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My New Class-Instructed Patriotism
By Denise Moorehead
Days after it aired, I watched a rebroadcast of the National Memorial Day Concert. The event has taken place on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol for more than three decades. It is not something I would normally watch. It was always a bit too rah, rah, armed forces anthems and military colors for me.
But this year, as I channel-surfed, I saw a reenactment of a WWII vet’s story. It was inspiring. The raw human element and life lessons imparted reeled me in. I suddenly realized that I was watching a rebroadcast of the show I had earlier pooh-pooed. This time, I stayed to watch more. As the hosts requested, I even clapped when I heard the anthem for the service with which I was affiliated. My dad served in the Air Force for more than 20 years.
I cheered for my Dad and all of the service members who gave so much of their lives – some who gave their life – to preserve democracy. They thought it would always be threatened by foreign adversaries. Now, many worry about the threat from within.
When I compare the National Memorial Day Concert to the recent Flag Day parade, supposedly in honor of the Army’s 250th birthday (that just happened to fall on President Trump’s birthday [wink, wink]), there are huge differences. One grew out of honor, commitment, dedication to something beyond self, and excitement. One grew out of hubris, dishonesty and grandstanding.
The concert did not pretend that the United States was ever a perfect union. While the words used were “pretty” enough to satisfy current leaders who want to literally whitewash history, the photos and videos of combat and stories of real service members gave a truer picture. Despite some less-than-honorable policies and practices throughout the years, the armed services have become more diverse and reflective of America over the centuries.
Diverse and Inclusive
The military services are, in fact, the most diverse workplaces in the country. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, more than 30% of service members identify as people of color and nearly 18% identify as female. The services do not maintain data on the percentage of LGBTQ2+ members.
So why am I writing about this on a blog about social class? All social classes are represented in every branch of the U.S. military.
However, those with limited class advantage benefit most from recent boosts to military salaries, free health care, and education and housing support. But centuries of biases codified into military policies and practices have left many of these recruits overrepresented in the lower ranks.
The military made great strides in building a workforce that was the most diverse in the world and was moving beyond that to make it more inclusive. But, the Trump administration claimed that the highest-ranking military leaders of color and female leaders were not competent. Along with the far-from-competent Secretary of Defense, the president fired these experienced and war-tested heroes and gutted policies that were finally opening doors for racial, ethnic, gender and class minorities. The backlash against trans people serving has been deliberately cruel.
These actions and policies are against everything I heard and saw in the Memorial Day celebration but were embedded in the President’s Flag Day parade. This is why I am suddenly woke in my understanding of why the day is so meaningful.
For years, I could not wrap my head around why I, the daughter of a Black man who received stellar evaluations but could not get a promotion to the next rank, should be even a smidge patriotic. My father had been accepted into a cutting-edge tech project 10 years into his military service, but was told by the officer in charge that “all a poor, non-commissioned ni***r could do for him was get coffee.” So, why my sudden patriotic bent?
The Right to Democracy
I realize my dad knew better than I did that, despite the deprivations he faced as a Black man born into an impoverished family in the 1930s, he had a right to democracy and had to fight to improve it.
That’s why social classionistas and other social justice warriors must see themselves as true patriots in these perilous times and champion democracy. If we don’t, the rest of the military – and country – will look like the reconstituted current Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top brass. The only people in charge will be white men, some whom are untested and underprepared but speak of the importance of meritocracy, a meritocracy they define as being white, male and loyal not to our country but to one man alone.
Too many people of all social classes, races, genders, etc. gave their lives for democracy. It’s my turn – our turn – now to refuse to concede patriotism to false patriots. As the Air Force motto compels us, “Aim high … fly-fight-win.”
Voting Is Radical
If you have not already voted – you are undecided, disillusioned, resentful or just plain tired of it all – realize that people like you who care about class justice must vote. It is an act of resistance. Why?
When the U.S. Constitution was adopted on June 21, 1788, voting was left to the states. With rare exception, only white Anglo-Saxon Protestant males, who own property and were older than 21 were allowed to vote.* So, only those with extreme class advantage were given this right, one that many of us have taken for granted for decades now.
But most of us also know that the right to vote was doled out to those of us with limited class advantage slowly and painfully. Black men were “allowed” to vote in 1870 but racist AND classist obstacles like poll taxes and literacy tests (even in states like Connecticut) kept most from doing so for generations. Of course, henchmen for the owning classes meted out violence on Black men with some class advantage who tried to vote.
It took until 1920 for women to “earn” the opportunity to vote, but Black women in many southern states were not able to vote until many years later. According to History.com:
“Native Americans—both men and women—did not gain the right to vote until the Snyder Act of 1924, four years after the ratification of the 19th Amendment and more than 50 years after the passage of the 15th Amendment. Even then, some Western states, including Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, didn’t grant Native Americans the right to vote until the 1940s and ‘50s. It wasn’t until the Cable Act of 1922 that women were allowed to keep their citizenship – and gain the right to vote – if they were married to an immigrant (who had to be eligible to become a U.S. citizen).
In Puerto Rico, literate women won the right to vote in 1929, but it wasn’t until 1935 that all women were given that right. Realize that literacy tests were extremely difficult to pass.**
And Asian American immigrant women were denied the right to vote until 1952 when the Immigration and Nationality Act allowed them to become citizens.”
If this does not convince you that voting is radical, you know that there are those with great class privilege in the United States who are using every advantage they have right now, money, access to media and social media, connections and more, to keep the rest of us from voting. According to the Brennan Center, states have added almost 100 laws restricting voting since the Voting Rights Act was rendered nearly toothless a decade ago.
I know you share UU Class Conversations’ passion for class justice and an end to classism. So, voting is something you must do, right? Happy voting. And thank you for ensuring that this right continues with people who care about it as much as you do
* A few states allowed free Black men to vote, and New Jersey also included unmarried and widowed women who owned property.
** https://www.history.com/news/19th-amendment-voter-suppression
