Visions of the American Dream have inspired generations of recent and established immigrants alike. The American Dream is a story of hope and fulfillment of a better life. Yet embedded in the American Dream are assumptions that undermine its very aspirations: try hard enough (on your own) and you will succeed; success means owning (a lot) more than others; violence is a viable solution to intractable social or environmental problems (like racism, settler colonialism, immigration, drug use, and the extraction of natural resources). Martin Luther King recognized the violence inherent in the American Dream and called for a different kind of dream, a dream no longer dependent on a sense of manifest destiny, a dream free from domination, a dream accessible to all.
Resources mentioned during the service:
- Own Our History. Change the Story. by Brene Brown
- Florida Pardons the Groveland Four, 70 Years After Jim Crow-Era Rape Case (NY Times) by Jacey Fortin
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn
- Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky
- TEDTalk: The Biology of Our Best and Worst Selves by Robert Sapolsky
- TEDTalk: The Standing Rock Resistance and our Fight for Indigenous Rights by Tara Houska