Ich Bin Ein San Franciscan — We Are All San Franciscan
“Remember: Berlin isn’t Germany,” our first cab driver said and I knew exactly what he meant. Too many of us have bought into this narrative that our major cities somehow don’t “represent” the countries in which we live. Does Berlin’s diversity, cosmopolitanism, and openness to the world somehow make it “not real” Germany?
And it wasn’t just the cab driver. This phrase was repeated to me often throughout my 10-day mission with Germany Close Up, a program for American Jews to experience Germany firsthand (my particular trip was organized by the Anti-Defamation League). Administered by Action Reconciliation for Peace in cooperation with the New Synagogue Berlin, the German government and Marshall Fund, the program aims to increase transatlantic relations and German-American Jewish dialogue. I learned a great deal, but one of the things that really struck me is the parallel ways that Berlin and San Francisco are discussed in their home countries, at least by many citizens.
Living in San Francisco, we are well aware of how “San Francisco values” has been used as a homophobic dog whistle, especially back in 2004 after then-Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated same-sex marriages in City Hall. But America, as it’s lived today, is a nation of civic values, and not exclusively white, male, Christian, heterosexual, cisgender identity. These civic values show us how the melting pot coexists, how we can all get along.
San Francisco values are America’s values. It doesn’t get any more American than us.
We’re a city swiftly founded under the capitalist Gold Rush, built by a flourishing community of immigrants that created a society that values democracy, pluralism, and outright acceptance. San Francisco is at the forefront of technological innovation, economic growth, and — save for our cost of living — the envy of the world over. People came here to make a living, experience unparalleled freedom (I can especially say this as a gay Jew), and live the American Dream.
Yet, for years, San Francisco and other cities across America have been called “bubbles,” even by residents. We keep falling prey to the belief that we are not “real” America, which is exclusively white, non-urban, and either landlocked or post-Confederate. But this “bubble” people keep talking about doesn’t exist.
Bubble rhetoric is at once way for us to feel special (superior) and simultaneously used to demonize us as “coastal elites.” It purposefully sets to make us believe that we’re somehow different from most of our compatriots. But we are the majority … by millions! And we’re responsible for 64% of the country’s economic output, as well.
“Coastal elites” have created an America aspiring for women to control their own bodies, immigrants are welcomed, differences are celebrated, LGBT people are included, parents can take paid leave to have children, governments do something to combat climate change, and people give a damn about Black lives. We thrive because of the exchange of ideas that flourish in diverse, democratic societies. We believe in trade, but understand that regulating it makes it fair and keeps our planet safe.
For all of us in America who believe in pluralism and democracy, the last few weeks have been extraordinarily challenging. Hate crimes, especially those against Jews, Muslims, immigrants, and LGBT people, are on the rise. White supremacy is out of the shadows. But if we keep telling ourselves that our world isn’t as “real” as the rest of our country, we will never succeed in securing our communities and keeping the country safe for our values.
As I explored Germany, I kept thinking about what it has done to maintain and sustain its 70 years of pluralistic democracy. The fall of the Berlin Wall ushered in an unparalleled era of prosperity, drawing in immigrants from around the world and sustaining a diverse and dynamic society befitting of Berlin’s pre-war eminence as the intellectual capital of Europe. Everywhere I looked substantiated the narrative of Germany remaining an outward-looking, unwavering cheerleader and team player in a cooperative European Union and international arena. But what you see sprouting up around the edges is sobering.
The extreme ultra-nationalist “Alternative for Germany,” known by the acronym “AfD,” is on the rise in Germany, especially after Chancellor Angela Merkel authorized the absorption of nearly one million refugees predominantly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan last year. Like the white supremacist so-called “Alt-Right” in America, the AfD resorts to anti-immigrant, Islamophobic rhetoric to prey on underserved communities of former East Germany who are fearful of the unknown. It typically avoids overt anti-Semitism in effort to not alienate the mainstream right.
The consequences have been swift: After the AfD’s success in September elections, Merkel herself pivoted to the right and declared that the refugee intake was a “one-time occurrence” and further recommended a ban on burqas to placate the more conservative members of her center-right base. Without a popular mandate, the AfD has already normalized extreme nativism in German political discourse last seen in the 1940s.
German mainstream complacency was broken in September’s election and, based on the many anti-racist activists I met during my trip, it’s clear that Berlin is fighting to uphold its inclusive, democratic character. Yet, in Berlin and other cities absorbing the most immigrants, one finds huge majorities of voters rejecting the AfD’s veiled racist rhetoric — by a whopping 86%. I’m not naïve: I know that both Berlin and San Francisco are unique cities, but they are also unquestionably and inextricably central to their home countries. The countries and cities cannot exist without the other. Germany needs Berlin now more than ever, and in turn America needs San Francisco.
So to that cab driver and everyone one else keeps reinforcing this “bubble” myth, I say Berlin is Germany and San Francisco — with our immigrants, LGBT people, people of color, women in power, universities, and corporations that thrive while paying their fair share of taxes — is America. We are the core of the outward-looking pluralism, democracy, and tempered capitalism that makes our countries great.
As we prepare for the mounting assault on our ethical mores and institutions, I think back to President Kennedy’s words on the steps of the West Berlin State Senate on June 26, 1963: “…in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’”
Kennedy was raising morale at a time when West Berlin was inside of Moscow-controlled East Germany and Berliners were on the front lines of democracy. In a way it feels similar to be in San Francisco today, and we too should be proud! Proud to be San Franciscan, and proud to be American. Because, like it or not, San Francisco values are as American as apple pie, and we’ll fight like hell to defend them.
Update: Just moments after I published this piece, a truck plowed into a crowd in one of Berlin’s famed Christmas markets, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more in what was likely a callous act of terror. While Germans and millions more in the West will likely be quick to jump to judgment about refugees of Syrian and other Arab and Muslim origins, I would like to remind readers what Americans thought about Jewish refugees as they tried to flee industrialized genocide that wiped out one third of the Jewish people and destroyed the vast majority of 2,000 years of European Jewish civilization. As we respond to this horrific act of violence, we must strive to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice and continue to uphold the values that sustain our pluralistic societies in Berlin and elsewhere.
