After the tragedies of September 11, there’s been a sudden growth in patriotism. People have gone flag-happy, putting American flags on their windows and wearing them on their clothes.
I’ve never seen so many flags here. Before the attacks, finding a person with a flag in New York City was like searching for Waldo in a Where’s Waldo? book. Now it’s like every corner I turn in Manhattan, people are selling the flag or its red, white and blue byproducts.
Once Proud to Wear Flag
I’m not a flag waver, but I have to admit that at one point, way before the World Trade Center attack, I was proud to be an American. When I was around 4 or 5, my mother bought me a T-shirt of the flag.
The shoulder and breast pocket had this vibrant blue coloring with white stars over it, and red and white stripes streamed down the rest of the shirt. I loved to wear it, and felt so proud when I did. That flag shirt made me feel a little something extra, like I was part of something special.
But my pride for that star-spangled banner has become bruised as I’ve gotten older, and the attacks on America haven’t changed how I feel. I don’t feel right about wearing the flag because I wouldn’t feel like I was being real with myself. To me, the flag is supposed to represent fairness and equality for everyone, regardless of your race, religion or social standing.
Unfair Persecution in U.S.
When people say the flag stands for “liberty and justice for all” during our pledge of allegiance, I question the use of the word “all,” because it often doesn’t include women or Blacks or other minorities. So many people are treated unfairly in this country by the system or by other individuals.
I wouldn’t feel right walking around with my head held high for the U.S. when I’ve seen TV reports of Arabic people in the U.S. being persecuted, even though they’re supposed to be in a country where everyone’s treated fairly.
When it was discovered that Timothy McVeigh was the main suspect of the Oklahoma City bombing, there were no reported incidents where White people were victimized because they were of the same racial group as McVeigh. But when the World Trade Center attack occurred, many Muslims, Arabs and people who looked like they might be were persecuted because the terrorists were Muslim.
That’s just unfair. It appears to me that if you’re not part of the majority or the so-called “in-crowd,” then you’re open to discrimination and social brutality.
I look at recent history and see individual examples of bias and prejudice. I was revolted by the murder of Matthew Shepard, a young homosexual male in Wyoming, who was beaten to death in 1998 for being gay. Even though the men who committed the atrocity were imprisoned, it still doesn’t change the fact that Shepard is dead because his attackers objected to his right to express himself.
“In America, if appears to me that if you’re not part of the majority or ‘in-crowd’, then you’re open to discrimination and social brutality.”
Injustices Committed Upon Blacks
Then there are the wrongs that have historically been committed upon Blacks in this country. Blacks have had to deal with centuries of civil injustice spawned by slavery. And after years of segregation, sit-ins, marches, boycotts and being hosed down in the streets, we’re still struggling.
I’m disgusted by the instances of racial profiling and police brutality that have been documented. When I saw the Rodney King beating, I was 6 and puzzled by what happened to him. I first thought that I was watching a clip from the ’60s during the civil rights movement, when African-Americans in the South were beaten by police.
But in actuality, I was watching a mob of Los Angeles police officers beating an unarmed Black suspect. Later, the four cops accused of beating King were acquitted of assault charges by a state jury, while only two of the four were found guilty by a federal jury for civil rights violations.
The Diallo Murder
Eight years later, in 1999, Amadou Diallo was murdered by police. That really opened my eyes to the real world of America, a world where a man was shot at 41 times too many in the entrance of his home because police thought he had a gun. When I heard what happened, I was shocked, despite previous instances of brutality I knew about.
My mind was reduced to a ball of confusion, particularly after the outcome of the trial, in which all the officers got off scot-free because they said they believed their lives were on the line.
Even though our legal system says that officers can gun an innocent man down and receive no punishment if they think they’re in danger, I felt our court system offered no justice for Diallo and his family.
I can’t help but think that we as Black men don’t have the same rights as others. I’m saddened because sometimes it seems like you can’t be Black and American at the same time, sort of like Superman and Clark Kent; though they’re the same person, they’re viewed and treated as different entities by others.
Want True Freedom
So why should I stand for the American flag if it does not stand for me or my ideas of fairness for all? To wave the flag, I feel like I should be proud of all that it embodies and represents. While I know some say that minorities in this country are in a better place socially and economically than ever before, I can’t wave the flag because we’re still not receiving our fair share.
The American flag has been used as a mask to hide the true face of America, a face covered with blemishes of discrimination by the government and private citizens. We cannot fold over these pages of history where people are beaten or shot by individuals who’re supposed to protect them. We should remedy these problems before we wave our flags and declare that we’re in the land of the free.
The America I wish to live in is one where freedom and justice is truly for all. That’s the America I want. That’s the America I deserve!
- Race & Ethnicity
- Social Justice