White Communities Across America’s Rural and Ex-Urban regions feel their way of life is ending.
Hamza’s Lament
It is often times frustrating to me that the best news coverage of Americana is often times a product of our former imperial masters. I am the grandson of former subjects of the British crown, as well as a native-born son of one the 13 colonies that ended British rule. Why on earth must I always turn to the BBC for coverage about my own country’s affairs that isn’t packaged with an alternate agenda?
The “Other Islander” Accents
In any case, the BBC has done fine research and reporting about two American dialects with roots going back to the Elizabethan era, when Shakespeare penned words like “mommuck” in his plays. The Hoi Toider accent of Ocracoke Island, NC and the Tangier accent of Tangier Island, VA grew up isolated from the world around them until the 1990s, when major changes in the American economy and purchasing power parity led to young people leaving and/or new migrants coming in for jobs and tourism. Mixed with the growing threat of climate change (which many on Tangier Island in particular believe is a hoax invented by Democrats in Richmond to depopulate the Island and end its way of life), the challenges to maintaining the ancient ways of a style of English unheard anywhere in the world for several hundred years are proving too much. Last year, Tangier Island graduated one lonely teenager from its school system. In an interview with the BBC, a language expert predicted that within one or two generations, “Hoi Toider” English will be dead in Ocracoke Island.
So Who the Hell Cares?
So why does this matter? Well for one, heritage is a matter of concern for us all. Ask any unfortunate child of South Asian immigrants, whose parents often subject them to talks about not mixing with “Ghorays” (“white people”) and Kaalaas (“black people”), and insist on them marrying within their caste, ethnicity and linguistic community—despite being born and raised as Americans. (Thankfully, my parents have never subjected me to that). People want to pass on their traditions, their way of life, and their sense of belonging and place in the world.
Islanders both on Ocracoke and Tangier have lamented the growing loss of their way of life and culture for the record in documentaries and BBC interviews. That same sense of loss is felt across American communities that feel under “attack” merely for existing, often times as white super-majority communities. In my experience, while casual racism or prejudice remain undeniable (and abberant) truths of the American experience, so too does the sense that America is changing so quickly and so rapidly, that many people who do not belong or hail from the emerging narratives in our society feel under threat.
Are All Trumpers Sociopaths?
One might argue that the insecurities of another are not our concern, and that radical acceptance of our diversity, far more than tolerance or polite distancing should be the norm we seek. We cannot ignore the horrific violence, for instance, of lynching across America or the intentional massacres & expulsions of communities of color (e.g. the Tulsa Race Riots, Trail of Tears, Mass Internment of Japanese Americans, etc.), or that those who feel “under threat” might often be the descendants of those who either calmly stood by or actively took place in those crimes. But, few if any of the “white” Americans who feel under threat carried out those particular crimes. They instead hail from counties in Indiana, Ohio, Iowa and throughout the country that voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but then have steadily retreated into the madness of the Crimson Red of Doom since then. We have to ask ourselves: are all Trump voters really racists and sociopaths?
To be sure: a number of them that I know personally, indeed, are. But there is something to be said in that many Americans don’t feel they recognize our country anymore. Between the racism and bigotry that defines the Republican Party today, and the growing changes in social norms, values and demographics that highlight much of the country, also today, there is a growing lack of commonality based in common courtesy and direct efforts to forge community with people who appear different.
What’s the Bottom Line?
My point with this post is to suggest that, recognizing how we seek to bring about change is as important as the changes we seek in our human world. While clearly that approach has floundered in Congress, I am not one to believe it would fail over coffee or breakfast with Americans of a different viewpoint or origin story than myself. What we need now, more than ever, is ten million such breakfasts with a fellow American who isn’t anything like us on the surface, and in the process we share something of our Americanness with each other and strengthen who we are as a people.
E Pluribus Unum: Out of many, we remain one.