What does it mean to be an American?

The meaning of American citizenship is different for many people and its meaning has been debated since America was formed. In looking at Michael Walzer’s “What does it Mean to be an American?” and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” one can see two different interpretations of American citizenship. While Malcolm X and Michael Walzer agree on many aspects of what American citizenship should be they differ on how it really is.

In Walzer’s view the term American is primarily political and many Americans are somewhere else culturally. Since America is separated culturally and politically, it has a certain aspect of anonymity in politics, and even though many Americans identify with some other place culturally they need to balance that with their public life. Walzer uses the examples of hyphenated Americans to illustrate this point; Walzer uses the example of Irish-Americans who are culturally Irish and American politically. However, according to Walzer, this is not entirely true because both sides of the hyphen influence each other. “Rather they are culturally Irish-American and politically Irish- American.” (46) This duality in American citizenship makes it more anonymous and all a person needs to do in order to participate in American political life is to commit themselves to the ideas of liberty and equality. (30) The duality and anonymity in American citizenship also makes society more tolerant of culturally different people. This can be seen when Walzer writes, “tolerance is a way of thought when any alternative policy would be violent and dangerous.” (44-45) Tolerance is what allows Americans to bond together as a union of ethnic, racial, and religious groups.

Although Malcolm X would agree that Walzer’s view is the way citizenship should be, the reality of the situation is different. This is especially true for black people who no matter how committed they are to American ideals of liberty and equality remain persecuted and overlooked in the system. This can be seen when Malcolm X writes “No I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy.” (127) Malcolm X also addresses the issue of the hyphenated Americans. “African-Americans – that’s what we are – Africans who are in America.” (128) Malcolm X believes, unlike Walzer, that the two sides of the hyphen are independent of each other. “In fact, you’d get farther calling yourself Africans instead of a Negro. Africans don’t catch hell.” (128) This shows the reality of the situation, but the ideal Malcolm X is striving for is like Walzer’s.

Furthermore, the view that Malcolm X is arguing for, in Black Nationalism, is similar to Walzer’s in that the cultural side of the hyphen influences the political side of the hyphen and vise versa. “It’s true we’re Muslims and our religion is Islam, but we don’t mix our religion with our politics…After our religious services are over, then as Muslims we become involved in political action.” (129) Malcolm X’s view of Black Nationalism follows closely Walzer’s view that Americans divide themselves up into cultural groups, but racially different groups are suppressed.

However, Malcolm X feels that racial, ethnic or cultural tolerance is not practiced toward African-Americans like it is towards other groups that are white. Malcolm X begins “The Ballot or the Bullet” showing this separation when he writes, “I don’t even consider myself an American. If you and I were Americans then there would be no problem. Those Hunkies that just got off the boat, they’re already Americans … Everything that came out of Europe… is already American. And as long as you and I have been here, we aren’t Americans yet.” (126) Malcolm X feels that African-Americans need to join together so that they can support themselves and once the black community is strong the rest of America will be forced to recognize it politically, economically, and socially. Malcolm X believes that the idea of Black Nationalism does not only apply to African-Americans, it is also relevant to all non-white people that are politically suppressed in the system.

Malcolm X would agree with Walzer’s view of American citizenship, such as America is a dualistic society. Malcolm X would believe that Walzer’s argument was ideological and not reality because Walzer fails to address the issue of race sufficiently. While both see America divide along racial, ethnic, or religious lines, Walzer believes that the anonymous political environment in America promotes tolerance and is a unifying factor for groups that would have nothing in common. Yet again, Malcolm X would not support this view of the way things are but as the ideal he is striving for.

The issue of what it means to be an American is something that will be debated for many more years because America is such a diverse country. Michael Walzer sums it best when he writes, “America is still a radically unfinished society… The country has a political center, but remains in every other sense decentered.” This shows that even though America can be divided culturally, politics can be a unifying factor.