Angry: The Ugly Truth About America the Beautiful

So let's get this out of the way.  This post doesn't "disrespect the troops."  If anything, pointing out the less than savory truth about this country honors the sacrifices these soldiers made. 

The Tuskegee Airmen. Fought for their country in World War II while their nation was still segregated and treated blacks as second class citizens.  Virtually all black soldiers who served in World War II were locked out of receiving the benefits of the G.I. Bill after the war.

Black soldiers in the Union Army during the Civil War. They fought for their country and for their freedom, even though many of those in the North didn't support emancipation and the vast majority did not see black people as social equals.

Doris Miller, fought with honor and distinction during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  He later gave his life for his country.

James Anderson Jr. sacrificed his life for his fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War even while the struggle for civil rights for him and others like him continued back home.

Members of the 442nd Infantry Regiment in World War II. This regiment was composed entirely of Japanese-American soldiers who fought bravely for their country while that same country kept their families in internment camps.

The Navajo "code talkers" in World War II who served their country with distinction even though that same country had robbed their people of their land, wiped out many of them, and pushed those that remained onto reservations.

 

Kenneth Chamberlain Sr, served in the United States Marine Corps. He would later receive the thanks of a grateful nation when he lost his life at the age of 68 in 2011. His Medicare alert bracelet accidentally went off. When police and paramedics arrived he informed them that he was okay and did not require assistance. The police insisted that he open the door anyway.  When he refused they broke in and shot him.

I can't imagine that these soldiers would expect us to just turn a blind eye to truth out of  "respect" for them.  Don't talk to me about sacrifice.  Don't talk to me about patriotism.  Do you believe so much in this country, this flag and what it stands for that you'd be willing die for it even as this country mistreated you? That's what these men did.  Others, understandably, fought for a country that did right by them.  But these men fought in the hopes that one day their country would do right by their children. I salute them. It's the difference between those who love America for what she is, and those who love her for what she can become.

 

I love America the way I love my family.   I love her mainly because she is mine, not because she is the best. This is where I was born and where I grew up. I have benefited greatly from what the United States offers. I deeply believe in the ideals this nation put forth in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.  A child thinks their parents are the best parents in the whole world. Objectively that may not be the case. An adult understands their parents are deeply flawed human beings. In some cases their parents have left them with lasting scars from the damage they've inflicted. But the an adult child loves them anyway.  Or maybe, they don't. Today I'm calling for my fellow Americans to move from a childish love of country to a grown-up patriotism.

The American geography is indeed beautiful (more beautiful than anywhere else in the world? Maybe, maybe not).  The American ideals of liberty and equality are about the best thing sinful human kind has managed to drum up. But pragmatic America, America in practice has been pretty ugly, frankly.  Sure every nation since the beginning of time has stolen, conquered, enslaved--it just makes it worse when the nation postures to be something else.  It's even worse, especially in the last century, when America has indeed led the world against tyranny and hate elsewhere even while abusing it's own citizens at home. It's the hypocrisy that's especially hard to take.  

The United States as it is today exists specifically because it stole and enslaved.  The land of the free and the home of the brave was once the land belonging to other free people and was home to others equally brave (just not as well armed or used to the new diseases).  We took this land. Just took it.  We liked what we saw and took it. We can gloss it over all we want, but those are the facts. And when the need arises--(and it's always a need, you know)--we'll take it still.  Once that land was taken a slave economy that benefited both North and South helped build the foundation of a economic powerhouse. You can argue that this country could have been built without slave labor, but the fact is that it wasn't.  After slavery, the economy continued to grow on the subjugation and extraction of wealth from people of color.  God shed His grace on thee, we sing. The definition of grace is to be given what we don't deserve, so that phrase is quite apt. If God has blessed this nation (and that's a big if since it feels sometimes like we are blessed in the way that a wealthy and powerful Mafia family is blessed), it's in spite of our actions, not because of them.

It's like an ugly family secret about a beloved patriarch who has done so much for the community. Who could criticize such a wonderful person?  This uncritical love, this obsession with wrapping ourselves in the flag, (which is disrespectful--see the U.S. Flag code, section 8 on respect for the flag, but I guess it's okay if your feelings are positive), weepily singing the anthem and then going apoplectic if anyone so much as bends a knee in complaint is deeply unhealthy. It's in this arena that the same people that are supposedly so thick-skinned and unconcerned with political correctness became deeply, deeply politically correct and fragile. It's bizarre when you take a step back and look at it. 

 If you hate it so much here, why don't you leave! they say. But I never said I "hate it so much here" (though frankly, with this absolute bungling of the COVID situation, I am feeling a little jealous of New Zealanders. But that's a first. Even when living abroad, I appreciated having an American passport, knowing I could always go home).  Why is pushing for our country to face it's ugly past and demand that it live up to it's lofty ideals considered hatred? I think if we all calmed down a little bit and didn't get so hysterical about love of country we might be able to work together to help keep America moving in the right direction, towards righting the wrongs of the past and present and living up to the high standard set in our founding documents.

And I do believe we are moving in the right direction.  Those ideals, bit by bit are being fulfilled.  This is exactly the time not to leave this country because we are making progress. Those who would have us "love it or leave it" feel that way because they want to leave the nation the way it is.  Some of us feel we have already arrived while others feel we are still on the journey. That's the only difference.  Remember the outcry when Michelle Obama said that for the first time in her adult life, she felt proud of her country and right-wing America just about lost their minds?  What kind of person is only now proud of America?  I find that there's a kind of hypocrisy that says it's okay for me to lament the state of the nation (we've got to make America great again) but not okay for you to lament the state of the nation (how dare you not have always been proud of our country). It's kind of like saying "I can criticize my family all I want, but let someone else come after my family and it's on."  The implication is that the country belongs to one group (thus they get permission to criticize) whereas the other group should just be grateful to be here. 

So tomorrow I'll go out and sing happy birthday with everyone else.  I won't ruin the party.  But I hope that like me, your love of country will maybe be a little less shallow this year. May your patriotism mature and deepen in light of the truth. America has been less than lovely. Let's keep working on giving her a makeover. She's looking more beautiful every day.

"My girl America, stop, can't you see
It's not the circumstances that determine who you're gonna be
But how you deal with these problems and pains that come your way
It's for you that I pray with hope for a brighter day
So I say, your deliverance is comin'"

                  --Mat Kearney, "Girl America"

"Land of the free, home of the brave
But Lord knows that we need plenty change
'Cause plenty chains in the past leaving deep scars
But when the sun come down we gonna be stars

The doors are locked where they once stood open
A wound of fear where we once stood hoping
The shattered glass where the bullets broke in
I'm looking for the place that I was born
I'm looking for a way to fix what's torn
I'm looking for America

I'm looking for America

Yeah, you know
Beaten red white and blue for the green we pursue
I'm still looking for you

America who are you?
Underneath the red blue and white?
America who are you?
I wonder who you are tonight
America who are you?
Is God still on your side?
I want to see a nation rise above the fear and fight that haunts these streets tonight

....

I'm looking for your honesty in skeletons
Do away with your ignorance and arrogance
America the land of immigrants
Check the green card and pedigree
Bless the Choctaw and the Cherokee
That we'll never see

I'm looking for America
I'm looking for a place to breathe in
A place I could call my home
I'm looking for America
I'm looking for the land of freedom
A place I can call my own"

--Switchfoot (Feat. Lecrae) "Looking for America"