Are you proud to be an American?
Where only some of us are free…
by Nora Smith
American is a weighted word
Saturated in implication
expectation and
manipulation.
But it’s not alone.
Not in torment
or in grief.
We all have had
our parts to play
for the world is old
and I am young.
But I struggle to be proud today.
I have often struggled with the 4th of July. I find it hard to feel patriotic for this country of contradictions, it’s hypocrisy and false grandeur.
‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…’ Did your children have to say this in school? I memorized the words and could repeat them mindlessly long before I ever grasped their meaning. Once I did, I stopped. I felt chocked by the words; their smooth delivery oozed like honey and got stuck in my throat. Lies are like that – sticky and overly sweet.
John Adams, co-author of the declaration of independence and our second president once said in reference to the colonists’ treatment by the British – “We won’t be their Negroes.” But the revolutionary war began with the death of a black man, Crispus Attucks, one of 5 protesters to die in what was later named the Boston Massacre. 250 years later, we’re still protesting. This is our history. And let us never forget; Adams sided with the soldiers.