The Bethlehem Project: American identity after 250 years

0:02I'm standing on Main Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for the America 250 Bethlehem Block Party. We have a 250th celebration down here on Main Street.

0:16And this is really a classic American downtown Main Street. There's old buildings, there's brick sidewalks, and it's a really beautiful summer Sunday. People are out enjoying the nice weather, going to different booths from local businesses.

0:38There's a live band down the street from here.

0:46Sonja Hutson: I went to this block party because I wanted to know how are people viewing their American identity? It's been 250 years since the founding of this country, and we are living in such a politically divided time. Do we have a shared national identity? What are three words that you would use to define America? Oh boy. Rich. Opportunity. Land of the free. Challenging. Conflicted. Fight. Diversity. And hopeful.

1:23Sonja Hutson: I'm Sonia Hudson, and this is The Bethlehem Project, the series where we look at U.S. economic and political issues through the lens of one city.

1:37In two miles, take the Pennsylvania 378 south exit toward Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. I'm from Bethlehem. Growing up, I thought Bethlehem was just like your average small town. Recently, though, I've realized we're really in the center of a lot of things.

1:55Sonja Hutson: In this episode, we're going to hear interviews with three different people at the Bethlehem Block Party about what America means to them. We'll hear where they differ and where they overlap.

2:14Why did you decide to come out here today? It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining and Bethlehem is a cool little town to come check out.

2:23Sonja Hutson: That's Kathy Schwartz. When I came up to talk to her, she was wearing a tie-dye tank top and black sunglasses. And she was walking with her friend. Do you live in Bethlehem or nearby? I live in Jim Thorpe. Another cool town to check out. You know, we're 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. like how are you kind of viewing this celebration of a nation in 2026? So I think it's amazing. Earlier this year, you didn't hear much about it, but then people started like getting the flags, just really got into it. So there's major history there. I grew up walking the Freedom Trail every year, so I really understood it.

3:06My family was also military. My dad was in Vietnam. My uncle was in Korea. They were both Marines. And my brother was in the Air Force for 10 years, and I served in the Navy for three. Big military history in your family. How does that impact how you view your identity as an American? I guess I'm protective of it. I think fundamentally, if we all appreciate the freedoms and, you know, the logic that was laid out in the Declaration of Independence all those years ago, and we, you know, work together on that, I think it would be, it would still be great. How do you feel like things are going in that pursuit right now?

3:46I mean, it's an exciting time. There's a lot of patriotism. There's a lot of angst, right, because of the war with Iran and how that's going and how it's impacting people get frustrated by that. I get it. But for me, it's like, you know, if we're going to be that beacon of freedom, then we need to defend it where it's being challenged and where it could frankly spill over into our own country. How would you define America? I still think it's very much the melting pot. It might not be the melting pot 100 % on the different nations, but more of a melting pot of ideas. A lot of that is scary. It's just scary for me.

4:31What are some of those ideas or things that are a little bit scary for you? I mean, and I'm no expert, but from what I read, some of the comments that come out of New York City's new mayor, for example, and just, yeah, I guess other politicians, like, just kind of going that, like, communist, socialist route. and I just, I don't know if people have the whole, I don't have the whole story. It's a complicated history because it's, you know, people get upset about what they think they don't have, but they don't take the time to, or maybe they do, I don't know, like learn what it really means in other countries where they point and they say, oh, we should be like them.

5:18It's like, probably wouldn't be alive right now if you were living there, but. Like what countries are you referring to? Any of the countries that don't support freedom of speech. I don't even know what they are. Couldn't name them. So, you know, something I think that's so interesting about American history is like it was founded on all these amazing ideals of freedom and it was really ahead of its time in some ways. There were also a lot of really difficult struggles for, you know, we had slavery for a long time. Like how do you hold both of those things in your head? How do you kind of balance those?

5:51I think you learn from history. And it's important to remember what happened in the context of the time, right? There was a lot of things that were quote unquote wrong. They're wrong in today's standards or 50 year old standards or moral standards, Bible standards. People screwed up. And so we have to, I think we need to remember it so that it doesn't happen again. We talked a lot about your American identity. What about your, you know, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania identity? Is that different from your American identity? Is it the same? How do those compare? It's the same. I mean, I like living in small-town America, obviously.

6:35What's special about small-town America? I don't know. I just like it. There's more people like me. Just like a hard worker and just family-oriented and want to spend time with friends and family. Like, I don't need, we don't need a lot. We live modestly. kind of like that.

6:53Sonja Hutson: That's Kathy Schwartz from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

7:06I just got you to introduce yourself with your name and where you're from. Sure. My name is Vicki Sanchez and I'm from Philadelphia. We're relocating to Bethlehem. Yes.

7:16Sonja Hutson: Congratulations. Vicky and her husband are meandering down Main Street together. She's wearing a sundress and sunglasses. Her husband's got on a black t-shirt and doesn't want to be interviewed. What's your impression of the city so far? So far, everyone has been very welcoming. It seems like a very integrated city. Like, we've seen a lot of people from different countries, Latin American countries, European countries. So that's been great. We thought, you know, we weren't quite sure what we were getting ourselves into. But we have been pleasantly surprised that it's very, very diverse as far as we can tell.

7:56What does it mean for you to be an American? And, you know, what is America to you? So America to me is a big melting pot. You know, people from different countries that come together. My family is originally from the Dominican Republic. And we have been in the U.S. for many years. I was about seven or eight years old. So I have seen the greatness and the possibilities that this country can have for people that come from other places. Do you ever feel any tension with that? Obviously not every single person is super welcoming of immigrants. Yes, definitely. So there has been some sentiment lately where it's like, if you are from a different country, you're not an American.

8:41And I believe the opposite of that, you know. I don't want to speak for my husband, but just to give you like a note. So he just became the first Latino superintendent of Bethlehem, first person of color to become superintendent of schools. And, you know, we've already seen that in social media posts, you know, and people making comments like, is it legal to work here? You know, are we sure he didn't overstay his visa? and just negative things that, honestly, the positive welcoming that we've gotten from the community has been greater than any of the negatives. But we do see people, you know, that feel like immigrants don't belong here or we're doing something negative for the society or for the country.

9:32So we definitely see that firsthand, definitely. If you could pick three words to describe America, what would they be? Wow. Opportunity is one. Diversity and greatness. Okay, I'm going to ask a little bit about each of those, if that's okay. Opportunity, what does that mean? So opportunity to me means, especially with my family's experience, on my mom's side of the family, they did go to school and studied, but my mom is a medical doctor and she decided to come to the United States because there was no big opportunity for her in the Dominican Republic. She came here after being a doctor. She worked at a factory, not knowing the language and being older.

10:21That was the hand she was dealt, but she was willing to do that because she knew that she was going to be able to grow from that. Did she eventually work her way back to being a doctor? She did not. She did not because of the language barrier. but I tell her that she went into the wrong profession. So she's a businesswoman, owns real estate, and ended up owning grocery stores in Philadelphia. So that was her path. So I think that the U.S. has been a great catalyst for my family. Good for her. Okay, so the second one was diversity, which we've talked a little bit about. And then what was the last thing you said?

10:59Opportunity, diversity. Greatness? Greatness, yeah. What does American greatness mean? Greatness, so, you know, having the chance to be whatever you want to be. You know, you have the opportunity to come from the bottom and make your way up, definitely. You know, America also has some dark parts of its history. Slavery, the civil rights struggle. How do you view that in conversation with American greatness? I do believe that all of that has to be brought to light. that we have to learn from our history, we have to learn from our past to be hopefully not repeated. It should be a learning moment for people to learn the history and the things that happened, positive and negative, to our ancestors so that we can become better.

11:54Sonja Hutson: That was Vicki Sanchez, currently of Philadelphia, soon to be of Bethlehem and proud American. We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to hear from someone about how all this political division is affecting his American identity.

12:18Sonja Hutson: One of the last people I talked to at the block party was a guy named Darren. He was walking down the street with his wife. Can you first just introduce yourself and tell me what you're doing out here today? Darren Samsel, just out enjoying the day because it's my wife's birthday. Do you guys live in Bethlehem? No, Quaker town. That's a small town in Bucks County, just about 30 minutes down the road. How do you define your American identity? Oh, I mean, America today seems to be divided and fighting, I guess. How do you view your identity within that? I stay out of the fray. I watch it for enjoyment, I guess.

13:00I don't know if that's the right word. What are three words that you would use to describe America? Boy, I mean, it's a great country. You know, I've never lived anywhere else, so I can't compare it to anything else, but works for me. What about it do you like? I mean, it's a broad country, so there's a lot of opportunity, whether it's for, you know, your financial business or just enjoyment. I don't know if you can get that in some other, you know, some countries you can, but there's places in the world you can't. So you started off by saying you view America right now as very divided. Tell me a little bit more about what you're seeing and how it makes you feel to watch that.

13:39I don't like it one bit. I think the country should all be coming together for one greater purpose, to make life good. You know, it's this, I'm this, I'm that. There's no in-between is not the way I would vision it to be good. Obviously, it's unpleasant when people are fighting, but what is it about it that is unsettling to you? Why do you try to stay out of the fray? And how do you stay out of the fray? I would love to know. Like I said, I have my own point of views, but I guess you sort of keep up to yourself because everybody's so divided that if you say one thing that somebody else doesn't believe in, it's going to cause a whole battle.

14:24And I'm not into the battle. I'm into enjoying life, I guess, you know. So that was kind of the first thing you brought up, which is obviously talking about politics. Do you think America is defined by its government and politics? I think politics leads the divide. Yes, absolutely. But I think sort of the way politics is run lately seems to make it more normalized. When do you think that that started to shift? It's probably been shifting for 20 years. You know, it's not a just happened two years ago type of thing. And maybe it's always been there. But go back 50 years and all you got was the newspaper once a week or, you know, the nightly news for an hour or two.

15:06But now you've got 24-hour coverage of everything. maybe it just makes it seem more pronounced because it's more out there. Can you think back to like when you were younger and it didn't feel so divided? What was that like for you? It was less pronounced, but also I was younger, so I could probably care less, you know, because I was more cared about what younger people care about. Whether it was playing with toys or listening to music or chasing girls or... I never chased girls. It was only you, honey. And you said you wish people would kind of come together to move the country forward. What is that vision for you?

15:44If you could snap your fingers. I guess more, you know, talking, understanding of what the other side is, the other side's issues and finding a way instead of just battling about it, working together to help things move along, whether it's health care, whether it's politics, whether it's financial, you know, whatever. There's answers out there. We could get together and talk about it. And Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley in particular is a really big political hotspot. I mean, I'm sure you're you've seen the ads, you've seen the presidential candidates come through here. How does that impact how you view the country?

16:25How do you kind of experience being this swing state in this swing area? I honestly stay out of what they're all doing because I have my own point of views. I have my own beliefs and I follow those. What are those beliefs, if you don't mind my asking? I'll just stay out of that. True to your word. Exactly. I'll stay out of that because, you know, it seems like a lot of people are heated for their point of view and And I'm not into getting into arguments or, you know, I know I'm not going to change their mind or change their point of view on things. So, like I said, I stay out of it. What do you think would change that and heal some of that division in the country?

17:07I wish I knew. If I knew, I'd be the political candidate.

17:13Sonja Hutson: That's Darren Samsel of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

17:20Sonja Hutson: I went to Bethlehem expecting to hear more extreme answers to my questions on both sides of the political spectrum, because that's what I've been seeing on social media. What I found instead was people in the middle. Now, it makes sense that the people who aren't proud of the U.S. wouldn't be running to a block party celebrating its 250th birthday. But still, pretty much everyone I talked to expressed admiration for the economic opportunities that exist here and admiration for the country in general. We kept snagging on this idea of the melting pot, though, that the U.S. is a place for different types of people to come together.

18:00Sonja Hutson: We heard Vicky Sanchez, who's originally from the Dominican Republic, say that America is great because of immigrants from all different countries. but she also said that ideal is under threat. And Kathy Schwartz, the military veteran, said the U.S. was a melting pot of ideas but some of those ideas were scary to her. And to Darren, it seems like he wants to get back to a melting pot where different ideas can peacefully coexist. But politics are just too divided for that right now. On the 250th anniversary of the country's founding, people love that the U.S. is a melting pot. But they have different ideas of what that means.

18:48Sonja Hutson: This was The Bethlehem Project, the series where we explore U.S. economic and political issues through the lens of one city. Our show was edited by Mark Filipino, and it was mixed by Sam Giovinco. Topher Forges is our executive producer, and Flo Phillips is the FT's global head of audio. I'm Sonia Hudson. and thanks for going to Bethlehem with me.

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