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Tag: patriotism

  • Patriotism and Fulfilling America’s Greatest Potential

    Patriotism and Fulfilling America’s Greatest Potential

    As the school bell rang and Mrs. Davis corralled all of us kindergarteners into class, we heard a voice over the intercom: “Please stand and place your right hand over your heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance.” I looked around and everyone was up, facing the flag, right hand over their heart. I joined in: “I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

    I love America. Land of the free, home of the brave. One God. Liberty. Justice. I love this country! God bless America! I was indoctrinated with patriotism — devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country — before I could think for myself. I was unaware of the world around me, young and living in a bubble. At some time in an individual’s life however, the pristine feel of America’s bubble can burst. And when it does, the realization that hypocrisy is everywhere enshrouds them. Mine burst the very next year, after kindergarten, in 1991. I’m Muslim. But people really didn’t know what that meant. They just knew I had a funny name and my hat (kufi) was without a brim. What they did know about me though, was that I was Black. This awareness was with me from the youngest age. As a Black American born in Los Angeles, California, my eyes bore witness to things no child should see.

    Even though as a child I didn’t have the experience to fully grasp what I saw, the misery was palpable. Crack ravished the Black community unforgivingly. The prison industrial complex stole black bodies, devoured souls and eroded Black families. I lived amidst gross poverty, crackheads, drug dealers, HIV/AIDS, gang wars, and police brutality. And the excesses of law enforcement in our community wasn’t America just being “tough on crime.” As Ava DuVernay depicts in her documentary, “13th,” and as a Michelle Alexander details in her landmark book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” this was certainly a systemic attack on Blacks in America. America maligned and abused me and people who shared my skin color. America made us feel unloved and unwelcomed. I came to hate America for this.

    A Visit from the US Army

    There was no bubble outside of school. School was our safe space. And I loved going to school. I remember vividly the day our classroom was visited by three US Army service members. One of the guys was Black, like me. And he was strong. He told me to grab his bicep with both hands. He took me for a ride, lifting me up as he flexed his American-made military muscle. You could’ve signed me up right there. I wanted to be just like him. I was ready to “Be All You Can Be.” I raced home and told my parents about the excitement of seeing the strong army guy; my Pops snapped back at me with an unsettling look on his face, “Don’t you know they’re overseas killing Muslims?!”

    Now I had no idea what was going on, who was right or who was wrong. But I learned all too quickly that innocent Muslims were dying, and America had been involved in wars in Muslim-majority countries for some time. Even until today, America fights questionable wars in these lands. All while American Muslims are caught in a peculiar limbo of their commitment to their religion and their commitment to their country. As I grew older, I felt somewhat like a cockroach, those disgusting pests that everyone would be embarrassed to have in their house and would be quick to exterminate. A Black Muslim kid was America’s roach. And Muslims in other lands, brown and black skinned like me, seemed to be just as expendable in the march of America’s foreign policy campaigns. It seemed as though America couldn’t wait to crush me underfoot. Is it any wonder that my thoughts went something like this: Why should I be devoted to a country that’s not devoted to me? Why should I love a country that doesn’t love me? Why should I support and defend America if it wouldn’t support and defend me? I ain’t no roach. Forget America…

    Coming Full Circle

    I was grinning, ear to ear, so happy to be back on American soil. Seeing the red, white, and blue stripes on the U.S. flag as I walked into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C. thrilled me. Like a breath of fresh air— I was home. Home sweet home. This was after I completed my pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for Hajj in fall of 2012. Accompanied by my wife, my parents, two older brothers, and sister-in-law, I was returning after a twenty-four-day life-altering journey in the Middle East. And yet, here I was, with a renewed pride in being American. Being a Black American. Being a Muslim American. Being a Black Muslim American.

    Traveling with my family to Hajj, we felt like ambassadors to the world, representatives of a marginalized community. We engaged in conversations with various people about being Black in America and being Muslim in America. They were astonished by our life experiences, the adversity we face and perseverance necessary to survive, to overcome. They were in awe of our commitment to Islam and to America.

    While on the Hajj pilgrimage I reflected on my life’s journey and my life’s purpose. With regards to America, I recognized its imperfection and that it’s a continual work in progress. America has its share of flaws— injustices, immorality, and hypocrisy. At the same time, America has a beauty and grace, positive features that have allowed me and millions of other Americans an opportunity to strive to fulfill the American Dream. There are people around the world who hope to someday experience what America has to offer. In my own life, I enjoyed a good public education, played high school athletics and earned a scholarship to a Division-I school (Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics overseen by the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association), graduated from Washington State University debt free, and played football for seven years in the National Football League. And because America holds fast to the First Amendment, I have been able to speak openly about issues regarding the Black community and the Muslim community, and have been interviewed by major media networks like NBC, ESPN, NFL Films, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, and others.

    America’s ideals, by no means fully actualized, captivate the world. America is a land of opportunity, a place that has changed the trajectory of life for many people and many families, just like it did for my family and me. America was established on the ideas of thoughtful men who wrote profound words that the nation and all Americans should strive to embody — “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This creed articulates a vision and a hope. And so, patriotism for those with Black skin builds into its basic definition the need to hold America accountable for its actions, that they align with its ideals. And a Muslim’s role on earth is to worship God alone, and to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. What follows is that a Black Muslim American is not America’s cockroach. No — a Black Muslim American is America’s reminder of raw truth.

    To Be a Mirror

    A Black Muslim American can be a mirror that reflects America’s image back to itself, not to invoke shame, but to provide an opportunity to reckon with itself with honesty and courage, and to make the necessary improvements. The mirror provides America the opportunity to wrestle with its hypocrisy and live up to the principles and values envisioned by the founding fathers of this country.

    I’ve learned that patriotism cannot be claimed without truth-telling and action. Patriotism calls people to roll up their sleeves and get involved. If you don’t like the way something is, fix it with words or deeds. America allows its citizens to criticize the government. We are guaranteed freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, freedom of assembly, and so many more rights.

    I became a patriot as I benefited from America’s grand array of opportunity, becoming so even while witnessing and experiencing its hypocrisy and moral deficiencies. But my patriotism is not the blind love I had as a young child. My patriotism is more nuanced and complex now; but at bottom, it is a dedication to helping my country fulfill its greatest potential. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness— an America we all strive for. It must be an America, though, that demands liberty and justice for all. And I, a Black Muslim American patriot, strive toward that goal with love and sincerity.

  • For God and Country: My Perspective on Patriotism

    For God and Country: My Perspective on Patriotism

    I love Allah, and I love America. I love my religion, and I love my country. But can I have loyalties to both? Many Muslims in the U.S., including myself, have pondered this question.
    It was something I thought deeply about when I accepted Islam while serving in the U.S. Army. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, I was an army officer. I worried that perhaps my military career was not Islamically permissible. At the time, U.S. involvement in the first Gulf War had just begun with Operation Desert Storm well on its way. Operation Desert Storm was the U.S. military mission staged in Saudi Arabia to oust Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi army from Kuwait in 1991. So naturally I was asking myself, “What if I am ordered to deploy to this conflict and find myself face-to-face fighting against Muslims from Iraq?” It’s not like I would have had a choice if given military orders — but what about my faith? I had learned that as a Muslim it is forbidden to kill another Muslim. If this is my religion, then how would it be possible for me to serve both God and country as an American Muslim soldier sent off to this war? It was a matter of conscience. I also wondered about Muslim soldiers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Muslim countries in the U.S.-led coalition who were fighting alongside us. Would it be Islamically prohibited for them to fight in this war too since they were also Muslims fighting against Muslims? These questions were never satisfactorily answered.

    I did later deploy to the combat zone in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm with an air defense artillery PATRIOT missiles unit. Alhamdulillah, I was never confronted with a situation where I might have had to take the life of, or even point a weapon at, another Muslim. In fact, this was true throughout the entirety of my military career. However, I’m certain this has not been the case for every Muslim American who has served or continues to serve in the U.S. military. Nevertheless, for those who are U.S. veterans or military service members, most other Americans will honor us as patriots, even though we are Muslim. Fellow citizens have thanked me “for [my] service” and called me a patriot. Going a bit further, we know that there are American Muslims who have, as they say, “paid the ultimate sacrifice,” having lost their lives while fighting for this country. Several of them who have been killed in the “War on Terror,” either in Afghanistan or Iraq, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Images of their grave markers can be seen on the internet. America will forever honor these Muslims as American patriots. But what is a patriot? What is patriotism?

    Loving the Values and Freedoms of America

    The American Heritage Dictionary defines patriotism as “love of and devotion to one’s country.” Patriotism comes in many forms and is often associated with things like fireworks on the Fourth of July, a barbecue on Memorial Day, or a parade on Veterans Day. One of the most visual signs associated with patriotism is flag waving. In the “Make America Great Again” socio-political climate, proud calls are made for massive deportation of ethnic minorities and widespread travel bans to prevent persons from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Many people have been emboldened to wave the red, white, and blue in support of these kinds of policies, policies that seemingly contradict American values. But is this flag waving patriotism?

    America is supposed to be built on diversity, equality, liberty, and justice; the principle that “all me are created equal;” inclusion, not exclusion. The American way includes the freedom to speak your mind, the freedom to practice a religion, and the freedom to live the life you choose so long as it doesn’t break the law or infringe upon the rights of others. This is the America that I love, and this is the type of country I want to be devoted to. Loving these kinds of values, in my view, is patriotism. I would further argue that these American values run quite parallel to Islamic tradition, insomuch that when I uphold them I am also upholding my religion. In this way, I can love both God and country. I reject the notion that we should blindly love America just because it is our country, our team, some nationalistic rendering of “us vs. them.” Many wave the flag as a fanatic expression of American exceptionalism, losing any sense of what the ideal America is or what it should be, and they believe this to be patriotism.

    Renouncing ‘My Tribe Right or Wrong’

    During the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), one of the prevailing issues was asabiyah or tribal partisanship. Khalid Griggs, the Imam of the Community Mosque of Winston-Salem in North Carolina, indicates that under asabiyah, adherence to tribal norms, mores, and taboos was unquestionable, to the degree that the operational social norm at the time was “my tribe right or wrong.” Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) spoke out against this type of overzealous tribalism saying, as recorded in Sahih Muslim, “Whosoever fights under the banner of the blind, becoming angry out of partisanship [asabiyah i.e., tribalism], calling towards it, or supporting it, and then dies, he dies a death of [a person in the days] of ignorance [jahiliyah].” The Sunan of Abu Dawood further documents Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as saying, “He is not of us, the one who calls to partisanship; he is not of us, the one who fights for partisanship; and he is not of us, the one who dies by partisanship.”

    Today, there are those who function with the same type of mentality: “My America right or wrong.” Are our public institutions to blame? In public schools, children are taught to ritually stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. As adults we are conditioned to do the same for the National Anthem. When standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, our pledge “to the flag” and “to the republic for which it stands” also asserts the principle “with liberty and justice for all.” Yet, as Americans, we should be free to choose not to stand for the national anthem or even to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. In fact, most state statutes stipulate that school children be given “the opportunity” to recite the pledge. Various wordings regarding providing the time to recite the pledge but not coercing students include “to voluntarily recite the pledge,” “for those students who wish to recite the pledge of allegiance,” “have a right not to participate in the pledge of allegiance,” “no student shall be compelled,” and “any student who wishes to be excused…shall be excused.”

    Mandating or pressuring a citizen to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance is not liberty, not freedom, and not patriotism. However, not standing for the Pledge or for the national anthem is patriotic when it’s done to highlight the reality that our country is falling short of its ideals. Not standing in this situation is real patriotism because it’s done out of a love for America that demands that we, as citizens, recognize and rectify our nation’s shortcomings, and affect a path toward change. If people don’t stand simply because it is their individual right, religious or otherwise, to me the message here is also quite clear: they love America and they love the freedom guaranteed to its citizens. Wanting to deny individuals this freedom is the antithesis of patriotism.

    Taking a Principled Stance for Justice

    The controversy over NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s decision last year not to stand for the national anthem before games has taken the media and sports world by storm. Kaepernick chose to sit during the playing of the national anthem as his way of bringing attention to police brutality and the growing number of unarmed black men killed by police. Many of Kaepernick’s critics have scorned him as being unpatriotic. I disagree. His actions, which have drawn widespread support far beyond the world of sports, instead make him a patriot. His national anthem protest has further moved scores of athletes on other professional sports teams, as well as in colleges and high schools, to carry out similar types of social justice protests during the pre-game playing of the Star-Spangled Banner.

    American Muslim and former NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf created a similar controversy in 1996 when he refused to participate in the pre-game national anthem ceremony in protest over the role he sees America playing in global tyranny and oppression. While speaking publicly in Harlem recently, Abdul-Raouf stated that he uses the platform that Allah has given him to speak his conscience. In doing so, he continues to be critical of U.S. foreign policy in his fight for global justice, and encourages fellow citizens to represent what they themselves believe in. Academic historian Howard Zinn once noted in an interview, “While some people think that dissent is unpatriotic, I would argue that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In fact, if patriotism means being true to the principles for which your country is supposed to stand, then certainly the right to dissent is one of those principles. And if we’re exercising that right to dissent, it’s a patriotic act.” It is in this light that I view both Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf and Colin Kaepernick.

    As Muslims, we too must act or speak out when we see something wrong. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Whoever of you sees an evil must then change it with his hand. If he is not able to do so, then [he must change it] with his tongue. And if he is not able to do so, then [he must change it] with his heart. And that is the slightest [effect of] faith” (Muslim). Furthermore, Allah says in Quran, “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah…” (4:135).

    Islam requires us to take a principled stance for justice, and when we do we are being faithful to Allah and His commands. If our stand means we must be critical of American wrongdoing, then it is out of love and loyalty to the country and to its people who deserve better. Patriotism is not flag waving in blind support of your country, but it is engaging yourself in that which makes that flag deserving of being waved.

    James “Yusuf” Yee is a former U.S. Army officer who served as the Muslim chaplain at the U.S military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or ideological position of The Message International.

  • Patriotism: ‘Last Refuge of Scoundrels’

    Patriotism: ‘Last Refuge of Scoundrels’

    Since the generation of the U.S. Founding Fathers, the identifying qualities of a Patriot have evolved. At the time of the American Revolution, a Patriot was generally considered anyone who expressed disdain for the continued rule of King George III of England over the colonies. Colonials choosing to maintain a status quo relationship with British rule, prior to the American Revolution, were aptly referred to as Loyalists. As the fledgling country struggled with formulating a national identity independent from its former colonizer, the United States, ironically, wrote into its founding documents one of the very same principles that led to its violent rejection of British rule— the exclusive right of the aristocratic class to rule over the citizenry. Rather than establish a monarchy like in Britain, American Founding Fathers restricted participation in the electoral process to White, property-owning males. Most of the immigrants from Europe and enslaved Africans were eliminated from the electoral process by one or both statutory requirements.

    This nation must never accept patriotism being defined by freedom-denying, . . .

    In the ensuing years, “Patriot” became a rather generic label for any American citizen who devoutly, sometimes blindly, accepted the federal government’s designation of individuals or ideological groupings as “enemies of the state.” American Patriots were once identified by the federal government as mostly northern citizens who opposed slavery and its westward continental expansion. With the establishment of the Confederacy, 1861-1865, pro-slavery southerners considered themselves “true Patriots” as they conjoined the forcibly imposed practices of the trans-Atlantic slave trade with a misapplication of Biblical text to justify that despicable institution. The practice of chattel slavery in the United States presented a virtually unbridgeable dichotomy between pro-slavery defenders and abolitionists concerning the “Patriot” label. Abolitionists vociferously condemned slavery as being incompatible with American values. Apologists of slavery promoted slavery as a patriotic virtue.

    Following the success of the Russian Bolshevist Revolution in 1917, opposition to Communism became the barometer by which American patriotism was measured. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy single-handedly drove the nation into an anti-Communism hysteria with his baseless allegations that Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated every segment of American society. From 1950 until his death in 1957, no American was safe from being maligned by McCarthy and his political minions as Communists or Communist sympathizers. Thousands of law-abiding American citizens had their careers, families, personal relationships, and reputations ruined by the demagogic hysteria of the McCarthy era. From 1945 to 1990, the Soviet Union-led Communist bloc and the United States-led Western bloc were engaged in the Cold War, a hostile ideological battle for political hegemony. During this period, J. Edgar Hoover, the feared, over-reaching director of the FBI, insisted that public opposition to Communism was a litmus test for whether an American was aloyal citizen.

    Since at least World War II, support for our nation’s wars has been primarily predicated on appealing to the patriotic sentiments of the American public. Jingoistic propaganda and unquestioning media support of war have created a national consciousness that is supportive of militancy. Yet, millions gathered, to no avail, across the nation in 2003 in opposition to President George W. Bush’s intention to occupy the oil-rich sovereign nation of Iraq.

    The number of active anti-government militia groups in America has proliferated since the election of President Obama in 2008. Of the 998 anti-government militia groups listed in 2015 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, most of these groups identify themselves as “Patriots.” These white supremacist groups have appropriated the Patriot label to the extent that the term increasingly becomes synonymous in popular culture with white supremacists and anti-government xenophobes.

    Few minority populations in the U.S. have had a more complicated relationship with this country than the Muslim community, today being more distrusted and vilified as ever.Yet, according to the Department of Defense, there are presently 5,896 self-identified Muslims serving in the U.S. armed forces. There is empirical data to suggest that Muslims have fought in defense of this country in every war since the Revolutionary War. The first nation to recognize the newly-independent United States of America was the Muslim country of Morocco, ruled at that time by King Muhammad Abdullah. Included in the Continental Army serving under General George Washington were Bampett Muhammad, Salem Poor, and Benjamin Ishmael. Yusuf bin Ali (Joseph Benehaley) fought alongside General Sumpter in the Continental Army. Muhammad Ali ibn Said (Nicolas Said) was a member of the historic 55th All-Colored Regiment from Boston that fought in the Civil War in the Union Army. In more recent times, Chaplain Yusuf Yee served this country as a chaplain to Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, one of the most difficult assignments in the world.

    In 1775, the English writer and social critic, Dr. Samuel Johnson, was quoted as saying, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” This nation must never accept patriotism being defined by freedom-denying, bigoted scoundrels draping themselves in the American or Confederate flag to deflect from their true intentions to deny life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to some of America’s citizens.