An Introduction to American Hospitality
She stands steadfast, the Statue of Liberty, there in New York Harbor. With her forlorn look and torch held high, the towering colossus invites newcomers to our American shores. Her symbol is the spirit of a nation, christened in the poem The New Colossus that adorns her copper visage. In it, Emma Lazarus gives words to American mythology with an invitation to the immigrant:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
This sentiment evokes images of boats carrying folks from foreign shores to Ellis Island, eager to set roots in the land of opportunity. Her’s is a forceful demand for a certain type of migrant. Not the best of the best, but the poor, homeless, wretched: anyone who yearns for freedom must come. This poem, statue, and spirit express the promise of American hospitality — a promise we have disastrously failed to keep.
For most Americans, the word hospitality would most readily be associated with its trillion dollar industry. Hotels, restaurants, stores, airbnbs — their central creed is written: the customer is always right. Outside the public sphere, the term southern hospitality would constitute a close second. For hosts below the Mason-Dixon line, charm, courtesy, and warmth reign supreme. Their creed: the often mocked Y’all come back now, ya hear?
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In capitalist markets, southern stereotypes, and beyond, American hospitality is understood as demonstrating care and kindness towards both acquaintances and strangers. Think Thanksgiving, whose annual ritual is rooted in the folklore of Native Americans welcoming the pilgrims with a meal. In this way, hospitality’s standard definition as “friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers” will suffice.
But it is not enough. There is a deeper meaning to hospitality, one which stretches back through our nation’s founding, to our most foundational historical, cultural, religious, and mythological influences. Its codification has been sought in the fields of law, spirituality, society, and more. And in contemporary America, it is a value we are currently bastardizing in tragic fashion.
What happens when those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are undocumented? Apparently, we send masked troopers armed with AR-15s, chemical weapons, and bullet-proof vests to detain them. One doesn’t need a year’s worth of Food Stuff blogs to perceive this response as morally unjustified. With 70,000 people in ICE detention centers, families torn apart, 5-year-old children in custody, citizens shot dead in the street, and the President of the United States assuming that “some are good people,” it is very clear a cultural and physical war is being waged on immigrants. And Americans are showing up, fighting back, and saying these are not our values, that hospitality is a virtue.
Hospitality is not just a kindness, but a central tenet of our social, cultural, and political life. This year’s essays will explore this theme by analyzing current events, contemporary industry voices, Greek mythology, Judeo-Christian scriptures, and more. All this with the hope for a future where we can once again lift that lamp, too long snuffed out, high and bright beside the golden door.
