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Karen Attiah: I still remember when my parents finally got naturalized back in the ’90s. My mom in particular really did adopt the form of patriotism that people think of today — adopting these ideas of what it means to be American culturally: being really interested in football, the Dallas Cowboys, super into NASCAR, country music. And also, we grew up evangelical Christian in Texas, where patriotism is very much entwined with what it meant to be Christian.
I think that the word “patriot” has come to symbolize a kind of White male defending America blindly at all costs from any and all criticism — as opposed to America as this idea where difference is celebrated and encouraged, where people have the freedom to self-actualize. I think America has beautiful ideals. But whether patriotism is the way to reach those ideals, I don’t know.
Jason Rezaian: For me, what it means to be American is not only an opportunity to self-actualize but an opportunity to intermingle with people from all over the world, and to do so in a way that is not necessarily validating of differences, but accepting of them. That’s what America is to me. And you can’t tell me that it was set up to be something else. I’ve experienced that in my life in many ways — though admittedly in diminishing ways in recent years. So while I agree that in some spaces the idea of patriotism has turned into this other thing, I just don’t think that that’s what it actually means. And I’m not gonna let anybody take away and redefine for me what it means to be patriotic.
Theodore Johnson: For me, being American is the only thing I can be. And I am proud of who I am and how I was raised, and of the people that raised me and the cultures that I belong to, so I’m extremely proud to be an American. And there’s not any other thing I would rather be. On the question of patriotism, my struggle there is a lot of patriotism is often uncritical.
It’s as if you are patriotic because you think your country is perfect or because you think your country is so exceptional that everyone else should get out of its way and allow America the spotlight. I’m not that kind of patriot. I’m the kind of patriot that very much loves the country that I was born in, belonged to, wore the uniform for. But I also recognize it has fallen very short. As a Black man who’s been pulled over 40 times by police in the 30 years he’s been driving, I know where the work this country needs to do is.
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