Manifest Destiny vs Diversity

“Manifest Destiny: Manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were entitled to conquer and control North America. Contemporary historians have widely condemned manifest destiny as an ideology used to justify dispossession and genocide against Native Americans.” – President James Monroe (key part of US foreign policy issued in 1823)

Manifest Diversity: Where the global majority will contribute, not conquer, or control the United States; promoting all cultures to learn about each other, with the purpose of living together in unity and harmony, manifesting the best that humanity can produce. – Solomon Joseph, founder, Manifest Diversity Institute, 2020

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 Our public school system has glorified and celebrated manifest destiny as a patriotic movement when it was clearly a successful and racist attempt at securing white supremacy. When one thinks of an American, who comes to mind? What does an American look like? Today, many walks of life consider America their home, whilst embracing their own language and culture. Many also consider themselves multicultural embodying multiple identities whilst thriving in American society. When we dissect the history of America, we may come to find many contradictions between the intents and purposes of America. And so, who really belongs in America?

 Manifest Diversity, not Manifest Destiny, is a movement to educate each other, to learn and embrace our different languages, music, religion, and culture — to introduce civility so that each American new and old can live in harmony. I believe there is a strong sense of decency, humanity, and an urge to understand each other. We must not be silent and ignorant. We must learn to be accomplices especially towards injustices. We must be allies to those in need minus the discrimination and prejudice as to who deserves to be American.

I have asked this question repeatedly, especially since taking a cultural competency training at the Native American Community Services in 2018 and learned more in depth about the Doctrine of Discovery. It did not make any sense as to why colonizers and settlers thought they were entitled to American land and everything in it.

 With my experience as a multicultural instructor, a performer involved in dance and storytelling, and serving as an educator with the Buffalo Public Schools and Buffalo State College, I plan to utilize “Manifest Diversity” as a teaching tool to highlight our diversity from around – showing our communities about the world and the complex web of interconnection that is easy to miss if we “don’t look up”

Note/Overview: “Manifest Destiny” became first and foremost a call and justification for an American form of imperialism and white supremacy. It was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America. The ideology of Manifest Destiny inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native population. Manifest Destiny allowed the United States to expand its territory by more than 60%. I urge everyone to research Manifest Destiny.

To be continued……

                                (read: theeducationalpledge.com)