July 4th, 2017: Founding Fathers' descendants are a statement on America's diversity

Closing image of the Ancestry.com commercial.

A TV COMMERCIAL debuted last week, just in time for America's Independence Day on July 4th, is causing a stir in Trump's America.

The television ad for Ancestry.com, a company that provides services to help one track one's genealogy, spotlight's the diversity of today's America by recreating the famous John Trumbull portrait of our nation's founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence and using descendants of those men to recite the famous moving preamble.

The 29 descendants - men, women and children from different ethnicities - spotlights the diversity that makes up the United States of America

Although the commercial is for Ancestry.com, the underlying message is that our country is already diverse whether you like it or not, and its history is a lot more complex than what's depicted in high school history texts.

RELATED: America's challenge is learning to live with itself

"We're all much more similar than you think," said Ancestry Chief Marketing Officer Vineet Mehra in an interview. "And we're using facts and data to prove it. This is not fluffy marketing. These are facts."

The weakness of Ancestry.com and their competitors is that when it comes to tracing Asian/American roots, there is a lack of data in their files.

That situation will undoubtedly change as these genealogy companies try to attract the increasingly diverse clientele of the United States, especially the lucrative Asian/American market which is more economically powerful than its comparatively small (but rapidly growing) population.

Mehta, who is of South Asian lineage, continued to say, “The Fourth of July is a time of great national pride, and our new campaign is a portrait of how America has evolved. Diversity isn't just something we value as Americans; it's quite literally part of who we are.” 

How we as a country have arrived at this point in time -- July 4th, 2017 -- is a complex one. The Founding Fathers were most likely not thinking about the impact of diversifying the country when they took advantage of their privileged status over their slaves.

Vineet Mehta

The United States' genealogical history, from the time when Asian traversed the ice bridge to new hunting grounds, to when Spanish explorers came upon established civilizations in North and South American, to when Native Americans encountered the European newcomers upon their shores, to the anti-misegenation laws, to the Asian bachelor societies created by immigration restrictions, is not something commonly taught in our schools, but, nevertheless, we see its affects every day. 

(Even the whitest state of all, Maine, where whites make up 95.7 of its population, has Chinese restaurants, Taco Bell's and yoga studios.)

What the commercial implicitly says, we can't move backwards, we are what we are. That's a message that runs counter to the growing white supremacist and anti-immigrant movements emboldened by a president that they believe represents their beliefs when he promises to "Make America great again."

“We are living in a time when many people feel disconnected from one another, and one of the most powerful things we can do is to show how connected we really are. Fundamentally, we all share an inherent need to know who we are and how we’re related – it can change how we view the world and how we view our future.”

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V-i-c-t-o-r-y: South Asian kids use hard work and studies to win spelling bee

Vanya Shivashankar,  left, and Gokul Venkatachalam

TWO YOUNG Indian Americans tied for first place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. That makes eight years in a row in which Indian American kids have captured the spelling crown. 

Eighth-graders Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were named co-champions last week after spelling word after word correctly for 20 rounds and two hours.

The dominance displayed by south Asians in the spelling bee has given rise to a lot of speculation over the reason for this phenomenon.  It is not genetic. There is no gene for spelling inherent among south Asians just as there is no science or math gene that seems to give the edge to east Asians.

It is not that south Asians are smarter than other ethnic groups. The difference, it appears, is persistence and that old axiom, "practice makes perfect." 

Of course the explanation is more complicated than that. There is the socio-economic environment the kids have been surrounded in. Most of the south Asian contestants are second generation immigrants and their parents are generally in the professions such as doctors and engineers.  There is a high value placed on education in the south Asian American culture. Instead of driving their children to Little League or soccer practice, they are driving them to science and match competitions and spelling bees.

The Washington Post examined the phenomenon:

"First, there are the stories which seem to imply some sort of clear connection between 'Indian American' culture and spelling-bee performance. Maybe there's even a genetic propensity for the perseverance and focus required, or something that happens only in South Asian American homes. All that amounts to a line of thought that says Asian -- and in particular Indian American and Bangladeshi American -- homes and bodies are the keepers of a set of phonetic secrets, passed from generation to generation. But that is really a modern and deceptively flattering take on persistent notions about Asian secrecy, mysticism and world dominance. It's also what sociologists call a "positive stereotype" -- notions that while not inherently derogatory but prevent us from knowing or understanding others as individual human beings." ​

Colorlines has a good read examining the reaction to the success of South Asians:

"... the narrative of cultural exceptionalism is misleading and harmful. It’s safe to say that all families place an emphasis on education and want their children to succeed. However, not all families have access to resources and institutions that enable their children to do well. When we rely on culture as the reason for success, we ignore the structural realities that prevent many children of color or poor children from reaching their goals. We also end up placing the onus on families to ensure academic achievement, rather than compelling the public and private sectors to also provide valuable services and benefits that can help all children succeed."

Most of the eventual winners have been to the Scripps contest multiple times. Getting so close the first few times gave them the motivation to study more and devote more time with the dictionary.

In the last 15 years, spelling contests have become ensconced in the South Asian American community with regional contests to prime the kids for the bit Scripps bee. There is even a South Asian Spelling Bee with a $10,000 prize. Contests like these serve as the "minor leagues" prepare the youngsters for the pressure and intensity of the national contest.

“I think that the activity of spelling bees has grown in prestige among certain South Asian-American communities,” said Northwestern University professor Shalini Shankar, who has been studying South Asian dominance of spelling bee culture.

“I would say that it’s not a uniform phenomenon among South Asian-American communities, but among those that do value this activity, they’ve really taken to it and they compete year round in different spelling bee circuits.”

It's no wonder that the best spellers come out of this incubator system. 

Vanya's and Gokul's win has also given rise to the usual rants from the racist element in America who can't get a handle on America's changing demographics and the idea that our country is a nation of immigrants. I won't even bother to repeat their criticism. No doubt, you can conjecture what they are.

"I look forward to the day, as do I think many of our South Asian participants, when they are called what they want to be called -- Americans," bee director Paige Kimble, the 1981 champion, said after the winners were declared.

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