American Creed

Mathieu Sotelo

Ms. Bernard

AP Language and Composition

3/8/23

American Creed

Diverse Americans such as Joe Maddon, David M. Kennedy, and Condoleezza Rice share similar perspectives surrounding the American creed. These perspectives are family, community, and freedom but I want to add one more that they share which is bravery. It is important to have diversity in America because it allows for innovation and different perspectives that bring people together.

Lack of diversity in America creates distrust, excludes many groups of people from having their voices heard and hurts the growth of the country due to a lack of new ideas. During an interview Joe Maddon states “The moment we trust each other. That’s when we can build something.” Maddon backs this up by stating that we need to integrate into American society, building trust and a community. An example he gave was to have kids participating in activities that would eventually lead to parents interacting with one another therefore creating diversity.

Kennedy shared a powerful quote during a roundtable discussion with students at Stanford: “The promise is not always fulfilled. One of the things we need to pay attention to is the gap between the promise and the reality and why it is some of our fellow citizens have not, cannot, do not, maybe will not ever realize what I will unapologetically call the promise of America” (Source B). The reason I think this quote is so powerful is because Kennedy is putting his foot down and telling people to get a grip on reality because he knows the gap between the promise and reality of America. In this country, the promise is not guaranteed.

Condoleezza Rice, during the roundtable discussion, states “If you could be educated … for Black American families, education became the Holy Grail … that access to education was going to change everything” (Rice). What Rice is trying to say is that education and knowledge is a tool that can be utilized for the better of not only for yourself, but also your community. Education is something that not everyone has access to and that if that opportunity is presented to you, then you should use it to make a better future for everyone, no matter the shade of your skin and context of your background.

In conclusion we need diversity in America because without diversity we will eventually start to stagnate. With diversity in America people will feel a stronger sense of community because of all the different ideas, perspectives, and ways of thinking that could help America be more innovative and flourish.