“Patriotism… Who Am I And Where Do I Belong?”

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

July 4th is approaching. People are forced to think about the state of this country, its leadership, the relationships it has with other countries and whether or not its accomplishments are actually a reason to celebrate this holiday, which represents independence and freedom.

As I think about all of this red, white and blue, I ask myself, “What am I celebrating?” Is this holiday really about my people and me? Are African Americans truly considered to be a significant part of this country? In spite of all of the contributions we have made to this country, is our citizenship really worth anything?

When I look at communities overridden with poverty, drugs and a lack of fair and equitable education systems, and legal systems set up to fail people as opposed to help them, the black and brown people in these communities are suffering. The great system is set up to benefit others; yet, it plant seeds of inequality, self-hatred and slavery in our communities. People’s lives look more hopeless than hopeful and day-by-day the picture seems bleaker and darker.

I sit from a perspective of “privilege”, some would say. “You don’t experience these things”’ and “You have beaten the odds”. I wish that were absolutely true, I respond. My skin color makes me no less hated, but my drive to exist and succeed in spite of- is what separates me from others. And while the outside looks polished and stable, my inside is crumbling from seeing my people self destruct because they cannot recognize all of the traps that are being set for them through broken educational systems and cultural “norms” such as music and social media. Our children’s minds are being captured, just as our enslaved ancestors’ bodies were. And although we walk around “free” as if we enjoy the same luxury as others… we are not free; thus, where is the patriotism in that?

This country represents ultimate greed. It bullies other countries and takes their resources. Wars are fought over property…not principle.  Even the wealth that is acquired when we are successful isn’t for Black people. We merely exist in a place where we were dumped after we were stolen. And our true culture and heritage is trampled on and made to seem nonexistent more and more everyday. Black children have nothing to identify with culturally, so who are they? And if they don’t know who they are, then where are they going?

Patriotism… who am I and where do I belong? 

“Patriotism, No T-Shirt Needed”

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

Since my childhood, I’ve had an unadulterated love and support for all my respective sports teams, all of which hail from the DC area. Sadly, outside presidential inaugurations, there haven’t been any parades going down Pennsylvania Ave in quite some time. Like all fans of a respective team, we’re fans of the team, not every aspect of the team. We question player transactions, hiring of coaches, even supporting changing a certain team’s name. (More about that later on.) In the final analysis, wanting better and questioning the ways and means of your team isn’t the characteristic of a non-fan, it’s the opposite.    

So, what does sports fandom have to do with patriotism? In a sense, if you replaced the word fan with patriot in the aforementioned paragraph, all the elements stay true. By definition, patriotism is the vigorous support for one’s country. By definition, a fan is one who is enthusiastically devoted to something or somebody. In my example I used sports fandom to illustrate how it comes with both criticism of your team as well as support for said team. As a fan, being critical of a team, is something as unifying around a team as cheering for a team (see Randy Quaid as Johnny in “Major League II”).

Being a patriot on the other hand, for some, does not engage in critical discussions about their nation. I’ve noticed post 9/11 the term patriotism used as a shield to fend off the need to address and solve real issues and problems. Typically coming from conservative and republican circles, patriotism is many times used as a political guilt trip. The goal being one should feel ashamed for their reason for it goes against the essence of the nation. If that fails, the “If you don’t like it, you should just leave”, standard becomes the last resort.

Being critical of one’s nation is not a loss of patriotism. This is nonsense. Disagreeing with another person on their views of the nation is not grounds to question their patriotism.  

Much like a fan wants best for their team, a patriot should want what’s best for their nation. What’s best for the nation is a little harder amongst social political topics than sports, for the end game isn’t as clear. Thus why many deflect to terms like “if you don’t like it, you should leave”. To figure out the needs of a nation, it requires real work, research, dialogue, and the inevitable debate.  In sports for example, at the time of this writing my beloved Washington Nationals are having the time of their lives trying to save games. So the solution is the need for a closer. Regarding social political issues, it’s not as cut and dry. Standard national issues like healthcare, the environment, and education are contentious and divisive. What each issue means to all citizens and how in the most sensible and feasible way it comes into fruition requires a process. A baseball save is very much defined, something my Nationals seem to have a hard time with; however, it’s still very much defined.