What does it mean to be American?

The US turned 250 years old on July 4. But Americans are also divided on how to commemorate and interpret this anniversary. Of course, for "Native Americans" and "African Americans," the founding of the US evokes settler brutality, slavery, and racial segregation. For Native Americans, the history of the US is neither limited to "1619," when slavery began, nor to "1776," when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. US history begins with European settlers in the 1500s and continues with British colonialism.

The Declaration of Independence referred to the continent's natives as "merciless Indian savages." Some Americans want the US defined on the basis of "1776," while others want "1619." These two different foundations also change the narrative of American history.

Americans are also divided in the 21st century over what it means to be American. Republicans and Democrats are themselves split into several factions. The division in American society is also visible along racial and ethnic lines. On the other hand, "culture wars" have split Americans almost in two.

From the founding of the US until the 1970s, the dominant political elites defined America as "White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant" (WASP). Today, supporters of "WASP" no longer have their former power. Conservative Catholic justices are now in the majority on the Supreme Court. Such a situation was once unimaginable. When Catholic John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected US President, he had to pledge to be president for everyone.

Today, the "Anglo-Saxon" and "Protestant" lines of "WASP" have faded considerably. Those who define America as a Christian nation are left with only "White America." According to research, in the not-too-distant future, White Americans of European origin will become a minority.

Last year, the election of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York, the US's largest city and financial and cultural center, sent shockwaves. Mamdani, of Indian-Ugandan descent, also went by the name "Kwame." His father, Prof. Mahmood Mamdani, had named his son after Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of Ghana, one of the first African countries to gain independence from British colonial rule. Nkrumah, a founding father of the African Union, was overthrown in 1966 by a military coup carried out in cooperation with the "British Secret Service" and the "CIA."

Likewise, in Washington, the US capital, the mayoral nomination was won by African American Janeese Lewis George, who shares the same views as Mamdani. Lewis defeated her closest rival by a 20‑point margin. These two figures represent a growing trend within the Democratic base.

The fading of the "American Dream" is also worrying young Americans. Young people believe they are living in worse conditions than their parents. According to polls, half of Americans believe the country is moving toward fascism, while the other half believes it is moving toward socialism. These new searches are cornering the mainstream centrist wings of both parties.

During the Cold War, the US saw itself as the leader of the so‑called "Free World." The Soviet Union, meanwhile, was seen as the "guardian of the Iron Curtain." The US was the opposite of the Soviets. Today, the US tries to define itself by looking at China. China is not the Soviet Union, and the US is not the America of the Cold War. A rising China economically, technologically, and militarily is an existential threat to the US. During the Cold War, the US and Soviet economies were separate. The Soviet Union was America's military and ideological rival, not its economic one.

Today, the Chinese and US economies are intertwined. While China prefers to remain within the global economic system, the US is trying to break out of it. The US looks like "a bull in a china shop." America, speaking loudly and carrying a big stick, has begun to lose even its closest allies. China, meanwhile, calmly continues on its way.

While "Evangelical Christian Zionists" in the US see America as an instrument for the establishment of a so‑called "Greater Israel" and the subsequent "Armageddon," young Americans are rebelling against their government's support for Israel's genocide. Young people are also extremely uncomfortable with the "Israel Lobby" corrupting American politics and democracy. Young Americans, reacting to America's endless wars, are quite confused about what it means to be American in the world.