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<p>Andrew Jackson and Alexander Hamilton? Their pictures are commonly found on small pieces of paper that many Americans carry. Franklin Roosevelt’s picture is commonly found on small metal objects that many Americans carry.</p>
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<p>Patriots Day? I had never heard of it until the Boston bombing, and I still haven’t looked it up to see exactly what it means. Will do that now.</p>
<p>ucb,
Again, I was referring “things,” not people, when I used the word “icon.” Poor word choice on my part, obviously, but an icon can be a thing - it is in the dictionary that way.</p>
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I guess I’m not sure I accept the premise that we don’t spend much time discussing what we have in common–I think we do that plenty, in history, and political science, and literature classes–more so in K-12 than in college, certainly, but there’s plenty of it in college. My son (a music major) took a class in Constitutional Law. My daughter is finishing up a class on the Civil War. There’s an American Studies major. And so on.</p>
<p>What are some uniquely American icons that are things? The flag, I guess, perhaps the bald eagle. The Liberty Bell.</p>
<p>And what non-American things are replacing them? I will agree that the issue of the Mexican flag is thorny.</p>
<p>Note: I suspect that non-Americans might validly complain that their countries are awash with uniquely American icons: the Golden Arches, KFC, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, etc.</p>
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<p>How about the common little pieces of paper with Andrew Jackson’s picture on them? (He may not be especially popular among Native Americans for historical reasons.)</p>
<p>I have no objection at all to the Starbucks coffee cup as an American Icon. :D</p>
<p>Should college students be required to say the pledge of allegience at the start of class each day? </p>
<p>Carry on.</p>
<p>Hunt,
I agree with all of your examples as possible American cultural icons. I don’t think any of them identify uniquely with white Protestants.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what you are trying to say, ucb. That dollar bills are symbols of American culture? I think that might be true. Do you think the fact that a white Protestant’s (and President) picture is on the bill means that non-white Protestant Americans feel marginalized about cash in America?</p>
<p>It isn’t just any white Protestant or President’s picture… it happens to be one whose legacy is one of noted unfriendliness to Native Americans.</p>
<p>Perhaps an analogy may be why some African Americans find certain [state</a> flags](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mississippi]state”>Flag of Mississippi - Wikipedia) to be insulting.</p>
<p>There’s a Starbucks at the Louvre. Heard a McDonald’s was planned
That’s infiltration.
…
Maybe what we Americans have in common is diversity. Including diversity of opinions. No, we’re not alone in that.</p>
<p>I did notice that, in my kids’ French textbooks, the young characters were no longer only Pierre and Marie, et al.</p>
<p>Ok ucb, I understand. Your objection is not to white Protestant “symbols,” it is to symbols that are reminders of discrimination. I agree with you that they may be inappropriate.</p>
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<p>Going back, this is an interesting question. What if it is required by a professor and count’s towards one’s grade? I think it would be fine.</p>
<p>American football is pretty iconic. And we still fuss over names like Redskins.</p>
<p>I disagree that some groups don’t assimilate. It just takes time.</p>
<p>Bay, would you like to see school prayer reinstated? Limited to what religious traditions?</p>
<p>Thanksgiving is the original American holiday celebrated with uniquely American foods like turkey, cranberries, succotash, and pumpkin pie. All Amercan foods. And it started as a celebration of bi-cultural cooperation.</p>
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<p>No, why do you think I would? I am an atheist.</p>
<p>Prayers are not appropriate for public schools, but I don’t actually object to prayer time at events, though. I just don’t participate and it does not bother me at all.</p>
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Maybe in a private college, but not in a public one.</p>
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<p>I really do believe we can all agree on Starbucks, and then it turns out there are those who think I’m nuts. They think the small coffee shops are better. le sigh</p>
<p>In the funny-I-don’t-hear-complaints-about-this department: St. Patrick’s Day. Public parades (on the public dime), Irish flags, signs in an incomprehensible foreign language (Gaelic), celebration of socially destructive behaviors thought to be typically Irish . . . . It’s OK to be a hyphenated-American if you are white enough, and basically sort of English.</p>
<p>But, really, folks, have a little bit of self-awareness. White Protestant culture is everywhere. It’s in our success = merit ideology. It is imbued in our concept of democracy. It’s in the very notion of a separation of Church and State (and also resistance to that). It underlies our focus on individual rights and personal autonomy, our lionization of freedom and liberty. Our dollar bills have a Masonic symbol on them. We all want to go (or we want our children to go) to Harvard (“fair relic and type of our ancestors’ worth . . . first child of their wilderness, star of their night”), Yale, Princeton, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth . . .</p>
<p>Okay, I can agree with everything but Duke on that list. Some Americans are also TarHeels, just sayin’ Duke was simply off the table at our house. Unless you got the full pay merit award, you were not going to Duke.</p>
<p>And, if you went to Duke? You were not coming to Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>But, my husband’s family are tarheels back to the beginning of time, apparently. I’m a first gen. (tarheel and college graduate)</p>