Let's take back the flag, darlings. We, who are women of color and children of immigrants. So-called patriots have besmirched our red, white, and blue so it reeks of xenophobia and fundamentalism.
We refuse to be had. We'll tear our spangled banner free from its redwashed associations and put it back where it belongs: in the shimmering mosaic of an international, interfaith, interdependent humanity.
In order to form a more perfect union, let us reclaim what is rightfully ours. This flag is ours.
(This post was inspired by Roger Cohen's column in this morning's New York Times.)
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16 years ago
1 comment:
Ah, YES! My sentiments exactly! Why is it that as someone who has had to actually struggle to find my sense of identity and the right to be American - an American with a multi-faceted identity - I feel like I'm being cheated by all these people thinking that THEY and their values somehow exemplify the "true" America.
And I also like the end of the Cohen's article - such a simple concept, but so profound.
Dialogue, between Americans and beyond America, has been a constant theme. Last year, I spoke to Obama, who told me: “Part of our capacity to lead is linked to our capacity to show restraint.”
Watching the way he has allowed his opponents’ weaknesses to reveal themselves, the way he has enticed them into self-defeating exhaustion pounding against the wall of his equanimity, I have come to understand better what he meant.
Stories require restraint, too. Restraint engages the imagination, which has always been stirred by the American idea, and can be once again.
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