With the Fourth of July observance upon us, I believe it is very appropriate to give some effort and opinion to why this most uniquely American holiday should be venerated by all American citizens, regardless of race, creed, or color. Furthermore, I believe that Old Glory, the symbol of our nation and republic, should be properly respected and saluted.
This column today is not intended to cite or criticize athletes, like Colin Kaepernick and others, for their constitutional right to take the knee during the playing of the National Anthem or the refusal of others to salute or observe the flag in a proper and patriotic way.
However, I want to go down on record as saying my disagreement with these people and their right to protest in a way that I disapprove of does not mean that I feel disdain for them.
Perhaps a greater detriment to the strength, sanity, and survival of our union is to force people to relinquish their constitutional right to be wrong in the estimation of the majority, when their conviction and conscience dictate otherwise.
I am a staunch believer in patriotism and that every red-blooded American should be patriotic and loyal to this nation.
Patriotism and loyalty should not be an option for any citizen of this nation, regardless of religion, race, or any other group distinctions and loyalties.
Being a Christian, an African-American, or identified by an appellation, does not excuse or exempt my responsibility to be patriotic to this nation.
In my study and extensive travel to many parts of the world (where countries have different types of governments and cultural norms and practices that are often quite diverse and strange to our way of doing things), I have learned firsthand that there is absolutely no place like home.
Since experience for learning some things is the best teacher, I believe that if certain Americans (who are unpatriotic and embrace un-American ideas) would be fortunate enough to spend some time in other countries, especially the ones that oppress their citizens, they would quickly change their misguided opinions and opposition to our nation and its form of government, which is a democracy that affords them the right to disagree and protest.
What other country in the history of the world could have defeated the most powerful nation in the world at the time to become an independent nation other than America?
Can anyone dispute or deny that it was divine providence, merged with colonial patriotism, that ultimately gave a ragtag militia the victory over the British redcoats, the most organized and powerful army in the world?
I am a patriot because the people I mostly admire in American history were patriots. Men like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy were patriots. All of my most revered heroes of the black struggle for freedom and equality were patriots. Champions of the struggle like Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman were all patriots. Then how can I ever forget the patriotism of the great civil rights leaders of the twentieth century, like Booker T. Washington, Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, and of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. So I am inspired and inundated by a great cloud of patriots that have helped to lay the foundation of my patriotism.
To add to the number of these patriotic heroes and icons, who have helped to shape my stand on patriotism, is the fact that my father, as well as a few other veterans of World War II that I am quite familiar with, were patriots.
Also, this fact was instilled in me during my three year hitch in the army where I served in a special artillery unit that specialized in tactical nuclear weapons.
Apart from being vetted in order to qualify for this special unit that required a top secret clearance, one had to demonstrate an unquestionable loyalty and patriotism to this nation. So I am a patriotic American who salutes Old Glory when and where ever the occasion calls for it.
As a matter of information, we started our “At the Feet of Gamaliel Dynamic Institute” for young people from ages fifteen to twenty-five with saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. And yes, I stand with my right hand over my heart at football games when the National Anthem is played by the band.
I am a patriotic American and I make no apologies for it. God bless America!