For: Me … basicallY

I’m really aging myself with that post-September 11th, 2001 rallying cry.

Am I patriotic? Yes and no. I do love America 🇺🇸🦅🫡✨ I’m the granddaughter of a former WWII POW and I say that pridefully. Unfortunately, we’re not living in a united nation like how the US was after 9/11. America today is problematic and is moving backwards thanks to one crazy man, his minions on puppets and the laced Kool-aid drinking mass that follow him blindly like sheep 🙃😭🤧🥴✨

Being patriotic, to me, means honoring our nation’s vets and respecting our flag. I love our flag. I’m always taking photos of it with my phone whenever I see it blowing in the wind like an unbothered queen. At home, we have multiple flags on display and every July, I hang up a red, white, and blue USA decor on our front door.

But the flag I love and the patriotism I feel has been hijacked and rebranded by extremists, and it’s unsettling to me as a person of color. Because it feels like there’s racial undertones to it and it’s being used to stoke division and hatred. I wish it would stop.