This is My Country Too

Black people have bled and died for the country they helped to build since 1619.

40,000 Black soldiers died during the Civil War, 30,000 from disease and infections.

Issue #78 OpEd July 4, 2022

I know how you feel. I do. Sometimes I have to wonder what exactly is July 4 supposed to mean to me except for a day off work and maybe some good barbecue. 

But Independence Day? 

Whenever I see some (always a white) guy driving by in a truck with a flag emblazoned on the back window, sometimes with an eagle stuck in there for extra effect, I get the shudders. Same reaction when I drive through certain suburban neighborhoods outside of The City and see those stars and stripes waving over the porch (sometimes two or three flags for the same house). 

And I’m not talking about just for July 4, I’m talking year ‘round. For some, every day is flag day, a day to let everyone know just how proud they are to be an American – and how much more American they are than you.

But then the question becomes, what exactly does being an American mean for the guy with the massive flag on his truck, or for that uber-patriotic suburbanite? And why do you never see flags waving in the ‘hood? When was the last time you saw a flag painted on a truck owned by a Black person? Doesn’t matter if they’re from the ‘hood or from a high-class area; how many times have you seen a flag anywhere on a vehicle driven by somebody Black?

And why were there so many flags on display on January 6, 2021, during the insurrection and attempted coup? Flags as masks, flags with knives attached to the flagpole, flags to beat police officers with, flags on hats, flags on shirts, flags on bare torsos. Are these the people July 4 is for?