It feels like throughout my classes this semester, including with my 210 class with Dr. Coetsee, I’m always learning more of the atrocities committed by Americans, for the sake of itself and its comforts. I was appalled at the details of how indigenous people were treated by Columbus and other colonizers, it was disgusting how dehumanizing it was. Earlier this semester, at a museum trip with my 210 class, we also learned more about black slaves during the trans Atlantic slave trade. There was an old layout of how slaves were stacked and kept in like domino pieces on the ships … and it was difficult to look at.

But it doesn’t stop there! Throughout modern times, the American government has sabotaged nations in Latin America, with covert operations taking place to ensure America remains a dominant force in these nation’s economies, even if at the result of civil war and lives lost. Even very close to home, as a Bangladeshi-American, America offered weapons and money to Pakistan during our Independence War, despite Pakistan being the one to massacre Bangladeshis and our educated. Why? So that America could build a connection with China, who Pakistan was in good terms with at the time.

With all this information on our minds, how can we say that we are proud to be Americans? In our 210 class, we spoke of sentimentalism vs. cynicism in regards to our national identity. On one hand, we cannot create a fantasy of what our nation is built on and who is has served. However, if we completely become cynical and remove ourselves from our American pride, we lose all the good the community can offer us. The power we can hold as a united national community of citizens to defend each other. The balance isn’t easy, and working through these readings, it becomes harder and harder.