(VitalNews.org) – In a recent interview on NPR, a Marquette University philosophy professor said he feels “anxious” when he sees the American flag, The Daily Caller reported.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s NPR station WUVM published an interview with Professor Grant Silva on Flag Day last Wednesday in which he argued that for “non-white” people, the American flag can trigger anxiety.
WUVM writer Teran Powell claimed that in recent years, she has analyzed what the American flag means to her as a black person, especially in light of the rise in “extremism” after Donald Trump’s presidency.
Powell explained that these “extremists” use the American flag to show people of color that they are not “real Americans.”
Powell said she discussed with Professor Silva the “challenge” facing her when she sees excessive displays of American flags and asked him if he has had similar experiences.
Silva recounted as a child seeing bumper stickers for sale at a gas station with “Immigrant Hunting License” on them and how that made him feel unsafe as a Mexican American.
He told Powell that he too gets “a little bit anxious” when he’s around “excessive imagery” of the American flag, which he said is a sign of patriotism slipping into nationalism. He claimed that “flag waving” and “my country – love it or leave it” is just “a hop, skip, and a jump” away from nationalism.
Silva claimed that for a “non-white person,” it is hard to display the American flag “in a proud manner” and argued that the American flag will not represent a sense of belonging for people of color unless they are “willing to abide by the assimilatory paradigm” that some flag-waving Americans promote.
Silva bemoaned that to have a sense of belonging in America, he is expected to assimilate. He argued that national belonging should only come when a country accepts different people who see themselves as a “recomposition of the whole.”
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