Thread by @AmericanStudier

I'm not alone in noticing this, but struck by how Vance et al defend Rittenhouse w/phrases like "defending his community." He crossed a state line & drove hours to get there, & killed at least 1 person born & raised in that community. But for white supremacists, it's all theirs.

That's the essence of the exclusionary definition of America I traced in We the People. Anglos arrive in California c.1849, a California where Native & Mexican & Chinese communities have all long been there already, & right away white supremacists pass a "Foreign Miners Tax."

Fighting these narratives & white supremacists requires all sorts of actions, but high among them is consistently redefining the American "we," how we see our communities & identities (throughout history as well as today) & who's at their core. For more:
rowman.com/ISBN/978153812…

PS. For some of the violent & destructive effects of that CA Foreign Miners Tax, see these documents:

history.hanover.edu/courses/excerp…

PPS. Two notes for all the Rand McNally stans in my mentions:
1) Yes, I should have said “over an hour” instead of “hours.”
2)