When Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt stood before the National Conservatism Conference earlier this month and declared, “America doesn’t belong to them—it belongs to us. We can no longer apologize for who we are,” he wasn’t just making a rhetorical flourish. He was drawing a line—a line between who gets to belong and who gets erased.
Schmitt’s speech, titled “What Is an American,” celebrated the legacy of European colonizers, claiming they “repelled wave after wave of Indian war band attacks” and “tamed the continent” to build civilization. He described Americans as “the sons and daughters of the Christian pilgrims who poured out onto the ocean’s shores,” and closed with: “We’re not sorry. Why would we be sorry? America is the proudest and most magnificent heritage ever known to man”.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Schmitt’s remarks echoed “blood and soil” rhetoric historically associated with white supremacist movements. He dismissed the idea that “all men are created equal” should define American identity, mocked outrage over George Floyd’s murder, and valorized Confederate generals.
Schmitt glorifies European conquest and dismisses the foundational contributions of Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, and immigrants.
But history tells a different story.Black communities built economic power and cultural legacy: Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma—known as “Black Wall Street”—was a thriving African-American district with banks, theaters, and shops before it was destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Its legacy of resilience and entrepreneurship remains a cornerstone of Black economic history.Free Black Americans created institutions of resistance and care. In the 18th and 19th centuries, free Black communities established churches, schools, and newspapers, such as Freedom’s Journal, the first African American publication. Leaders like Richard Allen and David Walker pushed the nation to confront its contradictions and expand the meaning of freedom.Latino labor and activism shaped cities and movements: From the Bracero Program to the United Farm Workers, Latino communities have powered agriculture, built infrastructure, and led labor movements. Their cultural and civic contributions—from muralism to bilingual education—are woven into the fabric of American life.Asian American communities fueled industry and civil rights: Chinese immigrants built the transcontinental railroad under brutal conditions. Japanese Americans, despite internment during WWII, rebuilt communities and fought for redress. Filipino nurses and Indian tech workers have sustained healthcare and innovation sectors for decades.Indigenous nations preserved sovereignty and environmental stewardship: Despite centuries of displacement, Native communities continue to lead land protection efforts, revitalize languages, and assert treaty rights. Their resistance is a living archive of what America owes and what it must repair.
Civil rights advocates and historians have condemned the speech for promoting exclusionary narratives that erase Indigenous, Black, and immigrant contributions to American history. Bridgette Dunlap of the Missouri Independent noted that Schmitt’s framing “justifies real-world power grabs,” including efforts to disenfranchise voters and undermine constitutional amendments that expanded civil rights.
“Schmitt is peddling a perverse and revisionist originalism in which only the founders who won the debates of the time matter,” writes Dunlap. “He calls us back to when the Constitution was first signed — when it counted enslaved people as 3/5ths of a person to appease slaveowners. He is rejecting the Constitution that the people of the U.S. amended with the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments to include those of us who are not male or white.”Senator Schmitt’s speech wasn’t just offensive. It legitimizes policies that disenfranchise voters, erase histories, and justify violence in the name of heritage. It tells millions of Americans—those who have built, defended, and reimagined this country—that they are outsiders.
America’s story is not the property of any one lineage. It is a mosaic of struggle, resistance, and reinvention. Schmitt may claim that “America belongs to us,” but we know that belonging is not his to bestow. It is ours to claim.