Complexities of Citizenship in America: A Formal Standing or a Lived Experience?
The United States of America is comprised of a population of citizens of different skin color, origins, and cultures. The mix is owed to the history of the country tracing back to the New World period, the slave trade, as well as the massive immigration that occurred from Europe, Asia, and the Americas during the revolution in search for better-paying jobs (Burgett and Glenn, 2014). From this history, some of the citizens are regarded as immigrants and others natives. Although the United States recognizes every one of its citizens as equal, the reality on the ground is quite different. Some of the people have gone through experiences that make them feel less of citizens in a country they regard as home. Citizenship in America is more of a lived experience than a formal standing, and thus this paper seeks to explore the complexities of citizenship in the United States.
Existence of Tension
There exists a tension between the ideas of citizenship in the United States as being a formal standing or a lived experience. The population of citizens comprises of the whites who are regarded as the majority and the other groups from different ethnic backgrounds with an origin either from immigration or slavery. Eithne Luibheid says that citizenship is equated with whiteness (Burgett and Glenn, 2014). Drawing from Sherman Alexie's book "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," there is always the feeling of not-belonging or an outsider that accompanies the citizens who are not of the white origin.
Homeless Citizens
For instance, Jackson says that his family has lived in Washington for at least ten thousand years yet he is homeless (Sherman, 2003). He has nothing much to show for the time the family has lived in the country apart from his grandmother's regalia which he has to redeem from a pawnshop. This is the state of many of his Indian counterparts. The experience is so severe such that he appreciates small privileges such as being allowed to use a clean bathroom. The fact that he is a citizen formally does not guarantee him the experience of one.
The Irony of Immigration
Immigration is one way in which a majority of the citizens or their ancestors found their way to the United States. Some laws deal with immigrants and the process of legalizing their citizenship. Immigrants have to be documented to be recognized as legal citizens. Some of the immigrants live as undocumented for some time, and while they are denied fundamental rights as citizens, their labor is always welcome and often demanded (Burgett and Glenn, 2014). This poses the ironical situation these people live in. In Alexie's book, Jackson's grandmother talks about how there were many Indian soldiers sent out to fight for the United States, citing that she had lost two of his brothers in war (Sherman, 2003). She was working as a nurse and attended to many soldiers. Despite the services they rendered to the country, there does not seem to have had any significant compensation accorded to their families drawing from the case of Jackson, and many other Indians who are homeless. One Maori soldier that the grandmother is attending to finds it funny how the Indians and other brown people are sent out to kill each other so that the white man could be free. This shows that these minority groups recognize that though all are regarded as citizens, there are some groups who are more important and whose wellbeing has to be safeguarded than others.
Hopes and Expectations
Another complexity of citizenship is seen in the hopes, wishes, and memories of the less privileged. Eithne gives one of the reasons for immigration as the search for a better life. For instance, the immigrants from Europe were attracted by the availability of jobs and the good pay in the United States. The situation is different for the offspring of the slaves, majorly from the African descent who were taken to America against their will. Nevertheless, all these groups possess hopes and aspirations that they wish are realized in the country they live. Alexie portrays such a situation of hopes that often ended up unfulfilled. The character Jackson tells of three Aleut cousins who sat on a bench staring out into the waters hoping that a boat which they claim has been gone for eleven years will show up and bring them a fortune (Sherman, 2003). Jackson is also shown to have hopes, the greatest at the moment being to recover his grandmother's regalia which gives him some warmth and a sense of belonging. He carries hope with him to make the nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars required by the pawnshop owner to buy back the regalia. These wishes, for both the Aleut cousins and Jackson's to acquire money, do not come to fruition expressing the many hopes that are shattered when opportunities are missed.
Barriers to Citizenship
At times, these complexities of citizenship come in the form of barriers which challenges the "citizen" status. Such barriers can be in the form of negative imagery and state practices such as criminalization and marginalization (Burgett and Glenn, 2014). Those people that are not considered native citizens tend to be classified and referred to as a group rather than being accorded an individual identity. In the article "Citizen," the writer talks of an "all black people look the same" moment when describing instances when an individual is distracted and calls her friend the name of her black housekeeper. Nonetheless, these kinds of representations can be revised. Negative imagery can be countered, and practices of criminalization and marginalization resisted and new proposals of new forms of living, working, and belonging fronted. This is especially done through immigrant activism that sees to it that historical struggles have been transformed in the areas of civil, labor, and anticolonial rights and offering strategies that revitalize challenges to models of citizenship and the nation-state.
Survival in Complexity
The complexities of citizenship leave the victims with only one option, and that is to find means of survival. The cases of the homeless Indians in Alexie's book is a good example. Jackson, for example, survives through various deals, at times gaining and other times losing. For instance, in his quest to make the amount required to buy his grandmother's regalia, he engages in gambling at a lottery store, money which he uses to buy his fellow Indians whiskey. He is later given thirty dollars by Williams the cop which he uses to buy himself and the Aleut cousins breakfast. Eventually, he did not hit the target of the nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars the pawnshop owner had demanded. The lives of these individuals are surrounded by uncertainties and no promise of a tomorrow. Only the tough ones survive. His friend Junior and the Aleut cousins die since they were not tough enough to survive the hostility that life presented.
Revisiting Citizenship in America
The state of citizenship in the United States of America needs to be revisited either through revising the policies or the implementation of the already set laws. Citizenship comprises of many aspects over which individuals have rights. Among these aspects are religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and others. There has been a contemporary turn in the American studies and activism geared towards building bridges to close the gaps existing between the citizenry of the United States. Scholars have been rethinking of foundational concepts which involve ideas around culture, community, nation, gender, identity, and settlement. These efforts are aimed at minimizing, and possibly eliminating the complexities of citizenship in the United States of America.
Conclusion
In summary, the complexities of citizenship have made the situation to be more of a lived experience than a formal standing. Although America is comprised of citizens from different descents, some complexities make some feel inferior to others. The intricacies result in situations that some lack the sense of belonging in a country they call home. According to Eithne, citizenship is equated to whiteness. The other people of the different origins often offer their labor to better the lives of the "superior" citizens at their own expense. There are unfulfilled hopes and wishes carried by these minorities that keep them going until they can't go any further. There also exist barriers to the citizen status which hinder the equality that should exist for all the citizens. These barriers are in the form of negative imagery, criminalization, and marginalization of some groups of citizens. However, scholars have found ways to mitigate these practices through activism and contemporary turn in the American studies.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. "What You Pawn I Will Redeem." NEW YORKER-NEW YORKER MAGAZINE INCORPORATED-(2003): 168-177.
Burgett, Bruce, and Glenn Hendler, eds. Keywords for American cultural studies. NYU Press, 2014.
