We Are Who?: A Pragmatic Reframing of Immigration and National Identity

John Jacob Kaag, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

I. Introduction

ON OCTOBER 1, 2002, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice defended the newly formed National Security Strategy, commenting that, "after 9/11, there is no longer any doubt that today America faces an existential threat to our security—a threat as great as any we faced during the Civil War, the socalled 'Good War,' or the Cold War" (Wriston Lecture). Many commentators have echoed this point. The attacks on the World Trade Center threatened a particular civilian population but also posed an existential threat to American identity. Ironically, hundreds of undocumented migrant workers were killed in the attacks on September 11. In the wake of these attacks, many scholars and politicians overlooked this irony and sought to respond to questions that surfaced as the products of nation confusion and crisis: What is it to be an American citizen? What is the meaning and value of national identity? Who are we? Samuel Huntington provides a type of answer in his aptly titled Who Are We?: The Challenges to American Identity, a work that aims to renegotiate the boundaries of national identity and that outlines the dangers that accompany America’s current domestic policy and, more specifically, its stance on immigration and cultural diversity..