Birthright Citizenship: The Psychology of Exclusion and Fear | Psychology Today
And Psychological Constitutional #4: "We care." Probably the two most important words in human language.
(image generated with ChatGPT by Tom Singer)
Hi all,
Just ahead of July 4th, we had the SCOTUS decision re President Shrimp’s EO rolling back birthright citizenship, against the 14th Amendment and long-settled law dating back to the Wong Kim Ark case of 1898.
The recent SCOTUS decision stopped EO 14160 from taking effect for 30 days, but as the New York Times reported:
“The ruling means that the practice of giving citizenship automatically to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants and some temporary residents and visitors would end in the 28 states that have not challenged the order.”
More in my latest post:
Birthright Citizenship: The Psychology of Exclusion and Fear | Psychology Today
This post links to
’s great work on his “Field Guide of American Cultural Complexes.” They’re a long set of reads, but well worth the time. Here’s his post on immigration. Think: how do people construct their identities? Is this based on fear and paranoia, or compassion and hope?
Psychological Constitutional #4: We Care
Langston Hughes wrote “America never was America to me.”
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Frederick Douglass asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Our systems of care, brotherhood, sisterhood, community - are under attack.
We have to declare “we care,” and bring that caring into all aspects of our inner lives and relatedness.
Please share this message - you can repost this, or create your own.
We got this.
Warmly,
Ravi