Resenting My Patriotism: A Black Perspective

Etsy ©

All patriotism is not created equal. And as messy as it is to discuss, because it inevitably leads to incendiary comparisons and stokes racial rivalries, it begs to be acknowledged at times like this. America is entering the season of raucous celebrations of self-congratulation and this needs to be said: the distinction between White patriotism and Black patriotism is stark and instructive. This is another one of America’s inconvenient truths that we ignore at our peril. Trigger Warning: the analogy employed herein will be upsetting for some readers. While traumatic child abuse is not detailed herein, it is discussed. Because it has to be. The message being delivered would not be as poignant without it.

PART 1

America is a horribly abusive mother. The worst I’ve ever seen. And she has many children from many fathers; strategically dividing them into groups to maximize her ability to manipulate them. The group a child is assigned to defines her relationship with them. Like so many abusive mothers with children of different fathers, America shamelessly plays favorites. Privately delighting in her public denial that some of her children are yearning for the love she is cruelly withholding, she has mastered the diabolical art of gas-lighting: convincing her disfavored progeny and anyone witnessing the family dynamics that her neglect really…