every politician and pundit could tell
you that we live at a divided country
there was raised
gender sexual identity evangelical or
mainline hybrid or pickup truck diploma
or no when you see all of these
divisions you’d think that America is a
land populated by aliens intent on
causing social conflict an actual
episode of The Twilight Zone my name is
Elijah Emery and I love America I know
that’s not an easy pill to swallow I
recognize its complications and it’s
often troubled history but I’m still
simply patriotic I want to see this
country at its best I’m going to talk to
you today about reimagining the American
heartland and the first step in that
process is finding out what you think it
is right now so I want you to picture
what you think most people think the
American heartland us what are the
people like do they pray what type of
music that they listen to how do they
vote what’s their race what’s up of car
do they drive what’s their gender where
do they live the New York Times asked
readers the same question about a year
ago and a plurality of people who
responded to the survey selected this
map which pictures the Heartland as a
geographic region based off the idea
that well the Heartland is the Midwest
of course this was selected by only 22%
of readers so I’m going to show you the
next few options there’s this map and
I don’t live in any of these heartless
I’m not from the Midwest I live just a
few miles away from the coast and I’m
not a trump supporter am I not a
Heartland er the very word indicates
importance the heart crux of the body
the heartland crux of the nation
what makes a Pennsylvanian named James
in wilkes-barre any different from a
Pennsylvania named James who lives in
Philadelphia is the first James pure
more virtuous no or at least you can’t
tell based off of where he lives you
might be wondering which heart length I
picked I didn’t choose a heart look I
don’t know what it is but I know it’s
not mapable the only thing that I know
about the heartland is that I want to be
a part of it some of you know all too
much about the heart length you think
you heard Sarah Palin talk about real
America the snide contempt wringing her
throat the age-old parable were played
for laughs the virtuous Westerner
pioneer who communes with the primal
spirits of man with Kit Carson Barry
Goldwater versus his nemesis the
corpulent Eastern freak boss tweed and
Nelson Rockefeller and to some of you
the Heartland must seem like so
transparent a lie a transparent
political tool a way to divide and to
conquer
but we shouldn’t reject the heart level
it’s an idea that as Voltaire said we
would have to invent if it did not
already exist because it is so important
to the folk image of our nation not the
Wild West but the block party the
barbecue the cup of Morning Joe
maybe the Heartland is too important to
reject and we certainly need something
to unite us in 1865 Abraham Lincoln
called on us to act with malice towards
none with charity for all in 1963 Martin
Luther King prayed for a future where
the sons of former slaveholders and the
sons of former slaves could sit down
together at the table of brotherhood
in 2004 at the speech that would launch
his career Barack Obama said there are
no red states there are no blue states
maybe these speakers are simply
repeating the bipartisan lie that we
turn to in times of distress maybe we
really are divided that’s what the
research and the kids in 1994 Pew
Research began asking us questions about
10 questions about political values on
government regulations to benefits for
the poor to racial discrimination then
the average gap between self-identified
Democrats and Republicans on these
questions was 15 points today it’s 36
points up from 33 percent in just 2014
this division is really bumming people
out this right here is a graph of how
Americans feel about the direction of
this country the black squiggly line
represents Americans who feel this
country is headed in the right direction
and the red squiggly line represents
Americans who feel that this country is
headed in the wrong direction the last
time America broke even 2009 when I was
8 years old once we had things that we
could turn to to forget about politics
with we had sports religion history now
it’s all politicized because our
cultural war must eat everything
football is politicized college sports
are politicized history is politicized
religion is more political than politics
and so it’s hard to feel good about the
past – one thing I can say I love about
America are its ideals equality of
opportunity freedom justice before the
law life liberty and the pursuit of
happiness but for much of its history
America has failed in its pursuit of
these ideals American slavery was
uniquely tied to race it took incredibly
intense efforts to pry loose the fist of
segregation and mass incarceration
continues a tradition of racism today
during World War 2 we locked hundreds of
thousands of japanese-americans in
internment camps
Native Americans have been pushed into
smaller and smaller worse and worse
reservations are still some of the
poorest Americans today and this isn’t a
problem unique to just one part of
America diverse liberal New York City
has some of the worst segregation in the
country so so far I’ve talked about how
divided we are how unjust America could
be but I still love this country and the
first reason behind that is that I
believe in the American people I’ve been
lucky enough to have traveled around
this country quite a bit I’ve gone to
rodeos in Idaho City it’s as wild as it
sounds I’ve walked the streets of Selma
Alabama I’ve gotten rained on in Seattle
and I live right nearby in Yonkers New
York great tub every place I go in
America I talk to the people there I try
to find out what drives them how they
feel about this country what they do for
work some of those interactions have
been better than others in the lobby of
a hotel in Montgomery I talked to two
men about sports and about their jobs
the men worked for public transit
agencies and they ranked the best and
worst commuter rail systems in America
Amtrak was dead last Amtrak the men saw
a side of the country that I’d never
seen before they looked at the things
which physically connect us together in
a way that I just didn’t before I met
them and of course not every interaction
has been positive when I was out west
visiting my family I spoke briefly with
a man who were a shirt that said I’m
guilty of being white I’m uncomfortable
with the identity politics assured
convenient I’m uncomfortable with the
divisions attached to either the thought
of feeling attacked for being white or
of separating yourself from people of
color yet the man also wore an American
flag and that interaction taught me that
even those people who are completely
different from me who see the world so
differently from how I do they want to
love America just the same way I want to
be able to
second I believe not only in the
American people but in the American
promise when I think about the problems
with America’s pursuit of its ideals I
also think about how much closer we’ve
come to those ideals since the founding
of our nation and how much the heroes of
the past have cared about America it
leaves me with no choice but to love it
I’m a privileged person there are a few
systems which have been built to keep me
down to keep me from being my best and
I’m grateful for America’s given name
but people who don’t have many of the
same amazing opportunities I have they
still love this country for what it
could be earlier this year I went on a
civil rights journey with my synagogue
across Alabama and Georgia on a third
day in the South we went to Selma
someone was a world away from my home in
Yonkers many of the buildings were in
shambles uneven notice ivy growing off
of some dilapidated houses when I was
there I met a woman named Joanne blimp
jo-ann had been very active in the civil
rights movement as a child she was one
of the youngest people ever jail as she
fought for equality she told us about
the day when she and many of the other
leaders of the movement had gathered
like John Lewis for example great guy
had gathered on the pavement of the
playground of George Washington Carver
Holmes a public housing project in Selma
the group sang songs and then came
together for a final prayer when they
were done with the prayer that began the
long march from Selma to Montgomery to
protest for the passage of the Voting
Rights Act yet when they crossed the
Edmund Pettus Bridge named for a founder
of the Ku Klux Klan
they were viciously attacked by dogs by
billy clubs and by tear gas worse yet
they weren’t being attacked by men
dressed in white sheets they were being
attacked by police officers eventually
the March required the intervention of
the federal government to continue after
whoops sorry after the movements success
in securing the passage of the Voting
Rights Act Joann continued to fight for
what she believed in
she joined the US military I also walked
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and as I
crossed the reason I am able to love
this country became clear it’s because
this is a country that we are able to
change Joann fought for her own freedom
and then signed up to fight for America
because she believed in it
despite the fact that she’d seen the
country at its worst despite the fact
that she’d seen it when it most failed
in fulfilling its Creed it most failed
in following its ideals yet she also saw
the country at its best as the nation
reacted to the glaring differences
between the professed values of equality
and the evil truth of segregation
it’s these ideals more than anything the
ideals of freedom of thought freedom of
religion freedom of the press the
defense of truth and an educated
citizenry
the use of Reason in determining what
action our nation takes the ideals that
enable us to have a country where we
believe that someone can start out from
the bottom and come out on the top the
ideals that say that we are a nation of
compassion a nation where bad luck does
not condemn you to a life of sorrows and
short it’s the ideal of Republic shaped
by the best people across this nation
and vigorously maintained by protests
and by that ultimate sacrament the vote
it’s these ideals more than anything
that makes me think that we have a
chance at overcoming gridlock and
partisanship and building a better
America building a heartland for today
it’s not off of where you live what you
look like or what language you speak but
instead based off of your willingness to
follow these ideals it’s these ideals
which can make that Heartland the center
of American identity in the way that no
physical place in be it’s these ideals
which can unite Americans from across
the country and across the political
spectrum with at least one thing in
common a shared Heartland and a shared
desire to make this country better and
if we can all vote protest and fight for
these ideals and listen to Americans who
might vote or protest differently as
they fight for these ideals if we can
remember the tremendous patriotism and
tremendous courage of heroes like Joanne
bland against insurmountable odds and
maybe we can find an America worth
loving thank you very much [Applause]
you that we live at a divided country
there was raised
gender sexual identity evangelical or
mainline hybrid or pickup truck diploma
or no when you see all of these
divisions you’d think that America is a
land populated by aliens intent on
causing social conflict an actual
episode of The Twilight Zone my name is
Elijah Emery and I love America I know
that’s not an easy pill to swallow I
recognize its complications and it’s
often troubled history but I’m still
simply patriotic I want to see this
country at its best I’m going to talk to
you today about reimagining the American
heartland and the first step in that
process is finding out what you think it
is right now so I want you to picture
what you think most people think the
American heartland us what are the
people like do they pray what type of
music that they listen to how do they
vote what’s their race what’s up of car
do they drive what’s their gender where
do they live the New York Times asked
readers the same question about a year
ago and a plurality of people who
responded to the survey selected this
map which pictures the Heartland as a
geographic region based off the idea
that well the Heartland is the Midwest
of course this was selected by only 22%
of readers so I’m going to show you the
next few options there’s this map and
I don’t live in any of these heartless
I’m not from the Midwest I live just a
few miles away from the coast and I’m
not a trump supporter am I not a
Heartland er the very word indicates
importance the heart crux of the body
the heartland crux of the nation
what makes a Pennsylvanian named James
in wilkes-barre any different from a
Pennsylvania named James who lives in
Philadelphia is the first James pure
more virtuous no or at least you can’t
tell based off of where he lives you
might be wondering which heart length I
picked I didn’t choose a heart look I
don’t know what it is but I know it’s
not mapable the only thing that I know
about the heartland is that I want to be
a part of it some of you know all too
much about the heart length you think
you heard Sarah Palin talk about real
America the snide contempt wringing her
throat the age-old parable were played
for laughs the virtuous Westerner
pioneer who communes with the primal
spirits of man with Kit Carson Barry
Goldwater versus his nemesis the
corpulent Eastern freak boss tweed and
Nelson Rockefeller and to some of you
the Heartland must seem like so
transparent a lie a transparent
political tool a way to divide and to
conquer
but we shouldn’t reject the heart level
it’s an idea that as Voltaire said we
would have to invent if it did not
already exist because it is so important
to the folk image of our nation not the
Wild West but the block party the
barbecue the cup of Morning Joe
maybe the Heartland is too important to
reject and we certainly need something
to unite us in 1865 Abraham Lincoln
called on us to act with malice towards
none with charity for all in 1963 Martin
Luther King prayed for a future where
the sons of former slaveholders and the
sons of former slaves could sit down
together at the table of brotherhood
in 2004 at the speech that would launch
his career Barack Obama said there are
no red states there are no blue states
maybe these speakers are simply
repeating the bipartisan lie that we
turn to in times of distress maybe we
really are divided that’s what the
research and the kids in 1994 Pew
Research began asking us questions about
10 questions about political values on
government regulations to benefits for
the poor to racial discrimination then
the average gap between self-identified
Democrats and Republicans on these
questions was 15 points today it’s 36
points up from 33 percent in just 2014
this division is really bumming people
out this right here is a graph of how
Americans feel about the direction of
this country the black squiggly line
represents Americans who feel this
country is headed in the right direction
and the red squiggly line represents
Americans who feel that this country is
headed in the wrong direction the last
time America broke even 2009 when I was
8 years old once we had things that we
could turn to to forget about politics
with we had sports religion history now
it’s all politicized because our
cultural war must eat everything
football is politicized college sports
are politicized history is politicized
religion is more political than politics
and so it’s hard to feel good about the
past – one thing I can say I love about
America are its ideals equality of
opportunity freedom justice before the
law life liberty and the pursuit of
happiness but for much of its history
America has failed in its pursuit of
these ideals American slavery was
uniquely tied to race it took incredibly
intense efforts to pry loose the fist of
segregation and mass incarceration
continues a tradition of racism today
during World War 2 we locked hundreds of
thousands of japanese-americans in
internment camps
Native Americans have been pushed into
smaller and smaller worse and worse
reservations are still some of the
poorest Americans today and this isn’t a
problem unique to just one part of
America diverse liberal New York City
has some of the worst segregation in the
country so so far I’ve talked about how
divided we are how unjust America could
be but I still love this country and the
first reason behind that is that I
believe in the American people I’ve been
lucky enough to have traveled around
this country quite a bit I’ve gone to
rodeos in Idaho City it’s as wild as it
sounds I’ve walked the streets of Selma
Alabama I’ve gotten rained on in Seattle
and I live right nearby in Yonkers New
York great tub every place I go in
America I talk to the people there I try
to find out what drives them how they
feel about this country what they do for
work some of those interactions have
been better than others in the lobby of
a hotel in Montgomery I talked to two
men about sports and about their jobs
the men worked for public transit
agencies and they ranked the best and
worst commuter rail systems in America
Amtrak was dead last Amtrak the men saw
a side of the country that I’d never
seen before they looked at the things
which physically connect us together in
a way that I just didn’t before I met
them and of course not every interaction
has been positive when I was out west
visiting my family I spoke briefly with
a man who were a shirt that said I’m
guilty of being white I’m uncomfortable
with the identity politics assured
convenient I’m uncomfortable with the
divisions attached to either the thought
of feeling attacked for being white or
of separating yourself from people of
color yet the man also wore an American
flag and that interaction taught me that
even those people who are completely
different from me who see the world so
differently from how I do they want to
love America just the same way I want to
be able to
second I believe not only in the
American people but in the American
promise when I think about the problems
with America’s pursuit of its ideals I
also think about how much closer we’ve
come to those ideals since the founding
of our nation and how much the heroes of
the past have cared about America it
leaves me with no choice but to love it
I’m a privileged person there are a few
systems which have been built to keep me
down to keep me from being my best and
I’m grateful for America’s given name
but people who don’t have many of the
same amazing opportunities I have they
still love this country for what it
could be earlier this year I went on a
civil rights journey with my synagogue
across Alabama and Georgia on a third
day in the South we went to Selma
someone was a world away from my home in
Yonkers many of the buildings were in
shambles uneven notice ivy growing off
of some dilapidated houses when I was
there I met a woman named Joanne blimp
jo-ann had been very active in the civil
rights movement as a child she was one
of the youngest people ever jail as she
fought for equality she told us about
the day when she and many of the other
leaders of the movement had gathered
like John Lewis for example great guy
had gathered on the pavement of the
playground of George Washington Carver
Holmes a public housing project in Selma
the group sang songs and then came
together for a final prayer when they
were done with the prayer that began the
long march from Selma to Montgomery to
protest for the passage of the Voting
Rights Act yet when they crossed the
Edmund Pettus Bridge named for a founder
of the Ku Klux Klan
they were viciously attacked by dogs by
billy clubs and by tear gas worse yet
they weren’t being attacked by men
dressed in white sheets they were being
attacked by police officers eventually
the March required the intervention of
the federal government to continue after
whoops sorry after the movements success
in securing the passage of the Voting
Rights Act Joann continued to fight for
what she believed in
she joined the US military I also walked
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and as I
crossed the reason I am able to love
this country became clear it’s because
this is a country that we are able to
change Joann fought for her own freedom
and then signed up to fight for America
because she believed in it
despite the fact that she’d seen the
country at its worst despite the fact
that she’d seen it when it most failed
in fulfilling its Creed it most failed
in following its ideals yet she also saw
the country at its best as the nation
reacted to the glaring differences
between the professed values of equality
and the evil truth of segregation
it’s these ideals more than anything the
ideals of freedom of thought freedom of
religion freedom of the press the
defense of truth and an educated
citizenry
the use of Reason in determining what
action our nation takes the ideals that
enable us to have a country where we
believe that someone can start out from
the bottom and come out on the top the
ideals that say that we are a nation of
compassion a nation where bad luck does
not condemn you to a life of sorrows and
short it’s the ideal of Republic shaped
by the best people across this nation
and vigorously maintained by protests
and by that ultimate sacrament the vote
it’s these ideals more than anything
that makes me think that we have a
chance at overcoming gridlock and
partisanship and building a better
America building a heartland for today
it’s not off of where you live what you
look like or what language you speak but
instead based off of your willingness to
follow these ideals it’s these ideals
which can make that Heartland the center
of American identity in the way that no
physical place in be it’s these ideals
which can unite Americans from across
the country and across the political
spectrum with at least one thing in
common a shared Heartland and a shared
desire to make this country better and
if we can all vote protest and fight for
these ideals and listen to Americans who
might vote or protest differently as
they fight for these ideals if we can
remember the tremendous patriotism and
tremendous courage of heroes like Joanne
bland against insurmountable odds and
maybe we can find an America worth
loving thank you very much [Applause]
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