Every now and again, a friend sends around a post reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, affirming same, and encouraging others to post and share. "I grew up saying 'the Pledge' every day, and that's what once made America great," they suggest to the rest of us. Is that so?
Well, I grew up saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag every day too, and I grew up to have my heart broken when I realized that "liberty and justice for all," were just empty words. They simply didn't apply to me. 'Justice for all'? Since when?
When has there ever been liberty and justice for all in the USA? When I voice my curiosity at the perennial ability of Americans to suspend disbelief, and encourage rote memorization and repetition -- in a very chant-like manner I might add -- of a solemn oath to something that does not yet exist, I invariably get a response expressing horror at what this country is becoming; and bemoaning "what this country once stood for!" Something like that.
“What this country once stood for?” What does that mean? Let’s go back to the beginning when USA stood for slavery. Is that when we were great? Separate, but equal?
When, I ask you, was there a time that liberty and justice were in abundance for black people, whose labor was stolen for generation upon generation? And as if that weren't enough to ensure generations of extreme poverty, of the flesh as well as the Spirit, the finally "free" generations of Americans of African descent were red-lined out of the best housing and education for their families. Is that what America once stood for that is worthy of our praise?Certainly, none of us can pretend that 'liberty and justice for all' were even remotely present in the metropolitan area of St. Louis, MO, this month of August, 2014; wherein -- not once, but twice within a two-week period -- a young and unarmed black man was shot down like a rabid dog in the street by a white police officer. Shooting young blacks is not, unfortunately, a rare occurrence in these United States. What happened in Ferguson, MO and a neighboring community a few miles away, happens twice a week here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, that brainwashes its children into pledging to the falseness of "liberty and justice for all."
So, how about westward expansion, or what the white man calls ‘manifest destiny’? The indigenous call this the American Holocaust, in which Andrew Jackson and his racist ilk destroyed more lives over a greater period of time than Adolf Hitler could have ever dreamed of during his much shorter reign of terror. Those were the good ol' days, huh?
How about WWII, when FDR, one of my heroes,
interned Japanese-American citizens for no other reason than their ancestry? And
even while many of those interned and ripped-off and dehumanized had family
members fighting for this “pledge,” that clearly did not apply to
them? Liberty and justice for all?
The truth is, and unfortunately a fact of which most privileged white people
remain blissfully ignorant, that this “land of freedom” has NEVER lived up to
the words in that pledge – NEVER! It is only within the last 50 years that this
nation has even begun to walk its talk, and falteringly so, I might add. And only
within the last few years have non-heteros even begun to enjoy basic human rights
that white heterosexual men have always taken for granted, here in the land of the free.
So, what this country “once stood
for” is the right of white mediocrity and ignorance to enjoy success at the
expense of “the other.” White men, especially those with means, have always
enjoyed an unjust enrichment because they were able to grossly, and often
violently, and usually legally, exploit everybody else. Teaching children that
we are what we have never been is just white-washing the true American story.
Perhaps, if we taught children that this standard is what we strive for, and
have often failed to achieve, then it might be worth the time it takes to say
the words.
This fall semester of school, it is estimated that nonwhite, ethnic minorities will make up 50.3% of the public school population. I would prefer that these children be taught that this pledge is not reality, but an ideal -- a good one, one worth striving toward. And in so doing, teach our children that what makes this country great is that we are the only one that has continually strived to create that, "more perfect union," and have continued to do so for 238 years. That striving is what separates us from the rest of the world, not memorizing a cheap fantasy.
I don't hate the Pledge, or my beloved country. I love the USA enough to pledge to continue to strive toward an idea of liberty that, to this very day, is extraordinary and forever revolutionary; albeit as imperfect as are we humans.
What makes the United States of America great is that we keep moving forward, chasing an ideal worthy of each and every one of its citizens. Now that is something worthy of us.
Irene Daniel Copyright 2014 All rights reserved
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