Patriotism In Michael Eric Dyson's Understanding Black Patriotism

From the first day that children enter a school system, they are taught how to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and how to honor and respect their country. Good citizenship should be an integral part of our lives so that we can live harmoniously in our society. This is what patriotism should symbolize in our country. However, in the article "Understanding Black Patriotism", Michael Eric Dyson reminds us that sometimes people can take patriotism too far and we can become very critical of people in America. He suggests that black people have been misunderstood and misjudged throughout history. In extreme cases, black people can be perceived as being unpatriotic and disloyal to America.

Dyson believes that many Americans lack the understanding of how much black people truly love and support their country. He believes that this can happen because people confuse nationalism with patriotism. These terms are very diverse and shouldn 't be used interchangeably. He explains, "Nationalism is the uncritical support of one 's country regardless of its moral or political bearing. Patriotism is the affirmation of one 's country in light of its best values, including the attempt to correct it when it 's in error" (54). Dyson is drawing a very big distinction here. Nationalism is a great sense of pride in one 's own country and seeks to put your country first regardless of whether it 's politically or morally acceptable to the people that live there. In nationalism, people tend to