Black America Real Patriotism Danielle C . Belton Selma , Alabama April 2015 who seek to whitewash history don ’ t get is that you can be a patriot who doesn ’ t want that plastic “ Made in Taiwan ” flag on their lawn .
You can love someone who hates you .
The 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on Saturday was a reminder of that . In 1965 , hundreds of black people gathered on the Edmund Pettus Bridge who just wanted to be heard , even though they knew there was a 99.9 percent chance they ’ d be taking their own lives into their hands . They did it anyway , out of love . Love for a better future . Love for a better life . Love for America ’ s unique ideals that sound so good on paper . What if it was more than paper for us , but real ? they thought . Let ’ s all take a billy club to the head for love , to prove we should have the same rights and protections as all the citizens America purports to love .
The patriotism of a black American is the patriotism of someone who loves America even though America has violently not loved that person . It is a one-sided love , so you dispense with the cheesy T-shirts and flag pins . Those don ’ t really mean anything anyway . Anyone can wear a T-shirt . But what are you willing to do to prove that love ? We wear an unrecognized shirt of patriotism , red with freshly spilled blood , white with the color of our broken bones . We deal not in empty words but in actions , challenging America to live up to its dream and be for the prosperity of all .
mund Pettus Bridge March 8 , 2015 , in iversary commemoration of the Ala ., civil rights march .
President Barack Obama , who is half-white and was raised by his white grandparents , one of whom was a World War II veteran , could exist only because of America . But he doesn ’ t love you . He wasn ’ t brought up “ through love of this country .”
This reminds me of a story my father tells about a white person saying that black parents teach their children to hate white people , ignoring that racism does a good-enough job of that . Who needs to teach a “ Whites Only ” sign ? That is what Giuliani ’ s subtext is . How can someone like Obama love America , someone black ? Because black people , like my father , are not always outwardly patriotic .
But then that raises the question , what does being black have to do with not loving America ? That then leads to how black people sure do seem awfully angry at America all the time , so they must hate it . But then the thinking stops because no one wants to touch on why black people are always so angry , because all the reasons are painfully legitimate and if you actually consider them , good lord , you may have to do something about it . It ’ s much better to believe the fantasy of perfect America than to confront that truth , the truth that politicians are trying to strip form textbooks . The truth Giuliani is clumsily trying to silence . But what critics like Giuliani and those
One passage that stood out to me during President Obama ’ s commemoration speech on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Saturday was the one that seemed specifically directed to those “ America , the Perfect ” critics , those who believe love of one ’ s country is synonymous with blindness : “ What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this , what greater form of patriotism is there than the belief that America is not yet finished , that we are strong enough to be self-critical , that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals ?”
Black people love America , even when we hate it , because we ’ re willing to go through just about anything to be part of this idyllic dream that taunts us , a dream promised in a place that was not made for us . We ’ ve shed blood overseas in wars where our participation was not wanted . We ’ ve shed blood in the streets on our hometowns . And we ’ re still here . Still negotiating . Still organizing . Still trying to create change through the very American notions of free speech , civil protest , organizing and elections . Any other country with less-democratic ideals that had this large a racial underclass would have faced prolonged warfare , not marches and legislation . And yet the tools we ’ ve chosen to fight for our country are made out of the very ideals it claims to uphold . Even in the streets of Ferguson , Mo ., last year , the scariest part was the militarization of the police and some looting . Other countries get prolonged bloody insurgencies and genocide .
But this is America , the country we love , so even when we fight it , we fight on the foundation of its founding . We fight it in love . If that isn ’ t patriotism , I ’ m afraid that too many don ’ t know what patriotism is .
Danielle C . Belton is a Washington , D . C . -based satirist and blogger . Follow her on Twitter .