Discussions about patriotism often make me uncomfortable. There is a saying that patriotism is having the belief that a particular spot of land is better than another simply because you were born there. I am inclined to agree that the concept is somewhat self-centered. Even so, I find that I still have patriotic feelings. However, I would not describe these feelings as unblemished. I am often critical of aspects of United States history and present-day social and political practices. To some people, this propensity for criticism of the country is an inferior patriotism. I would argue that the opposite is true.
Many people in the United States do not have the luxury of believing that the entirety of our nation’s past was good. Frankly, to do so would require a bad memory. For example, one of the only reasons that we do not typically refer to the centuries of U.S. Native American policy as genocide is because it worked. Our government effectively erased generations of culture and history and displaced millions. Now many Native Americans live in unfathomable poverty and have little political and economic influence.
In the current political climate, gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans have their rights often subject to popular vote. These citizens have to cross their fingers and hope that courts and law makers view them as deserving of all of the rights of citizenship. They have to endure political discussions on the national stage that involve calling them deviant and being told by their representatives that their family values are inferior to those of bigots. These are legitimate criticisms of our nation.
There is no good that comes from neutered telling of our history. Our country was founded on lofty ideals. The founders did not just read the great philosophers, but they modeled a nation after those ideas of liberty. To be frank, we failed miserably at first. All men were created equal if by men you meant exclusively males and then narrowed the definition further to mean land-owning white men. We championed freedom while enslaving a race of people. However, in a relatively short period of time, the descendants of those slaves went on to become congressmen, engineers, and secretaries of state. We expanded the definition of citizen to include women and racial minorities and they became Supreme Court justices. My patriotism lies in this more honest narrative.
Today, there is a lot of talk about patriotism and a return to what the Founding Fathers intended. It is important to remember that the U.S. Constitution was an evolving entity from the very beginning. The states would not even agree to ratify it without the addition of ten amendments. The framers built in mechanisms that allowed for it to change as our nation changed. It is perhaps most important for us to remember that the founders were not infallible and all of their intentions were not good. Being a black man, I have personally benefited a great deal from our nation’s steering away from the original intentions of the Constitution. I am grateful for all of the amendments that had to be added in order to grant me the rights of citizenship. As a gay man, I am still waiting for the rest. If I have patriotism, it does not come from a narrative that says my country is perfect. It comes from a belief in the struggle to perfect it.
