Why
T h e i n s p i r a t i o n for this project began years ago, as the country began to grow so polarized after such a strong showing of national unity following the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. As the years have past, the idea has continued to germinate, and the concept has become only more apropos as the country seem to become more and more divided. Right after 9/11, people asked questions like:
“Why would they do this to us?”
or
“Why do they hate us?”
These have been asked over and over. People have been trying to answer them ever since, to figure out the ‘why’ and the ‘they.’ The question that this project begins to ask is,
“Whom do we mean when we say ‘us’?
Before Americans, as a nation, can begin to address the hostilities and the misconceptions that exist between the United States and other countries around the world, the people of the United States need to understand the hostilities and misconceptions that exist between themselves, to look deeper into this country. We are anything but a united people:
e pluribus unum
has become
e pluribus pluribus
Above all else, this is a project about Americans getting to know other Americans,
especially the ones they thought they already knew they didn’t want to know.