A trip to the United States Capitol reminded me of what I'm celebrating this Fourth of July

WASHINGTON DC

The air was heavy and the afternoon sun was scorching the streets of the U.S. capital. But when I visited last month, I made sure to walk the two miles from my hotel to the U.S. Capitol instead of taking an Uber, so I could see it in all its glory.

I didn’t have much time for sightseeing, but a pilgrimage to the seat of the American government was in order. Ever since January 6, 2021, when a crowd of thousands stormed it in an attempt to stop the vote count that would officially make Joe Biden president, the symbol of our democracy has reminded us of how fragile it is.

Before this coup, the United States Capitol was an abstraction to me, a series of images of this stunning dome, these imposing columns, but above all these magnificent steps where a group of politicians passed laws but mostly partied. Hell, I didn’t even know there was a front and back entrance until I got close to Pennsylvania Avenue. I had been to Washington DC before, but I had seen the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and a few other monuments, but not the Capitol.

It’s huge! The white building shimmers like a promontory of power, with trees from all over the United States spread across the grounds below. Its magnetism was such that I paid no attention to the reflecting pool, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, or the Peace Monument below.

What broke the spell were the people around me.

Filipinos in barongs and Muslim women in hijabs. Argentinians joking in lilting Spanish and Australians in their trademark chatty accents. I don’t know if they were foreign tourists or immigrants, but they were easy to tell apart from the locals, who rushed about their day, oblivious to the splendor we were all enjoying. We, the curious, used the Capitol as a backdrop for group photos and selfies, paying little attention to the barricades and police officers preventing us from climbing the West End steps.

That scene comes to mind on this country’s 248th birthday, especially after the horror show that was last week’s presidential debate between Biden and the man the insurgents wanted to keep in power, Donald Trump. Everyone talked about Biden’s performance, with some, including Democrats, calling it akin to the Cryptkeeper in Tales from the Crypt.

Biden wasn’t a smooth-talking Socrates, but he never was, and the commander-in-chief got better as the night went on. Besides, I prefer his corny side to the dictatorial, pessimistic vision and lies Trump spouted that night.

But Biden broke my heart because he remained mostly silent while Trump lambasted immigrants as the gravest threat this nation has ever faced. The convicted felon barely bothered to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. He said Biden was open[ed] He talked about our country with people who come from prisons, mental institutions, insane asylums, terrorists, and mentioned mental institutions twice more, as if the mentally ill were subhuman. He described the US-Mexico border as the worst in the history of the world and the most dangerous place in the world, which will be news to the people of Gaza and those on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

When we needed someone to champion our country’s new arrivals, to boast that this country remains a beacon to the world’s weary and impoverished masses instead of the failed nation Trump thinks we are (a point he repeated five times), Biden instead insisted that he was far better at combating illegal immigration than Trump made out.

Trump's Most Damning Sentence of the Night I Really Don't Know What He Said [Biden] “I don't think he knows either that what he said was a response to the president mumbling all along about increasing the number of Border Patrol agents and making it harder to apply for asylum.”

If Biden won't stand up to xenophobic rhetoric from a tyrant, who will?

Supporters of former President Trump attempt to break through a police barrier on January 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.

(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)

I have spent my life hearing that uncontrolled immigration, legal or not, would ruin America. I have never seen such an apocalypse coming. No, it is mostly native-born white Americans who complain that they are no longer great, but do nothing to improve things except move to Tennessee or Idaho. It is immigrants and their descendants who have kept the embers of America from going out by emphasizing hard work, community, and personal responsibility.

Newcomers who want to improve their lives are the ones we should celebrate on the Fourth of July. Yet poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans, including Latinos, feel our borders are under attack. The temperature around immigration is even higher than it was around the time of Proposition 187, the ballot initiative that California voters passed 30 years ago to try to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants. Back then, people came together to fight back. Now? Few seem to care.

I was struck by the weight of the situation as I walked around the Capitol to see its official entrance, through which the insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on January 6. The sun was setting just behind the dome, casting a long, icy shadow even on a hot day. Police were everywhere. Metal barricades prevented people from climbing the steps that led to the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Rotunda. A few tourists lingered beside me but quickly left.

I approached an unfenced area and a police officer politely but firmly asked me to move on. I felt like I was at a crime scene and the victims were us.

Both sides of the political spectrum say that America is done for, but I will always remain optimistic. What else can I do? This country has exceeded the expectations of my Mexican immigrant parents and myself. It is far from perfect, but that is what makes it so great: America belongs to those who work for it, to those who hope.

The day after my Capitol tour, I walked past the White House’s tourist entrance. Free public tours didn’t start until 9:30 a.m., but the line to get in had snaked back and forth to the gate two hours before. Men in turbans stood next to students in University of Wisconsin T-shirts. English, Spanish, and Mandarin filled the air.

The American flags some wore on their hats or as jewelry were not a political message but rather a symbol of communion. The guards who stood watch were jovial. There was no complaint, only excitement at the shared joy of what they were about to see.

This is the America I celebrate this July 4th and I pray it endures on Election Day.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-04/fourth-of-july-2024-biden-trump-immigrants The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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