Memorial Day

                                                                                       Memorial Day
                                                                                                   and
                                                                           Patriotism v. Nationalism
 
            The Thursday before Memorial Day weekend we had the pleasure of seeing our granddaughter’s Third Grade class perform as a choir, treating  their audience to an array of songs honoring Memorial Day, Flag Day, and the 4th of July.  They started with The Star-Spangled Banner and proceeded to sing: Stars and Stripes Forever,  All American Me and You,  This Land is Your Land,  You’re a Grand Old Flag, Yankee Doodle’s Pony, God Bless America, and Let’s Hear it for America.  Each song was introduced by a student explaining the song’s significance as part of our patriotic heritage.  It was a lovely afternoon, and the students  (particularly our granddaughter) did a great job.  I found it interesting --- and appropriate --- that they noted those three days, and it got me wondering if anyone had discussed the lyrics of the songs with the students --- or provided any historical background as to when they were written, etc.  When I questioned our granddaughter about it, she said they had talked about it a little, but not much.  No surprise there --- the concert was about entertainment, not a history lesson.  And certainly, I remembered learning some of those songs as a boy.  I surprised myself recalling lyrics to songs I recognized from Jimmy Cagney’s Yankee Doodle Dandy movie--- the Hollywood version of George M. Cohan’s life.  But, more deeply, I looked at how young these children are and how “patriotism” is superficially indoctrinated into all of us (and I certainly don’t believe the U.S. is the only place this happens).

            When I was teaching, I often used Socratic Seminars as a teaching strategy.  For those unfamiliar with the Socratic Seminar process, here’s an explanation from the Facing History and Ourselves project:
A Socratic Seminar is a method to try to understand information by creating a dialectic class with a specific text. In a Socratic Seminar, participants seek deeper understanding complex ideas in the text through rigorously thoughtful dialogue. This process encourages divergent thinking rather than convergent.
 
In a Socratic Seminar activity, students help one another understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a text through a group discussion format. Students are responsible for facilitating their group discussion around the ideas in the text; they shouldn’t use the discussion to assert their opinions or prove an argument.
Through this type of discussion, students practice how to listen to one another, make meaning, and find common ground while participating in a conversation.
 
               The “text” of a Socratic Seminar can be a piece of writing, a recording, a snippet of video ---- anything that provokes thought and requires analysis.  Seminars are a wonderful method for probing deeply and looking for the “truth” of a text.  The text I would often use to introduce teachers (at workshops/conferences) or students (in classes) to the method was The Pledge of Allegiance.  What I discovered, not surprisingly, is that, while most folks can recite The Pledge, very few had ever taken any time to examine what it is they are saying.

And I believe that’s true of the songs the Third Graders were singing.  The overall sense we get from the words of these patriotic texts (whether songs or the pledge) is that America is a wonderful place, the “home of the free and land of the brave.”  What I would contend, though, is that this subtle, unconscious indoctrination promotes a blind --- and, yes, thoughtless --- nationalism that is often mistakenly called “patriotism.”  And I think it’s worth taking some time to examine the difference between those two concepts and how we need to encourage students --- as well as adult citizens --- to examine what we’re singing/saying when we’re asked to “stand and honor America.”

            The definition of patriotism is:  “the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to a country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, political, or historical aspects.”   By contrast, nationalism is: “identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations. “ It’s important to note that patriotism is an “attachment” to your country and may well include “feelings for” its ethnic and cultural characteristics.  Nationalism, in our current context, not only means the “exclusion or detriment . . . of other nations” but also includes many current U.S. citizens (or immigrants) originally from “other” nations.  The Christian Nationalism that dominates the MAGA Republican party is markedly exclusive and promotes the “detriment” not only of other nations but also any citizens who may have hailed from those nations.  It is important to call this out --- this is definitely NOT patriotism.
           
                     The connection between what MAGA claims as “patriotism” and those adorable Third Graders singing patriotic songs is that the MAGA nationalists simply apply the superficial words from those songs (or the Pledge) and claim it’s “patriotism” when, in fact, it is a hollow and self-serving claim.  The MAGA cult believes “liberty and justice for all” only applies to white Christian nationalists --- those they see as “true” Americans.  Listen to Trump’s railing about “vermin” and immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the country and the MAGA notion of “patriotism” is clearly a form of “nationalism,” aimed at the “exclusion or detriment” of the “Others” (Black, Brown, Yellow, Red, et al) in our nation.  The MAGA cult will glibly cite phrases reminiscent of the songs the Third Graders were singing --- with the possible exception of “This Land is Your Land” because, clearly, their belief is that “This Land is MY Land.”
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            The next time you are asked to stand to “Honor America,” please remember to actively listen to the lyrics being sung --- and connect them to our nation’s history.  I don’t find “The Star-Spangled Banner” to be (musically) very inspiring but when I actively  listen to the lyrics, the story is quite compelling --- and the Battle of Fort McHenry is vividly depicted.  I don’t like the way MLB, since 9/11, has jingoistically asked us to “Honor America” during the 7th inning stretch but, again, if you actively listen to the words (“and crown they good with brotherhood”) the appeal is to patriotism, not nationalism.  The second verse of “American the Beautiful,” by the way, notes “Confirm they soul in self-control/Thy Liberty in Law!”  A nation of laws, not men --- which is what true patriots, not phony nationalists, will have to defend this November by turning out the xenophobic, racist MAGA cult once and for all.