My country, ’tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

I challenge you to read/sing these lyrics not with your instinctual desire to assume that "my father" or "my native country" refers to white America, but to consider whether it could also refer to those indigenous people who were here long before Columbus "discovered" the western hemisphere. You might notice that this song fits for this population as well.

Amazing, isn't it? That the land imagined to be the manifest destiny of white men was in fact also intended for the brown man. What would be more amazing is if the two could coexist harmoniously.

(the history lesson continues as promised)

Finally I wanted to leave you with the ironic lyrics of "America" (commonly referred to as "My Country 'Tis of Thee")

(read on to next comment)

(the history lesson continues as promised)

Furthermore, the phrase refers to the arbitrariness of political borders and boundaries. The original United States of America (as even a simple bloke like you must know) was much smaller than the current U.S. of A. Through imperialism and warfare the U.S. "acquired" much of the American Southwest, Hawaii and other territories (ironic that a nation that started as a former colony of another imperial nation should become a land-hungry imperial power…). The native people inhabiting these regions literally experienced a border "crossing" them.

Moreover, the phrase is applicable to the many Latino/as whose families have been in the United States for generations (either living continuously or periodically within the political boundaries of the U.S). Many Caucasian Americans assume that anyone with brown skin or a Spanish surname is a recently arrived "illegal alien." I highly suspect that the majority of Caucasian Americans have rarely-if ever-interacted with undocumented Latino/a immigrants. Instead, they assume that many of their fellow U.S. citizens are "illegal" by virtue of their ethnic identity.

"Can someone explain to me how a border crosses you? When you slither across land to hide from law enforcement, that’s breaking the law! + I don’t see many whites in Mexico screaming, “the border crossed us!!”"

Yes, I can explain it to you my dear, cretinous fool. The phrase "I didn't cross the border, the border crossed me" refers to the misconceptions that many people have about the Latino/a community in the United States, namely that they do not belong "here."

Primarily, the phrase refers to the historical inversion of who is "native" to the region. The mainstream culture promotes the erroneous perception that Caucasian Americans are "native" to the North American region, conveniently brushing over the fact that contemporary Caucasians Americans hail from a long history of emigration from Europe. This historical inversion "forgets" that this region was first inhabited by indigenous peoples–from the Sioux to the mestizo Mexicans.

(to be continued)

Kuddos to you Goth for grasping a very basic concept of "American" history that is often (conveniently) overlooked.

It's too bad that others don't always think before they speak

Horrid.

Are you aware that everyone in the United States with the exception of the Native Americans are immigrants? Caucasian-Americans themselves are a melting pot of European races…

If anything, the Mexicans have more a right to this land than any European considering Mexicans are of Native American descendency.

But that's only if we're being fair.

How pitiful are you? Anyone who lives by stereotypes is just a plain airhead.