{"id":7663,"date":"2026-07-02T07:41:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7663"},"modified":"2026-07-10T08:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:02:21","slug":"america-at-250-patriotism-without-truth-is-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7663","title":{"rendered":"America at 250 \u2014 Patriotism Without Truth Is Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Julianne Malveaux<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I have never been much for flag-waving patriotism. I respect the rituals, and I understand why some people are moved by them. But my own relationship with patriotism has always been complicated, even chilly. It is difficult to be sentimental about a nation that enslaved my ancestors, exploited their labor, denied them citizenship, terrorized them for seeking freedom, and then asked their descendants to celebrate as if history were a parade instead of a wound.<\/p>\n

I do not even pledge allegiance easily. Allegiance to what? To two nations, one Black and one white, under whose God, divisible, with justice for some? We are asked to place hands over hearts and recite words that have never fully described this country. \u201cThe land of the free and the home of the brave\u201d too often reads, in Black history, like the land of the thief and the home of the enslaved. That is not cynicism. It is memory.<\/p>\n

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, we are sure to see fireworks, pageantry, speeches, flags, concerts and carefully choreographed displays of national pride. There will be much talk about freedom, democracy, courage and sacrifice. There will be less talk about enslavement, Indigenous dispossession, racial terror, women\u2019s exclusion, immigrant exploitation and the centuries-long struggle required to force this country to honor even a portion of its promises.<\/p>\n