Real Virginia, An Immigrant's Perspective

So a bit about me. I am an immigrant. My mother and I came from England on a cargo ship with our 2-year old Lab, Ross. My Dad had come stateside a few weeks before to set up house. I've spent most of my life here. As so often happens with first generation immigrant children, I feel multiple allegiances as I belong to and am a citizen of two countries.

When I heard the recent rhetoric of "real America" versus...what - fake America - I thought, that language is coded. Implied is that we are supposed to 'know' what Real America is. What its population is like. How it contributes to the country.

Recently, they used the term "real Virginia" to describe non-Northern Virginia. So you know, I am not in the "real Virginia" as I live in Arlington.

Arlington is a lovely community. We are both the smallest and most densely-populated county in America. We are diverse. We believe in and practice Smart Growth. We are loaded with military, defense contractors, and government employees. Arlington was directly hit on 9/11 as the Pentagon is in Arlington, not Washington DC. My LOCAL fire station sent its trucks and fire-fighters to the Pentagon. Even Senator McCain has one of his seven homes in Arlington. We are probably wealthier than the national average, although the economic crash is taking care of some of that. Yet somehow, none of this is Real. Somehow we are terrorist-loving, anti-American, lazy and goodness knows what else.

It is an insult. No question. So does having a different opinion mean that you are a terrorist? This divisive language is destructive. Being able to hold your point of view with someone who does not agree with you is essential to freedom. Making an enemy of the Other because they don't agree with you is a prison.

For relief, I turn to Dana Millbank's work- a brilliant satirical look at the artifice that is Real America.