In 1989, my "In Celebration of America" first appeared in a now-defunct newspaper. It was reprinted in my first book, ©1996, and has been repeated again several times over.

On February 6, 1991, at the request of the Phoenix Board of Rabbis, I presented the "America the Beautiful" portion of this piece added to the end of a prayer I wrote and delivered to an audience of 500. The prayer has since appeared in publications across the nation. I have never accepted remuneration for either  "In Celebration of America" or the prayer.

In honor of Independence Day 2009, I am sharing it again here.

If you choose to share this with others, kindly respect and retain my copyright with this piece.

In Celebration of America, 1989

©1989 Michelle Young

Morning breaks the black blanket of night around five a.m. on July 4 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

A wide expanse of the plains allows you to savor its beauty bathed in the rising sun's reflection. Magical in [their] effect, those early morning hours raise the curtain [on] a stage set for planned festivities.

Here, on one of the nation's most densely populated Indian reservations, the Oglala Sioux mark Independence Day with powwows of ceremonial dancing, great food, fireworks, and traditional beaded buckskins.

Yet the reservation holds historical and painful memories of Wound Knee where over 200 Indians were massacred in 1890, and of that village's seizure in 1973 by the same number of Sioux, a protest that resulted in over 300 arrests and the deaths of two FBI agents.

As much as we might not care to admit it, all historical moments create great nations in the same way as they do great families. The vivid traditions and culture of our original native Americans strengthen the Great Indian Nation and the Union itself with a richer heritage.

But this great nation thrives on much more than the uniting of settlers and native Americans.

Today America, the melting pot, blooms with tradition and culture from every corner of the world.

Our Lady of Liberty in New York Harbor continues to provide a ray of hope for refuge to all who are oppressed and persecuted.

Still, there are those in this nation who, like past exploiters of liberty, feel threatened by differences in people.  Terrified [by] an unknown future world where all might live in harmony, these are the insecure exploiters of the nation who fear--just as small children fear nighttime and dark rooms. In their organization into parasitic groups like the KKK and skinheads, these individual cowards feed on each other's insecurities and, like a cancer, attempt to pervade the body of the nation.

They don't seem to understand that true superiority is born out of humility and love.

We've survived other cancers: the semi-slavery and slavery of indentured service, the sweat shops, McCarthyism in the 50s. The cancer of prejudice, too, can be beat.

Our great nation, replete with heritage, is an exquisite tapestry woven with threads of red, ebony, brown, cream, and ivory.

This is America.

Remove one thread, and the beauty is destroyed, the tapestry becomes worthless. Use the same color and the same texture throughout, and the tapestry--again--is worthless.

We celebrate another double birthday this year [1989] in this, the 200th anniversary of the first Presidential inauguration.

As we marvel at fireworks exploding in the night skies, say a prayer for those who can't celebrate with us this year--the Russian Jews still trapped in a nation that neither wants nor is willing to relinquish them, the students in a nation that neither wants nor is willing to relinquish them, the students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and all others who long for the freedom we live.

And while you say that prayer, add a special thanks that you are an American.

My name is Maria, Suzette, Natasha, Lien, Michiko, Miguel, Pierre, Mikhail, Ly, Shinya...

       Oh beautiful for spacious skies...

I am brown, white, black, yellow, red or a mixture of some or all of them...

     for amber waves of grain...

I'm Christian or Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or one of the many other religions in the world...

     for purple mountains' majesties...

I live in Phoenix or New York, Atlanta or Seattle, Kansas City or Honolulu...

     above the fruited plain...

I speak Spanish, French, Russian, Vietnamese, Japanese, English...

     America.

I'm a doctor, a janitor, a teacher, a factory worker, a housekeeper, a computer engineer. If I don't work, I go to school...

     America.

If I don't work, someone refuses to hire me because of the color of my skin, the slant of my eyes, my accent, or my still unrefined use of the English language.

     God shed His grace on thee...

I serve in the United States Armed Forces...

     And crown thy good...

I pay taxes...

     With brotherhood...

I am an American...

     From sea to shining sea.