"I always love my country. I am not always proud of my country."

I love that statement, I just wish pride in your country wasn't the generally accepted definition of patriotism. Otherwise people who are fed up with the immoral practices of the government wouldn't be harassed in the way they are. Have a happy 4th!

Very well written.  I agree with your sentiments.

I don't know, I was shopping with my little girl the other day and I saw the cutest shirt. It just so happended that it was a butterfly with an American Flag designed  on it, a few years ago I would not have gotten it, but I did. I felt free for the first time in my adult life to be patriotic. Never before in history has an African American man made it this far, he might be president. so I bought that shirt with the butterfly American Flag on it, and allowed my three year old little girl to be my statement to the world, in November we might elect a president that looks like me, even if he is not elected, someone with the same lineage as me, same complexion as me may be the head commander and chief, and for that I can be proud. This is no longer just "there America" its mine too! That's our American flag

Im a 29 year old American Hebrew women I am brown in color and african in orgin. My name Anela Claiborne July 1st was my birthday. today on the second of July I ponder the thought am I proud to be an American. In some light yes in some shadows no. The reason being we are forced to be American and we purchase our way to  say we are patriotic  and I want to be more America. A good example is July 4th Independance Day is a alien culture its American so it no reason why a hebrew american like myself would really be interested in the July 4th. We as hebrews are no independant we are dependant. We depend upon labor to buy things to display we are americans. LOL We really pay to be Americans is the Truth and it cost the enconomy.

I dont feel real partriot at this moment im a soldier fit for duty. I wanted to grow dreads and not relax my natural hair noticed they call brown americans hair natural when not relaxed or straight. Being that im in the military i cant have dreads or a fro or any trendy still thats not european american. Its like im forced to partake in culturs and ways forced by goverment in the usa U.nder S.ome Rich Typhoon Authority. Undecided at times like this with the hair issue and many more like pumping gasis when I am truly not proud to be an American.

Im a 29 year old American Hebrew women I am brown in color and african in orgin. My name Anela Claiborne July 1st was my birthday. today on the second of July I ponder the thought am I proud to be an American. In some light yes in some shadows no. The reason being we are forced to be American and we purchase our way to  say we are patriotic  and I want to be more America. A good example is July 4th Independance Day is a alien culture its American so it no reason why a hebrew american like myself would really be interested in the July 4th. We as hebrews are no independant we are dependant. We depend upon labor to buy things to display we are americans. LOL We really pay to be Americans is the Truth and it cost the enconomy.

I dont feel real partriot at this moment im a soldier fit for duty. I wanted to grow dreads and not relax my natural hair noticed they call brown americans hair natural when not relaxed or straight. Being that im in the military i cant have dreads or a fro or any trendy still thats not european american. Its like im forced to partake in culturs and ways forced by goverment in the usa U.nder S.ome Rich Typhoon Authority. Undecided at times like this with the hair issue and many more like pumping gasis when I am truly not proud to be an American.

I am a disabled veteran, USMC vintage. I don't celebrate on the 4th of July. Maybe one day I will. I harbor resentment  towards the United States for all of its crimes against my people. Period. It doesn't even matter that my people have often been willing accomplices in their degradation--the good ol' USA has been a breeding ground for African American self hate.

I am neither patriot nor nationalist. I can't be called bitter either. I just can't praise or celebrate what I feel is unworthy of praise or celebration. Despite that, I have hope. My children and my nieces and nephews WILL make a difference in this world, along with the many young people I have had the opportunity to minister to.

The canvas still has a wide expanse of space that needs to be filled. My sincere desire is that it will have a little purple in it, you know? All WILL be well. When that day comes, I'll celebrate the 4th of July in earnest. Notice I didn't say all will be perfect, because to expect perfection from humans is futile. I just believe I will KNOW when all is well. Until then, I'll keep painting...

You hit the nail directly on the head, when you refer to W.E. B. DuBois' reference to the double consciousness of African-American people.  Too often, those outside of our community would try to disregard this fact as something that we should "get over".  This country will never get past its racial divisions if this aspect of African-American existence is not truly and honestly examined and discussed.  

Check out my blog for creative expressions of exactly those sentiments and experiences.

http://xpatriotmusings.blogspot.com/

As a learn more about American history as I do genealogy I really see Dubois' double consciousness in full view. My research takes me to Jefferson's Albemarle County, literally and figuratively. I had to go there through reading books like Gary Willl's "Negro President", Joshua D. Rothman's "Notorious in the Neighborhood among other text. I also went there physically and left Monticello frustrated.

The D.A.R.( yes the D.A.R.!) this past May released a second edition of an amazing book: "Forgotten Patriots." From what read on their web site it is mostly facts and some stories thrown in for good measure about African and Native Americans who fought in the American Revolutionary War. I celebrate and commemorate their sacrifices despite how the country and nation looked upon them.

http://www.dar.org/library/publication.cfm#agr

I have traveled abroad a few times in the last 5 years and have friends and relatives that live abroad.  I would encourage everyone to travel abroad if possible.  My appreciation of the United States has increased ten-fold.  While the U.S. is not perfect, it seems so much more progressive than any country I know of.

Europe likes to think of itself as the most open-minded place in the world.  Look at the racist chants during soccer matches, would that happen at an NFL or NBA game?  In Germany, (a business trip 3 yrs. ago) coffee mugs with the racist image of a black mamie(completely black with big red lips and head scarf) were being sold in a tourist shop I visited.  A white co-worker of mine spotted one at our German branch.  She tried to explain why it was offensive but her German co-worker could not understand why.  Look at The Root's article about France.

Some of my African friends say they prefer the U.S. because what tribe you belong to does not matter here when you apply for a job or date somone.   A popular Kenyan joke was Obama could be elected president in the U.S. but not in Kenya because he is Luo, a minority tribe.  Women in general are treated better in the U.S. than many parts of Africa.

In Brazil, a woman wrote her dark complexion friends were not allowed in the front entrance of a high end condo building (where her mother lived) because of their skin color in the 90's.  The favelas or ghettos in Brazil are so much worse than anything in the U.S. filled with dark complexion people.

While we have one of the worst histories, we also have one of the best futures.  Don't ever forget but always move forward!

Good article

Goodness melissa - it must be so depressing to be a liberal and spend holidays moping about the past rather than celebrating successes and the future.  I don't think there is anyone else on this blog that is as relentlessly pessimistic as you, and I mean that as constructive criticism.

I'm more of the mind of Satchel Paige - for all of America's imperfections, it is the most equal country in the world and offers more opportunity than anywhere else.  Whatever your lot is, it almost certainly would be worse anywhere else on the planet.

How are you celebrating July 4th ?

If you're asking me, I'm hanging out with several of my neighbors and watching the city's fireworks from the roof of their house...and it's actually a two-fer kind of celebration because it's also my dog's birthday, so he gets a bag of pig ears.  

You?

Right on, as usual you are a Thanks for the blog

Right on thanks you are right on point. Thanks for the blog

Our constitution is more of a document of self-preservation than a doctrine of forsight. I think of the the 4th of July and its founding event in the same light as Christmas- There has to be propoganda (whether factual or false) to support the desire of the masses to feel represented. What the "Founding Fathers" wrote was a business plan with a mission statement that has been modified over the years to suit the every changing social climates in America.

How do you celebrate Independence Day?

First have a good barbeque! Second, follow the history of the Americas- Write a plan and excute it. Be flexible, don't be afraid to adjust the plan when needed. Protect what you have created. Expand your knowledge of the land you live in, its people, and its many social structures. Observe the happenings in other parts of the world. And lastly, surround yourself and your family with diversity!  

Arclight - How can you possibly attach a liberal tag to someone else when you used the term 'Most equal'?  You would have to be pretty liberal in your thinking to come up such a term.  Any good mathematician will tell you that EQUALITY can not be measured in pieces or degrees.  Either it's equal or it's not.  It is also that mode of thinking and rhetoric that will continue to have "OUR" country in such a dismal state when it comes to the treatment/affairs of it's non-white patriots.  How do we explain the fact that no one would be politically correct if asking Judaic believers to forget the Holocaust and its effects, but it is commonly believed that African Americans should move on from their past to be 'Progressive'. African American progressiveness has been directly linked to our ability to forget, but for others, progressiveness is defined in terms of not letting the world forget.  Equality will never become a reality with this pattern, especially when the death of more than 40 million has never become a greater tragedy than 4 million.  Should I accept your more equal philosophy, then I would also have to accept that 4 million is almost 'EQUAL' to 40 million.  The only time 4 million becomes more important than 40 million is when we are discussing the lost lives of Africans who made it and didn't make it (Middle Passage) to this "More Equal" country.

I agree with S. Paige's comments but do not agree that the USA has one of the worst histories.  Too many of you have forgotten what the world would be like today if our greatest generation of Americans had not stopped the Japanese and Germans in WWII.  I am of the opinion that what that generation achieved, the sacrifices they made and that the general population made could not be replicated by the current generation of whiners.  

Those of you that haven't traveled abroad to see how the rest of the world operates shouldn't be so quick to impune the USA.  Racism? Isn't there irony in the fact that the most out spoken race mongers are usually in the group supposedly being discriminated against and usually have something to gain by perpetuating the debate?  Send Ralph Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakan, Jeremiah Wright and others of that ilk to those parts of Africa where war lords rule.  I wonder how long they would last in that environment?

Those of you that keep referring to our government as though the government was some foreign country are part of the problem.  Get off your asses, participate in the political process, vote and become part of the solution.  If you don't agree with decisions "the government" makes, write your congressman and senators; do something.  Unfortunately, those of you that don't participate have become complacent and quite happy to sit back and crticize the government, the military, etc. but refuse to get involved in actively participating to change anything.  You should be ashamed of yourselves, not this country.

The USA is not perfect nor will it ever be.  But, like S. Paige says, if you think things are bad here, you can't imagine how bad they would be in another country.

Real4Life,

The controversy surrounding the Holocaust is not whether or not it should be forgotten.  There are those that profess the Holocaust never happened; that it was made up. I have never heard anyone on either side of the slavery discussion take the position that slavery did not exist; that it never happned.  The discussion of slavery is very complex and requires many hours of close examination of that era to be able to discuss slavery intelligently.

My problem with slavery is that the people responsible for starting the slave trade, the Dutch I believe, the slaves themselves and the people that employed the slaves have all been dead for nearly 200 years.  The issue is polarizing and while folks are engaged in a discussion about the immoralilty of slavery, the discussion of the here and now goes unattended.  I am not suggesting that we all forget about slavery anymore than I would suggest that we forget the immorality of how the Native Americans were dealt with at that time in history.  However, that was then and this is now.  Should we continue to hate the Japanese, Germans and Italians for their immoral acts of WWII?  Come on, give me a break.  Put all that energy into something productive like trying to end the slavery that still exists in the world; the slavery of women and children, in Africa.

America was not "more equal" in the 1700's but I have to agree with Arclight that America is "more equal" now.  If you think differently, you need to travel.

Djil, slavery may have ended over 200 yrs. ago, but segregation is not even 50 yrs. old. And, while it would be convenient to sweep slavery under a rug & revel in our progression, we still have a long way to go. Here it is 2008, & we have the 1st black candidate for a presedential election. We've had 43 white presidents. That's not equality, that's not even "most equal" as arclight would say.  Yes, this country has taken strides, but they are essentially baby steps. How much longer is it going to take for this country to really grow up??

I agree with S Paige and DJL.  There is NOTHING like being in another country to make you YEARN for America.  There may be glass ceilings and organized bigots but how many other country have federal agencies to combat them?  You won't find a single HR director who isn't concerned about equal opportunity.

An African-American WWII vet from Mobile is asked on Ken Burns' THE WAR: "Why did you fight?"  He felt that, as bad as things were for him as a Black man in the 40s, he was better off than his father and felt that America held the greatest promise for his children.  And now Obama's running for President; the single most powerful person in the world!

America COULD do much better.  We DO have our checkered past.  But could you go stand on your soapbox in Korea and rant against the government there?  The Consitution was applied with blindspots for non-whites and women, but it was absolutely groundbreaking for its time and the writers had the foresight to allow it to be modified.