Why I Pledge
why patriotism should be our number one priority
2008-06-11
By Terry Glover

A couple of months and many campaign stops ago, Michelle Obama uttered a “first time” comment that, to Black America, seemed innocuous enough to go unacknowledged. To most of White America, however, Obama’s expressing a heretofore uninspired pride in her country was an abomination. It seemed unfathomable that  any American citizen with red, white and blue blood running through their veins could be anything but head-over-heels in love with country and kin.

But we, the People, knew exactly what she meant; knew she was referring to the ambivalent feelings we have toward a government whose policies frequently work against us; toward a culture whose references often ignore us (even as it freely “adapts” our flow); to a republic which sometimes stands divisive and divided.

But a recent experience clarified for me the need to cleave to the country that has historically engaged us in a highly dysfunctional relationship.

At the start of my daughter’s eighth grade graduation, the attendees were asked to stand for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the first stanza (no overachievers in this crowd) of the national anthem.  As the kids launched into their improvised versions of each, I surveyed the parents for the level of participation. There were a third who, no doubt, considered themselves beyond the recitation of this elementary school fixture, another third that lip-synced their way through, Oprah-style (I love you, girl!), and the third who, hand over heart, dove right in. I happily swam among the latter, straining for those impossible high notes (damn you, Francis Scott Key!), secure in my knowledge of every word (which, as it turned out, was a teeny bit cocky.) But it felt good, and it felt right, because, without patriotism, where do we stand?

Where do we stand without pride of country, a birth right, the divine right, of every citizen born upon these shores? The instinct to opt out in protest of a system riddled with disregard is understandable. But that choice is, at best, a sorry solution, a conscious, but not conscientious objection that leaves us frustrated still, disenfranchised to a greater degree and without a seat at the table of good governance. True, we have not been given a fair shake, but that is not reason enough to walk away from the job, not reason enough to abandon our claim to every opportunity this country has to offer, our claim to America itself.

True, we did not come here by choice, wrenched from the very womb of civilization, but the reality is that, while we can acknowledge and, now even uncover our origins, we do not belong to Africa, nor she to us. We can romance the continent and feel a kinship with Africans, but at the end of the day, we are products of the contiguous 48, and we owe it to ourselves and our ancestors (the architects of our history here) to recognize.

Webster’s defines patriotism as “a love for or devotion to one’s country,” but it also must encompass a willingness to support and be inspired enough to create change for the better. So, just as we have strived to be twice as good, we must make a determination to be twice as patriotic. Meaning we cannot own the poetry of “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” (thank you James Weldon Johnson) without owning the dawn’s early light, the twilight’s last gleaming, the broad stripes and bright stars. We cannot vow to right the wrongs and injustices dealt to us as a people without pledging our unwavering allegiance to our country’s flag and the ideals that it stands for, even as we point to evidence of its use as a weapon against us. No group can rightfully claim more ownership, and thus, greater public citizenship than those who have put their backs into the building of this great nation. Our stake in this country is high; our responsibility to show up ongoing. The Buffalo Soldiers understood this, as did the 9th cavalry of the Revolutionary War, the infantrymen of WWI, the Tuskegee Airmen, the soldiers of civil rights, those who showed up at the polling places to keep Barack in the game.

The next time the opportunity presents itself, declare your allegiance, la voce forte, hand over heart to full participation in the future of this country. To do anything less would mean we have given up on the belief that, in America, all is possible. And, even in the midst of our impossibly stupid Bush-era blunders, there is still a desire to believe that, in America, possibility is everything.

Terry Glover is Senior Editor for ebonyjet.com. She writes about current trends and popular culture.