What Will I Tell Them??

I can't get the question from my international exchange application off of my mind lately: "What part of American culture do you hope to share with those you encounter in your exchange country?"

Next week, I will land in Malaysia (look for it on a map, I know I had to), where honestly I expect to get crazy looks of shock everywhere I go for the duration of my stay. I'm a 6'2 young Black American male who's typical casual look would be classified in America as 'urban' and in the rest of the world as 'hood.' I fully expect to be walking through an airport of preconceived notions, whether illegitimately star struck ("What NBA team does he play for?"), admirable ("I wanna party with that guy") scared ("I hope he's not here for crime"), or even testing ("I wonder if he'll get mad if I say that N-word I here in the rap songs"). I've mentally prepared myself for that because there's no benefit to getting mad at some foreigner's (foreign to me anyway)ignorance of my true personality and purpose in their country. But as some point legitimate conversation will arise about America whether with a Malaysian, my British co-worker, or someone else I happen to encounter in a deep conversation-prone situation. So as I navigate the many onion-like layers of my mind, I wonder how exactly I should answer the questions about my many often contradictory thoughts and interaction with my home country.

Should I tell them it's truly the land of opportunity where immigrants, poor people, and other underprivileged can find a way to make it to prominence and wealth? Or that the top 1% control 42% of the nation's wealth and in the midst of the financial crisis, the CEOs who ran the companies into the ground made multi million dollar golden parachutes for themselves while dismissing their everyday workers with nothing more than a pink slip?

Should I tell them that America is truly the 'Melting Pot' made up of immigrants, transplants, explorers and the descendants of slaves who all have been finding a way to coexist and mesh their cultures? Or that it's a place run by bias older white males who have made my demographic (young, Black males) the default criminal prototype and the most hated and feared demographic in the world?

Should I tell them it's a land of democracy where the son of a Kenyan can be elected President? Or should I tell them it's a land of little political transparency where the President is trying to fight through the maze of back door alliances, campaign contribution loyalties, and party-biased infighting?

Should I tell them it's a land of religious freedom and social choice where there is some level of tolerance for even the most eccentric and extravagant lifestyles? Or should I tell them its a land where fundamentalists of classic religions are constantly plotting terrorism as a statement against the secular social and sexual anarchy that our country has allowed itself?

Should I tell them about our land where education is free and available up until high school and very easily accessible at the college level? Or about how despite these great opportunities, Americans are dropping out in high numbers and falling behind the rest of the developed countries in education while foreigners come in take advantage of our education system right under our noses?

Should I tell them about the land that has gradually made progress as far as political forwardness and social tolerance? Or the country where even systems such as law enforcement, law making, and homeland security have tremendous problems with high-level corruption and untrustworthy practices?

Should I tell them about the powerhouse with the technological and financial might to develop the best medicines and alternate energy sources in the world? Or the country where these capitalistic greed speaks more than right or wrong so health care and other industries cost so much that they alienate most of those who need them?

I could go on forever, but the bottom line is: Do I tell them about the wonderful and glamorized America that I want to come back to and live in after my internship? Or the potentially corrupt and cut throat America that I left to experience another culture? I'm not sure, I feel that to tell one side without the other is being dishonest. America is honestly an elaborate blend of this yin and yang. Maybe I'll just wait til I have a few drinks and see which stories come out.