I think you’re right about why the US is the most powerful country on earth, with regards to the Cold War era and all that. And yes, the American state is an imperial one, no doubt. That’s all accurate and spot on. But I think there is also room for thinking about other aspects of American history that wasn’t just about the damage done by the American state and its white supremacist colonizing project.
But I’d argue that just focusing on that makes it seem like only some people are “real” Americans… But the people in America are also agents of history. Let’s take the civil rights movement, for example. People in Africa were deeply influenced by American civil rights activists and thinkers (and vice versa, of course). Likewise, American pop culture has been an influence around the world in unexpected ways, such as musical forms like jazz, rock, punk, and hip-hop being universally beloved musical forms that have been taken up as rallying cries for greater freedoms.
I think America can be both things - both an empire and a place that promoted a new and exciting form of government that opened up all kinds of possibilities.
