When I arrived in America as an immigrant from Jamaica, I was captivated by the nation’s promise—its freedoms, opportunities, and the foundational belief that all men are created equal. I did not come here to join a tribe or to pledge loyalty to a racial identity. I came to become an American.
Over the years, however, I have observed a troubling trend: tribalism is fracturing this great nation, not along ancient ethnic lines, but along modern, superficial categories—especially race. Americans have been conditioned to identify first by color: “black,” “white,” “brown.” These terms are not just inaccurate—they are destructive.
These are artificial categories, born not of culture or shared experience, but of pseudoscientific theories and social engineering. As I’ve expressed in “The American Story”, to call someone “black” or “white” is to buy into a classification system that was created by racists to divide humanity, not unite it. It reduces the human being to the color of their skin, rather than the content of their character or the values they hold dear.
As a Jamaican-born American of African, European, and Indian descent, I refuse to be reduced to a label that serves only to perpetuate division. I am not “black.” I am not a racial construct. I am an American—not because I changed my accent or conformed to a culture, but because I embraced this nation’s principles: individual liberty, moral responsibility, and constitutional order.
Today, the forces of tribalism are growing. Politicians, media figures, and so-called intellectuals stoke the fires of racial resentment and identity politics—not to heal, but to gain power. They exploit wounds instead of mending them. They encourage people to think like members of factions, not citizens of a shared republic.
This mindset is especially harmful to those of us who came to America in search of a better life. We didn’t come to carry old grievances or be sorted into racial boxes. We came to work, to build, to contribute, and to belong. We came to be part of a nation that is greater than any tribe.
Yet, many are told they must choose sides. That they must define themselves by what they are not. That they are oppressed, or oppressors, based on skin color. This is not liberation—it is indoctrination. It robs individuals of agency and flattens their identity into slogans.
The truth is that tribalism is un-American. It is the enemy of E Pluribus Unum—“out of many, one.” It undermines what I believe makes America exceptional: that you can come from anywhere, believe in the ideals of the Constitution, and become fully American.
We must reject the false identities imposed upon us by history’s bigots and modern opportunists alike. We must speak boldly about what unites us—not because we are blind to differences, but because we refuse to be ruled by them.
America is my country. Not because I was born here, but because I chose her. And in choosing her, I chose a higher loyalty than race or tribe—I chose freedom.