The Threads of Our Nation

by Leslie Potashner

            Generations of Americans have lived by the adage that their home is a nation of immigrants.  The Founding Fathers saw immigration as vital to the growth of the new nation.  The Declaration of Independence charged the king with trying “to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.”  At the end of the Revolutionary War, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and future President George Washington toasted, “May America be an asylum to the persecuted of the earth.”         

            Today, immigration is one of the most politicized topics of our nation.  Immigration law is so complex it is impossible for a citizen to analyze what is right, what is fair, or even what is beneficial for the nation.  Lost in these arguments is the appreciation of the United States as the heart of global democracy.  During the Revolution, monarchist governments saw American democracy as a sickness that threatened their power as democratic revolutions spread across the globe.  Nearly two hundred and fifty years after the founding of a nation conceived in liberty, democracy threatens dictators and authoritarian regimes around the world.  The torch of Lady Liberty still stands as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to people around the globe.

            In Threads, Carol Carter has sought to understand the changes going on in her neighborhood due to an influx of new immigrants.  Rather than feeling the “fear of the other” fueled by the rhetoric of politicians, Carol saw a community being revitalized.  Writer James Baldwin thought that the job of artists in America was to take an unflinching look at the most difficult subjects facing our nation to fully embrace the freedom envisioned in the Declaration of Independence.  Carter has taken a one-on-one examination of immigration through her portraits.  Each one acts as a beacon of freedom and opportunity; together—drawn from every corner of the world—Threads shows an America bursting with energy.