in Common Sense, his famous pamphlet arguing for independence from England,” and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
Paine was as good as his word, he helped launch the American Revolution.
He also inspired me and many before me to be and feel responsible for the freedom and liberty of others, in this case, people like you. So many members of my family perished in the cruelest imaginable ways, and were saved by America, and I will never take my liberty for granted. Independence is my happiness also, and my faith is to do good.
“Whatever is my right as a man,” Paine wrote, “is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to posess.” It is my duty to help you in any way I can, and a more pleasant patriotic task of the heart has never befallen me. There are many others standing behind me.
My America has always been a country that prided itself in caring for others, in offering hope and dignity and conscience to the world. I know that is why so many of you are here. I believe this ethic will remain an integral part of our country, so many of us will work hard and fight hard for it.
It is too powerful an idea to be washed away by money and selfishness and greed.
“When it can be said by any country in the world,” Paine wrote, “my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive, the rational world is my friend because I am the friend of happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and government.”
I want to be honest with you, we are not there yet, it is too soon for us to brag of anything. But we will get there, hopefully, with your help and energy and love. This is your country now.
In our country, the idea is that we all share in our national birthday, because our country belongs to the many, not the few.
So Happy Birthday to you, and many more. Me and many other people will be with you as your journey here begins. We hope our better angels sing out to you, and call you to them. And we are not going to run a way from you.