America: the Beautiful Future

The Squad: Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley

The Squad has captured my imagination. Their expressive faces remind me that America is an ever-changing experiment. When I look at them, I feel that I'm looking into the future--an America that is new and different and beautiful. It is true that I have not dug deeply into their individual ideas. We (and they) probably don't agree on everything, but that is okay. They own more future than I do. 

     

Studying their faces to make these paintings, I could see how they are such a vital part of the America that I love. As immigrants and refugees have come to our shores, our ideas of America expand and become richer. For example, growing up in Lexington, KY, we had only one pizza place, Pasquale's Pizza and our Asian fare was limited to Wing's Tea House. Now, every part of the globe is represented in restaurants around Lexington. (This is a very superficial look at things, Lexington is richer in every way now.) Even from the beginning (and before 1960!) America was an expansive idea. As we spread west, new states were added to the Union and new stars to the flag. We have always been about expansion and change--it is just so American! Ilhan Omar is a new star in our country.

Reading about Rashida Tlaib, I learned that she is the oldest of fourteen children. People are a fertile resource for our country. I am not necessarily thinking about the need to create more people, but about the ways in which new people bring rich ideas and energy to our midst. I think about America, the Beautiful and its amber waves of grain. My husband is a mathematician, so I've been introduced to more than a few brilliant mathematicians who were forced out of their countries. I always wondered why those countries would let such a valuable resource go.

Green is one of my favorite colors. It represents new growth and springtime. I appreciate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinking up new ideas that address the challenges we are facing in our world today. The New Green Deal is a new idea, not a dictate. That is what democracy looks like--new ideas that are considered and even argued over until we come up with something that can work for us as a country. Refreshing and green!

The thirteen stripes on the American flag represent the thirteen British colonies which became the original thirteen states of the United States of America. It is a remarkable story that our country came to exist and that we became such a dominant leader in the world. We became a rich country and much that wealth would not have been possible without people being kidnapped from Africa and forced to work against their will. It was not their will, but their building of our country must be acknowledged and the vitality that their descendants bring to our present economies is undeniable. So much of what we consider to be American has African roots. There simply is no America without our African-American sisters and brothers. Ayanna Pressley's story is a reminder of that and gives me confidence in the future of our country.