My own research on what it means to "be an American"

I read to entries posted on the Internet about different peoples' point of views and opinions on what they think it means to be an American. The first one I read was from the perspective of a first-time deployment soldier, Sgt. Brian White, of the Task Force Marne. This essay was selected from the Constitution Day essay contest held by the Task Force Marne.

Does the king still reign???

Is Dr. Martin Luther King still relevant today? Are the battles that he fought during his time, still being fought for today? Are all of the issues gone? I say of course not! In terms of racism there is either a lot less or people are just a lot more secretive about it. Either way people are a lot more cautious and less bold with their segregating ideas and racist lifestyles due to vital figures like Dr. King that worked tirelessly for the rights of all minorities

My response to "Children of the Sea" and "This Sacred Soil"

Sooooooooooooo... We've started reading our short stories in class and truthfully I'm kind of excited because short stories always have a lot of underlying meaning and are intended to capture it's readers' attention quickly because it's a short story. The story that has best exhibited this quaility is "the chidren of the Sea" by Edwidge Dannicat. This story was good from start to finish and always kept my attention. These journals between a boy and a girl from Haiti were both riveting and sad. Both of their lives were in turmoil the entire time and hese journals seemed to be their escape and their way to calm down. The difference between the two peoples' backgrounds are very apparent. The guy and girl love each other but show their emotions differently like the boy is very affectionate and always shows it but the girl unknowlingly doesn't show her feelings until almost the last journal between them. And both of them a going through horrible times and lots of their problems symbolize their fear of something they knew nothing about: slavery. Whether they were slaves of their own country or on a boat leading to God knows where, thy were not free.
On the other hand, "This Sacred Soil" was a speech that Chief Seattle said to Govenor Stevens in the 1800's. He talked about how it the Indian people were being wiped out and the "white men" were continuously populating America. And even though it seems like this is supposed to be a sad speech, the courage and overcoming attitude that it gives off iss incredible. It's like Chief Seattle was saying "yes, you may be taking over now but this will always be our land, we will always be here in one form or another, and this land means more to us than it ever will to you."