eaceful music) (upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to another edition of "10thirtysix" here on Milwaukee PBS.

As you can see, we're back in studio but still being cautious during this continuing pandemic.

These last several months have given us all time to reflect.

Here at Milwaukee PBS, we've decided to reflect on the American Dream.

It might've changed, maybe stayed the same, maybe you might wonder if it still exists.

From now through 2022, "10thirtysix" and our other local programs will share the thoughts and definitions of the American Dream from the perspective of people in our community.

We're dedicating the next half hour to this initiative.

Milwaukee PBS Producer Mariano Avila sets the stage for us as we think about our own American Dream.

(inspirational music) (flowing piano music) - The American Dream is one of the core themes in our collective narrative, but it doesn't always mean the same thing to everyone.

Do you know what the American Dream is?

- [Both] No.

- Have you ever heard of the American Dream?

- [Both] No.

- I think to be able to live the life that you've wanted to live and reach your potential.

That's why a lot of us came here.

I'm German.

I came to school here and I became a doctor, and so I'm very appreciative to all the chances the United States has given me.

- Can you tell us what you think the American Dream is?

- The importance of everybody having the same possibilities in life.

To be who they need to be, to be who they want to be.

- Would you like to know what the American dream is?

- Yes.

- Sure.

- Ask your aunt.

(Aunt laughing) - So I think when I was a little kid, I thought the American Dream was you grow up, get a job, and you buy a house and have a family.

Now I feel like it's more, you kind of have the freedom to grow up and do what you want.

- What it meant when James Truslow Adams coined the term in 1931 has arguably changed more than once.

I mean, it's been almost a century.

But before we go into how it's different or how it changed, let's start with how it came to be.

(relaxing music) James Truslow Adams was a wealthy stockbroker who turned to writing after he figured he had made enough money to live on for, you know, ever.

Born into wealth, he increased his standing as an adult.

So his experience was not the American middle class experience.

This posed a challenge when he coined the term, the American Dream in his book, "The Epic of America," published two years after the Great Depression.

Hardworking people were lining up outside of soup kitchens and unemployment lines, much like in the 2009 recession or the pandemic of 2020.

But the book hit a nerve and became a best seller.

He had taken an American ideal, a vision, and given it a name.

But what did the American Dream mean to him?

- "That dream of a land in which life should be better, and richer, and fuller for every man and every woman, with opportunity for each according to their ability or achievement.

It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

- Today, we may think of course, that's how it should be.

America, a land of equal opportunity, regardless of who you were when you were born.

But Adams traced a clear line between the American Dream and the Declaration of Independence, knowing how big a deal it was in 1776, the Founding Fathers decided to dissolve the political bonds that connected them to Europe and the social structures being inherited, and in so doing declared their independence.

writing this.

- "That we are all created equal, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.

That among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

(melancholy music) - [Neil Armstrong] "Small step for man."

(melancholy music) - But this dream cost some more than others.

Not just service men and women.

For starters, like the Founding Fathers and every immigrant who came after them, we're all standing on native land.

Native people were 100% of the population when Europeans arrived, but today make up less than 1%.

And then there's also the people kidnapped from Africa and forced to build this nation.

What rights did they have?

Women were not allowed to vote until 1919 and being gay did not become legal nationally until 2003.

So how is it that this idea of an American Dream, of a common right to life, and freedom, and the pursuit of happiness endure?

What shines beneath the tarnish of America's past and present wrongs?

How is it that the allure and luster still draw people to American shores from all over the world?

More importantly, what does this dream mean to every day people now?

These are the big questions that from time to time, we, as a society, have to stop and ask ourselves.

- I love the American Dream 'cause I'm originally from Trinidad and Tobago.

So I actually moved here to be a part of the American Dream and to take part in the success of America.

- You know what?

The American Dream, just in my personal opinion, is a facade.

It was coined over about a hundred some-odd years ago.

During that time, people like myself and a vast majority of people were not included in that American Dream.

We could not have access to realty property.

Our businesses were being burned down or we couldn't get our foot in the door to certain businesses.

So who dream, whose dream is it really?

- My American Dream is to be as financially stable as possible so that I don't have to worry about anything and I could buy land.

That would be great.

And build a tiny home.

(Olivia giggling) - People want to box the American Dream into one definition and it's not that.

Everybody's journey, experiences are different, so it looks different.

So I don't think we can put it all into one box and say this is the American Dream.

- At Milwaukee PBS, we want to invite you to answer this question with us.

What does the American Dream mean to you today?

Leave us your answer or your story about the American Dream at milwaukeepbs.org/americandreams.

We will post good submissions and work with you to tell the best ones.

And just to start us off on the same foot, we're going to ask our own team.

So let's get to it.

(inspirational music) - Yes, let's get to it.

Mariano Avila joins me now to talk more about these American dreams.

Thanks for joining us, Mariano.

- Thanks for having me here.

- So what can you tell us about this project?

How did it come to life?

- It's a really exciting project.

I think the project came to life through another story that we were doing about a Hispanic labor force and there was one line about asking people who were going to interview about the American Dream.

Chris Hayes told me, "You know, that's worth doing a little bit more with that."

And then we talked about it.

We talked about it with Bohdan, our station manager, and it turned into a whole thing that now we're doing where we're going to be asking people in Milwaukee and our own team about the American Dream.

- Awesome.

So who do you have in mind?

Who's the right fit to be asking this really provocative question nowadays.

It shouldn't be provocative, but it kind of is given the times.

- Well, aside from yourself, I would like to ask you at some point.

But really the whole segment or the whole idea is to try to get people from Milwaukee to tell us their own perspective from different communities, especially communities we haven't heard from before, or don't usually hear from.

My last job was in Michigan and we did a lot of work with the Sikh community, with Native American communities, and these are communities that really don't have access generally.

So that's what my hope is to be able to bring some of these communities that are not as common in your everyday story to the forefront.

- Awesome.

So were you asking me my American Dream?

- So yes.

What do you think the American Dream is?

- I did think about this a little bit.

I would say that for me, the American Dream is about, still about opportunity.

My mom, my mother, not grandmother, picked cotton in Louisiana when she was seven years old and she couldn't go to school when the rest of the kids, when the white kids went to school in September.

She had to go in November.

That's how long their school year was.

November 'til the summertime, because they had to work the fields.

So in just that one generation, you know, my mother has seen so much and so much opportunity, and I never knew that type of life because of the opportunity that education gave to my mom.

So for me, that's really, it's still about opportunity.

In one generation time, my mom was able to be a successful teacher and educator.

She inspired other children to live their dreams and definitely me and my sisters, so.

- What did she teach you about the American Dream?

That's a fabulous story.

- My mother.

You can do anything if you have the education to do it.

If you treat education as a gift and really as the key to that opportunity, you'll be successful.

Nobody can take your education away from you.

- No they can't.

So do you think the American Dream means the same thing to different communities?

- I don't know.

That's a good question.

But I think we will find out through your series and I'd like to ask you, I'm going to turn it back on you.

What's your American Dream?

What's the American Dream to you?

- To me, I think it's much like yours.

I'm a first generation immigrant.

I come from Mexico City and my family has been coming back and forth to the states because my parents were both academics, and so my dad got a couple of PhDs to do his work.

He's a professor now.

They have also, they came from some of the roughest neighborhoods in Mexico City, like straight up the roughest neighborhoods.

I don't think anybody in my dad's side has a college education.

So from him to go from no opportunities to having, you know, a couple of PhDs and job offers all over the place, to then raising two children to be successful in the United States is no small thing.

So I do think we moved here because we couldn't have those opportunities in Mexico.

Mexico is very class structured, class oriented, and also has less opportunities to go around.

So.

- Awesome.

Well, thank you Mariano for sharing this fascinating project with us and thanks for joining us in studio today.

So look for Mariano's reports on "Adelante!"

as well as right here on "10thirtysix."

(inspirational music) This month marks the 20th anniversary of a day terrorists shattered the American Dreams of 2,605 U.S. citizens who died from this attack.

All the lives lost that day are ones we continue to honor in some way.

One of our Milwaukee PBS colleagues, Chief Content Officer Chris Hayes witnessed firsthand the terrorism in New York City that day.

He shares his very personal reflections in a diary story he tells from his home, and explains how that day has impacted his own American Dream.

- 9/11.

(Chris exhaling deeply) It's just one of those moments, one of those times that, that, you know, you'd give anything to not have as part of you, as part of your memory.

(melancholy piano music) It was actually the first day of class of the fall semester.

My senior year of undergrad.

I was at St. John's in New York and in Jamaica, Queens.

So that morning, you know, my first class is 9:00 a.m., and we were listening to NPR, and a small commuter plane had flown into the World Trade Center.

And you're like, wow, that's, you know, that's crazy.

I, how does that happen?

And then as I'm walking up to the building and this building, it's a, it's a six story building.

My friend is there and he's like, "We've got to go up there.

We've got to go up there and you gotta see this."

So instead of going to class, we go up to the top of the building and understand that, that kind of where we are in Queens, we're looking down at the city, at the island of Manhattan.

So we're at eye level with the Twin Towers, where we're just, you know, kind of a perfect view.

And as we're up there, we see the second plane just, just fly right, fly right in.

And you know, there, there are no words.

Just to go from seeing the second plane fly in and hit and then really understanding the situation that the people like, these little things that we're seeing, these little things that are falling are people, and then we're still up there, the first tower falls and it's just not words, there's not any way to really describe this.

You know, we're still up there and the second tower falls in, and again, just, how is this possible?

How could this happen?

You know, I've told people, you know, people knew I lived there and, and, you know, I've told people that I saw this.

I've never really, never really told anyone, never really explored it.

You know, what this day, what this moment, how it impacted me, and how it, you know, it changed me.

It was then that I realized I truly wanted to explore storytelling and that creative side of me, and I, you know, ended up making the decision to go to film school.

This really horrible, unimaginable thing made me really embrace that storytelling side of me and ironically enough, it's the one story I don't really have any interest in telling and have ever really considered telling.

Now we're 20 years ago, here at Milwaukee PBS are talking about the American Dream, about the dreams of our community, of our friends and neighbors.

I always go back to this time and I think what it meant to my dream.

I can't say that it was the worst day of my life.

I can't say that it was the most awful thing that's ever happened to me because again, here I am.

I can say, I, here we are 20 years later and I still, I still, I don't want to have this memory.

I don't want to, I don't want to know that this happened.

I don't, I don't want to think about, I don't want to think about, you know, what.

(Chris breathing deeply) What those towers coming down meant for families, for people, for hopes, for dreams, for.

- Thank you, Chris, for sharing such a personal story with all of us.

You may remember the name Kitty O'Meara.

We spoke with this Wisconsin poet and former teacher who brought us her comforting words during the onset of the pandemic with her poem, "And the People Stayed Home."

It received national attention.

We turn to Kitty once again for her thoughts on the American Dream.

(inspirational music) - In its best version, it means that people in this country and possibly more importantly, people immigrating to this country have equal opportunities to pursue their dreams, their personal dreams within our American culture.

That's the best I can kind of come up with.

I think in my lifetime, it's been somewhat perverted into a acquisitive kind of, the pursuit of wealth only.

People must not only do better than their parents but they must do better than everyone around them.

And I think especially since the eighties with changes in our corporate tax laws, there has become this great financial economic disparity in our country that kind of speaks to the antithesis of what we would put out there as our American Dream.

- That's an interesting way to think about it.

The American Dream becoming that pursuit of wealth, not the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

- Right, right.

- Wealth has changed and become happiness, and how you feel about that?

- Well, I mean, that's what I see more in our culture and I think part of that is, you know, of course it's subjective.

It's the way I see it.

But my spirituality kind of informs my choices in my own life so I have sort of a Franciscan dream or a Jesuit dream.

You know, a Loyalan dream, an Ignatian dream, where you're serving each other, where your gifts are offered to the culture.

Where humility is part of what we all bring to each other so that we can listen better and be more present to each other.

So I, you know, I've been thinking about this a lot this week and I thought, well, is there an American Dream or are there dreams we should be having for America?

What is my dream for America?

What is your dream for America instead of, you know, what can we get out of being here?

And I think, yes, in many ways we've allowed things, acquisition, consumption, to replace a healthy kind of version of happiness.

- So what is your dream for America?

- Sort of as I said, that we would be more of a communal, supportive, relational people in our country rather than so extremely divisive with these labels that we kind of throw around and lasso people in with, rather than allowing them to show us who they are as gifted members of our communities that, you know, wave out into larger and larger communities.

Until you eat, you reach these imaginary borders of what we call America.

My dream would be that we learn to listen better, that we learn to articulate our ideas in a way that's respectful of the fact that they might be different from other people's, but that we can substantiate with reasons why we have these ideas, where they're coming from and what they mean for each other for our relationship.

That the anger, which I understand.

We've been through a lot and I think when you're, when you're fearful and anxious, and there's a lot of unknown around you and ahead of you, I think anger is a natural response.

I understand it.

But it isn't a mature response.

Another dream I would have for America is that we reach into our patience and maturity and our capacity for love.

(inspirational music) - As Kitty mentioned, the American Dream for many is often tied to one's financial means.

U.S.

Senator Tammy Baldwin recently talked about that very issue.

- Certainly the American Dream is under great duress.

It was exacerbated by the pandemic but it was present prior.

I think the thing I focus on the most is recognizing and rewarding the dignity of hard work.

We're a state that makes things and grows things.

We have seen a lack of focus on empowering workers, whether they be self-employed farmers, somebody who is, you know, in the tool and die industry, and all the things that we're known for in the state of Wisconsin.

The gap that is growing, and growing, and growing, we have to say enough is enough.

- Hear more from Senator Baldwin as well as Wisconsin farm families in our upcoming documentary on Wisconsin's dairy industry, produced in partnership with the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel."

"America's Dairyland: At the Crossroads," premiering here on "10thirtysix," November 18th at 7:00 p.m.. That'll do it for this edition of "10thirtysix."

Please continue to check us out on Facebook and milwaukeepbs.org.

We'll see you next month with more American Dream stories and much more right here on "10thirtysix" in Milwaukee PBS.

I'm Portia Young, stay well.

(inspirational music)