I hate America, but I love to hate it as well. Like this country has so many issues and when you come up with a solution for one thing you create five more. Like say if we had universal healthcare. Doctors would be paid less and work more, quality of care overall will go down, and several companies that make money from private healthcare will die and thus hurt our economy. Everything has a domino effect and it ANNOYING. At the same time I hate when foreigners hate on Americans and talk about how Americans are overly friendly and loud, like I am sorry that I am having fun with my friends and you aren't. Yet, I will look at the American diet and be like I don't understand how anyone can live in this country and subsist on hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, chicken tenders, and fries (I am not lying y'all if you look at any menu at any restaurant one of these things will be on there!!!!). Unfortunately I am blessed with being American as well. Like I am in such a difficult situation. My taste in food, music, and some of my values are Haitian. But I was born in the U.S. to a Black American mom who has lived here her whole life. But this too is confusing because I recently learned that some of the things my mom side of the family does isn't even black American, but Native Americans traditions (shout out to Des Moines University for teaching me this)!
How can I be in love with the country that has forced my family to forget their roots and enslaved them. Though I have been blessed with part of the American Dream as I am slowly climbing the social ladder, which isn't typically allowed for many brown people in United States. I say all of this to simply say that when we celebrate the fourth of July are really celebrating the birth of this country or is it another holiday that's forcing it's inhabitants to be disillusioned with all of its fallacies
TL;DR- america is wack
Aboni's Suggestions (I haven't done this in a while so voila)
Music- Pretty Little Fears
Movie- Parenthood (1989)...Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix are in it*o*
Hi I'm so behind on commenting on posts so sorry this is so so so late but yeah I always think about like. What the point of even celebrating the fourth is. I feel like a lot of people just like an excuse to celebrate and don't really think about the meaning, and then other people think that it's okay to celebrate an ideal of what America represents and what it has done for some people, but any kind of patriotism like that is just a step away from full-blown "nativist" (by which I mean American citizen, not actual natives obv) nationalism. What's the difference between patriotism and nationalism anyway? Are they two sides of the same coin? This comment is…
very insightful thoughts here! there's this quote by James Baldwin that I really like on this topic that goes "I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." Also, I saw this on a random street board in New York, but the fourth was also the day that slavery was abolished in NY :-o
it's always complicated 🙃
Keanu and Joaquin!!!! Gotta love them <3 But my take on the forth of July is that it’s a day to celebrate the birth of the nation. I don’t think it’s meant to disillusion people or to endorse the things wrong with America. Instead, it’s a day to unite all Americans, regardless of their backgrounds, and celebrate something they can all be happy about :)