Throughout history, Americans have used symbols and slogans in order to represent our values and patriotism. Unfortunately, society is constantly evolving and a few of our nation’s symbols do not fulfill my current understanding of our country. I believe that many of our symbols fail to include every american and our values. One of the most widely used american slogan is the Pledge of Allegiance. The pledge is an expression of allegiance to the flag and unity of all citizens. As a child, I was taught to recite the pledge of allegiance at school every morning which prompted me to place significance on the pledge. In contemplating the words of the pledge, I felt uncomfortable with the section “One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” because of its contradicting meaning. The first amendment allows for freedom of religion although our nations pledge could cause some americans to feel not included. I believe that the word god should be removed because it excludes people who do not believe in a god and in my experience, has pressured me to fit into a religion under a god. In the text “Invention, Memory, Places, the author explains how ones background can greatly affect their understanding of a topic, which leads to conflict. In teaching children to recite a pledge, they could misinterpret the true meaning of the words and feel obligated to believe in a god, especially if religion isn’t present within their family. Since children are so impressionable on their surroundings, it is important that they are taught the true values of our country. I believe that in changing the pledge, everyone can freely recite the pledge without feeling misrepresented by their own country. I find significance in the pledge and I think the meaning behind it is very unifying and necessary for our society but, should be altered to allow all americans to relate to the pledge.
Another important symbol of america that fails to include all americans, is the Declaration of Independence. This is the supreme law of the United States and symbolizes our values as a country. This document holds some of the most important laws towards equality but fails to include equal rights on the grounds of sex and sexual orientation. In 2015, gay marriage became legal but the LGBTQ community has struggled for many years to feel included in society which stresses the importance of including them in the document of the supreme law. I believe that another amendment should be added to the document that states equality for the LGBTQ community. My hope is that the inclusion of this amendment would bring awareness and unity towards our society and allow members of the LGBTQ community to feel safer in our country. In one of our class readings,”Who Am I? Who Are My People?,” the authors discuss how identity is created and the structural inequalities that exists within different communities. This prevents unity within our society and places privilege on “dominant” communities which fails to fulfill my understanding of america. The inclusion of all communities in our supreme law prevent the separation of communities and could potentially lead to ending the structural inequalities in our society.
Football is widely appreciated throughout american culture and can be seen as a symbol for our country. Football embodies the competitive american spirit and unity, but our nation’s capitals teams has a very controversial mascot. I believe that the redskins have a very offensive team symbol that promotes racism and the horrible events towards the indigenous people of america. The creation of an offensive mascot for our nation’s capital is very wrong because it is a horrible representation of our nation. In “Lovely Hula Hands”, the author discusses the appropriation of hawaiian culture for economic gain. I believe that this reading relates to the offensive nature of the redskins because the mascot is offensive to the native american culture and is being used for entertainment purposes and economical gain. Rather than understanding the history of native americans and how we affected them, their culture is being used as a mascot which is extremely unethical. I believe that the mascot should be changed to something that truly symbolizes our nation’s capital, such as the national bird, the bald eagle. I find it difficult to connect the face of a native americans to the symbol of Washington DC, as it is the land that was stolen from them and I think it would be wrong to continue to promote this offensive symbol. The name of the team is also a racist, offensive term towards native americans and I feel very uncomfortable about being a part of a society that supports the mistreatment of any community. I believe that changing the mascot and team name of Washington Dc’s football team is necessary in creating a safe society that does not promote the mistreatment of any person based on their race.
The adjustments made towards these american symbols help me express how I think our country should be represented and the ways in which it is misrepresented. I believe it is very important to stress the importance of american values and the inclusion of all citizens in order to create a unified society. I could never imagine a perfect society such as the one portrayed in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”. The author tells a story about a utopian society that must allow for the torturing one individual in order to live in world of pure joy. After reading the narrative of this story I felt that it is the perfect example of how people tend to seek their version of perfection. I believe that rather than striving for a perfect society, we should strive for unity and peace within society. The negativity behind these symbols may not have been intentional because of how often our expectations of society changes. We are often divided by our differences and my hopes for our future is that we can create a society that promotes equality and unity.
