Some were caught up with the crowd psychology of the moment. But those who fervently chanted “Send her back!” during President Trump’s rally on Wednesday evening should be sent back to school.
Those chanters do not understand a fundamental tenet of America, namely, our nation’s long-ago enshrined expectation that views alone are no cause for prejudice against fellow citizens. These chants are, of course, made worse by the history of who they target. Ilhan Omar was born in Somalia and attained U.S. citizenship at the age of 17. She did come from a foreign territory.
But to suggest that the Minnesota Democratic representative is somehow less American because of her prior experience is an affront to sacred American identity. Yes, citizenship comes with obligations. Yes, many of us (myself included) regard many of Omar’s views as antithetical to America’s better future. And yes, while she has sometimes been treated unfairly, Omar has also sometimes shown prejudice herself.
But Ilhan Omar belongs here, since she is American.
This is not a complicated point. As my colleague Becket Adams also observes, it is a basic point of American identity. Failing to recognize that point, “send her back!” chanters proved that they failed to pay attention in middle school.
Each chanter would thus be well-served by a little remedial constitutional history.
Failing that, the chanters should pay heed to three words. With beautiful simplicity, the nation’s motto “E pluribus unum” reminds us of American nature: Of a nation forged by immigrants and made whole by immigrants and natives. A nation of many different individuals with many different ideas who come from many different places. Yet, a nation made real by a peaceful democracy of one people.
America doesn’t “send back” our citizens. To do so wouldn’t just harm them, it would harm us. We are a country of many made whole under one Constitution and one flag. To forget that is to forget ourselves.
Go back to school, chanters.
