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Dear America,
We need to talk. First, I would like to congratulate you on your 250 years of being. It is not easy for any nation, let alone a global superpower, to even last that long yet before heading off to bask in the endless praises you’ll face, I have a few things to get off my chest.
I welcome your presence as the leader of the free world and respect your ideals of freedom, equality, and democracy. The building blocks of the American Dream where anyone can start from nothing and become successful through hard work and determination under the protection of our institutions.
Yet it is impossible to ignore the foundations of this nation that were built upon oppression, exploitation, slavery, war, and death. That same dream has benefited my parents, yet my generation has been left behind.
Even more so as the son of Latino immigrants, when I remembered how my parents always told me how they struggled in their home countries as they grew up in poverty, and like millions before and after, they came to you because they knew of its boundless opportunities, and our family prospered from the benefits of the American Dream. Yet our new home previously sponsored coups against democratic governments alongside other forms of political and economic turmoil in Latin America and across the world under the notion of stopping communism.
Growing up, I remembered how the founding fathers were deified, presented as perfect, immortal gods who represented our core values, yet they were also flawed mortal men who didn’t always follow their own principles. They drafted valuable documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, with ideas of liberty and democracy that still resonate and inspire generations. Yet some of the writers behind it also owned other human beings, and the right to vote was originally exclusive to white male property owners such as themselves. It was not until an untold amount of fighting that voting rights were expanded, yet there are still those in this country who lack this fundamental right as proud citizens.
It is impossible to ignore your paradoxical nature that contributed to our success and your ruin if left unchecked.
Before me stand two camps on opposite ends. One that screams “Death to America,” calls you the Evil Empire, a tyrannical regime to be overthrown. The other that treats you as a perfect utopia, the city on the hill that can do no wrong, where blind loyalty is expected as even a simple acknowledgment of your sins is treated as heretical. For me, I follow a unique path distinct from both of these extremes. There are those who claim that we are at the end of history, that you are eternal and will never die. Is it not what the Romans thought of themselves during the height of the Pax Romana, along with countless empires before and since, at their golden age? As oceans rise, empires fall, and through it all — are we no different in the grand scheme of history despite your self-professed exceptionalism? Now, even more so as we face the twilight years of your golden age, the Pax Americana, history will call. I wonder how those who come after us will navigate your legacy amid an endless sea of contradictions.
As I now find myself between a national stalemate fueled by division and hyperpartisanship, I lie wide awake thinking about what kind of path you will soon take. Will the national experiment continue and ensure democracy lives on in your veins, or will your institutions collapse from neglect and corruption until all that is left is unchecked tyranny? When you finally go the way of past empires, and all that remains are your remains, how will the world see you then? Will you be remembered or lost in the sands of time? I cannot fully answer that, but here’s my take. I ask myself whether you are indeed the Rome of the modern world, especially since you possess the technological, military, and cultural might of your predecessor on the global stage, and, if so, perhaps there is a chance that as your institutions slowly die, your spirit will stay alive. Look at Rome and how, despite its fall, its legacy still survives today through its culture, law, and language.
America, you have done so much for the world that your highs and lows will be remembered forever. Personally, I acknowledge your status as Nova Roma (New Rome) and give credit for your accomplishments, but I know of your past misdeeds not out of spite but out of love. I believe that you can do better and that a brighter future awaits us if the right steps are taken. What kind of steps, you may ask? That again I cannot say. Just something to think about.
Frank Granda, 22, San Diego, CA
As part of a collaboration between The Latino News Network, The Fulcrum’s NextGen initiative and Made By Us, LNN is publishing Letters to America, a series created through the Youth250 project that invites Gen Z to reflect on the nation’s past, present, and future as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.