Presumably, it will be an exhibit of portraits of the broad spectrum of american faces - another tired morality lesson on diversity. A banner broadcasting pride in being an American, if that is how it is interpreted, wouldn't be a bad thing - my goodness, Have Americans completely forgotten the great things this nation has achieved for everyone everywhere? Why in the world would someone from Germany or Vietnam feel slighted by that simple statement?
Japanese internment was unfortunate. So was Pearl harbor, so was the inhumane treatment of some Chinese by Japanese soldiers, so was the torture and abuse and death of nearly 20,000 Americans during the forced Bataan Death march. Americans were very concerned about infiltrators and possible West coast invasion by the Japanese and acted on what seemed to be at the time, best option.
If I went to Vietnam, an exhibit about those people - I am a Vietnamese - might be of great interest, not an insult to me.
I think you are trying create controversy, displaying more of your own fears and biases before the contents are even known. There is way too much of that in our press and public discourse already.
Surely, there are more urgent issues before the community.

George --

From what I understand, the video will be of the artist and her work.. She is a well-known Bay Area artist. About 2 minutes of the video (near the end) describe her work on "I am an American."

And no, I wasn't trying to create controversy, The banner just made me feel uncomfortable. Of course I am proud to be an American, but don't want non-Americans to feel out of place in this country and in our community.

And yes, there are more urgent issues in our community.

Diana

For those that have had to go through the long arduous process of becoming a citizen, the ability to say "I am and American" is a point of pride and an accomplishment. It's becoming more of a rarified statement for those who wish to join our country. In that context, it is a statement that brings up alot of questions about those of us who are American. We shouldn't dismiss this kind of introspection because there are more urgent matters.

This looks and sounds like a political statement to me. Without knowing it was promoting any type of art exhibition, I would have expected it to be a political rally.

I am a 70 year old parent of a recent Stanford graduate. I am an immigrant son of survivors of the Holocaust. I could not be prouder to be an American.

Ich bin ein Berliner.

TO DIANA,
I AM WITH YOU. DOROTHEA LANGE TOOK THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A BANNER IN A STOREFRONT WINDOW IN
OAKLAND IN 1942. THE GROCERY STORE WAS OWNED BY AN AMERICAN OF JAPANESE DESCENT WHO WAS ABOUT TO BE TAKEN TO A RESETTLEMENT CAMP. THE "I AM AN AMERICAN" BANNER WAS A STATEMENT TO
THE COMMUNITY SHOWING HIS ALLEGIANCE TO HIS COUNTRY. IT IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN OUR CURENT
SPHERE OF , TO SAY THE LEAST, RISING SIGNS OF RACISM , TO GIVE CONTEXT TO A BANNER PUT UP IN A MAJOR
MUSEUM IN THE UNITED STATES THAT SIMPLY STATES 'I AM AN AMERICAN'. IT SEEMS EXCLUSIONARY AND SIMPLY THOUGHTLESS.
THE OWNER OF THE GROCERY STORE WAS A STANFORD GRADUATE.
BEST,ROSE

Over the years I have witness many instances, particularly in areas we now label as "Red America" where a local would say to people who were actually US citizens, but looked and sounded different than the average local: 'I am an American, where are you from', in an aggressive, quite unfriendly tone.

I remember having a drink in a Dallas bar, with a couple of friends, (we were on a business trip)all of three us California natives, back in 1979, shortly after the storming of the US embassy in Teheran, being approach aggressively by a few locals with :' We are Americans, who are you? Are you from bleep Iran? What the bleep are you doing here'. They refused to believe were US citizens, and the bartender whispered to us to not dare go into the parking lot, because we would be likely get shot. Luckily he managed to alert the local police and they arrived in the bar, escorted us to our car but advised us to leave town asap.

'I AM AN AMERICAN' without a context could easily be interpreted by others as exclusionary and in my case, remembering the Dallas incident, and quite a few others I know of, despite being a native US citizen, even dangerous.

Are we at the point where we can't even state that we are American? Are the French not proud to be French, the Chinese not proud to be Chinese, etc...

The banner is not saying anything about visitors to the museum or the university.

The banner is not threatening or exclusionary.

Wonder what Ms. Diamond made of Warhol's soup cans? Much (Most? All?) good art is provocative. Mission accomplished.

Oh, for Pete's sake.

In the midst of a serious discussion about inclusiion, a moment of levity, please.

An earlier post: "Ich bin ein Berliner." Many of us know it as a quotation by John Kennedy in a speech he made in Berlin during the Berlin Blockade when the Soviet Union walled off a portion of Berlin to maintain control over the residents of East Germany. I worked in Germany for a while and know that the statement was one of great meaning; the Germans also found humor in it since a Berliner is also a kind of sweet roll. In effect, JFK was saying "I am a donut!"

Well, I think it is funny.

Perhaps the whole idea is to provoke us to think at a very personal level what it really means to be an American. And it seems to work!

Brings to mind an old Lee Greenwood tune. Country music not popular in these parts.

I find your initial reaction to the artwork as "disturbing" to be disturbing. I don't know what it is: too much political correctness these past couple of decades? A general societal lack of humor or appreciation of nuance? An assistance on black/white, yes/no, good/bad answers to every question?

If we demand that artists explain every song, every painting, every film, every book, then what is our role? Are we just observers? Maybe that's the problem. Too much observing and not enough doing.

Perhaps people who live in the generally progressive Bay Area don't realize that quite often, in other parts of the country, 'I am an American' is followed by 'And you are not so go back where you came for', especially since November 2016.

It's easy to see no evil when one lives in a bubble.

It is true that being patriotic and being able to laud being American should be acceptable and acceptable.

However, in the past X number of years, this has been taken to mean other things. As soon as a crime is reported on, in Palo Alto online, commenters will want to know the legal standing of the alleged suspect. As soon as a description of a crime is described, said suspect's race is used not as a descriptor of what suspect looks like, but as a definition of motive and character. As soon as the name of a person is disclosed, their ancestry is known and the assumption that they have just arrived in the country and do not understand American lifestyle is assumed.

Being American should be something everyone can easily identify with. However, it is often just the beginning of an argument.

For these reasons, we should be looking towards things that can make us all feel united regardless of our backgrounds. Instead, it comes across divisive and unfortunately today, political.

There is a prevailing group think in the Bay Area and in deeply blue California that has seriously polluted reasonable public debate about too many issues. The damage is caused by loudly vocal, widely broadcast (internet) minor players whose persistence has amplified small and too often wrong ideas into the mainstream.
Such as seeing racism everywhere, in every alternative idea and in every comment.
Such as seeing an honest effort to regulate order at the border as an evil assault on immigrants and race.
Why such a banner should trigger questions of concern says a lot about how pervasive and embedded and poisonous this group think has become.

Here is just one opinion about one issue that has been allowed to run almost to insanity:

Web Link

@Mauricio - Just because "in other parts of the country, 'I am an American' is followed by 'And you are not so go back where you came for', especially since November 2016." that does not mean that Americans can no longer be proud of being American. It's a minority portion of the population that expresses your example of exclusion.

As with so many instances, don't let the rotten apples ruin the barrel.

From an earlier post: "... Japanese internment was unfortunate... Americans were very concerned about infiltrators and possible West coast invasion by the Japanese and acted on what seemed to be at the time, best option."
I am shocked that someone in 2019 still believes Japanese internment was the best option. If that was indeed the best option, why were there no German interment camps?
Are Japanese-Americans less American than German-Americans in WWII?

David C.
Are you unaware of the state of race relations throughout America at that time?