One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.
Charles A. Beard
American Historian, 1874-1948
Every day, I sit pondering and asking myself, what is going on in our country? I feel like I am experiencing a combination of amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. More specifically, I wonder to myself, “Where am I?” and at the same time, I think, “I’ve been here before!”
The political space is dominated by angry, hate-filled speech, accusations, and counter-accusations. Personal attacks, insults and so-called “alternative facts” dominate political discourse. The two major political parties have become warring tribes/gangs with their own colors — Red and Blue.
We the People are inundated daily with emails, text messages and snail mail asking for our allegiance and loyalty. Fearmongering, divisive rhetoric, and group think have replaced facts and independent thinking. The truly independent voter is forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.
Symbols are replacing dialogue. Nazi and Confederate flags serve as loud non-verbal banners of hate. There is even an attempt to imbue our American flag with hate. “America, Love it or Leave It!” as a response to minority dissent has resurfaced. This sentiment has become the standard response to any protest — except when non-minorities attempt to overthrow our constitutional government. A coup attempt should never be dismissed as “legitimate political discourse.” Imagine our reaction to Putin describing invading Ukraine as “legitimate political discourse.”
While not perfect, America is still the lighthouse of democracy for the world. And yes, we’ve got a lot more to do in ensuring our great country lives up to the beautiful rhetoric so eloquently enshrined in our Bill of Rights and Constitution. I recall in my rebellious youth, my father, who was a pragmatic activist, told me to talk with his good friend, a Jamaican professor at my undergraduate university, who after listening to my complaints about life in the U.S. as a Black person, said to me, matter-of-factly, “Son, if you can’t make it here, don’t go nowhere else because this country is the closest you are going to come to finding the land of milk and honey.”
It was at that moment that I decided the patriotic thing to do was stay here and agitate to help my country live up to its powerful vision of “All men are created equal, endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
I have always considered myself a patriotic American. My people have fought, defended, and died for this country while suffering the most outrageous indignities up to and including domestic terrorism. So this flag belongs to all Americans, regardless of the ethnicity that comes before the hyphen — be you Irish-American, Italian-American or African-American, et al.
Patriotism is not “my country right or wrong.” Rather, patriotism is being vigilant about calling out any slippage from what we say we are about and making sure that we become what we say we stand for, both at home and abroad. Having a “cold one” in one hand and a baseball cap in the other while waiting for the last stanza of our anthem does not equate to patriotism.
Patriotism is not just demonstrative, it is definitive. In other words, do you love your country enough to make sure it lives up to its stated goals? Are you man or woman enough to challenge America?
As an African-American, I have grown weary of decals and patches on attire displaying the American flag as a statement of exclusivity. I am proud to be an Activist-American. I am emboldened to speak out and be a guardian of the American Dream as so clearly articulated by the Founding Fathers.
Kwame Salter is president of the Salter Consulting Group LLC and a former Oak Park resident.