As an immigrant and a citizen, my dad cared deeply about this country. Once, when he was speaking at a campus protest against Reagan’s accommodation of apartheid, a passing student noticed Dad’s brown skin and unique accent and called out: “go home!” He answered: “I am home.”
There’s nothing new about denying the belonging of those who call our nation to its highest values and criticize those in power. Those who launch such attacks reveal that they do not understand what is greatest about America.
The flag I saluted when I was in uniform, the flag to which we pledge allegiance, represents a nation that honors the voices of those who call for justice—and we know this to be among the truer acts of loyalty to the republic for which it stands.
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