When we think of Patriotism we mainly think of people being honored among the military.Mostly white people we hear about in the news and we read also in this era we live in. What about the Afro-Americans who risked their lives in the wars we are fighting today and years ago? Never has there been a mention of a African-American soldier risking their lives in WW11 or on D Day in Normandy when they landed on the beaches. Maybe people have never realized in the Civil War thousands of Blacks have lost their lives fighting in their own country trying to gain freedom.What about the Tuskagee Airmen who made a great accomplishment in the fighting they did overseas for our country?Sometime a small mention of them we can hear nothing that great like when we hear about Dolittle or Billy Mitchell.Why I ask myself this question. Think about what I said.J

I think it has been pretty much recognized that patriotism extends to all ethnic groups. Just because one doesn't give the ethnicity of the person service man or woman doesn't mean it is just for whites. We are all aware of the contribution that many diverse groups paid in our freedom.

There was a show on the history channel about the native Americans contribution in the civil war. The accounts of the buffalo solders is pretty well documented also. Same with the Irish in the civil war etc.

Consider the Code talkers in the WWII. Now when one talks about patriotism it includes all genders and ethnicities. jUst my opinion. Of course I've always been ethnic neutral

dave

Well, there have been slights, but I am not sure it's all what you think. Today, I don't think they look at them as black or white, but as soldiers, which is what it should be.

Here, take some time to read up on these links.

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=4683

http://www.afroamcivilwar.org/

http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/05/05/38589-historic-soldiers-honored-with-memorial-in-huntsville/

http://www.blackhistoryreview.com/visit/BufSoldierMemKS.php

African American Medal of Honor winners in WW2
http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/mohb.html

Oh wait, I read that wrong.

Patriotism is not color-specific. I think you are using the wrong word here. Patriotism isn't just the military. I'm patriotic and so is my dad. I was in the military, he was not.

So, just because you may think of soldiers when thinking patriotism, doesn't mean that's the definition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotism
Patriotism is love and devotion to one's country

I agree ,I think their contributions have been grossly under appreciated... the movie Glory really resounded that theme. And the Tuskagee Airmen are another example.
BTW I loves Spike Lee's Miracle at St Anna... super movie with a surprise ending. (not to mention the first 5 min). These stories and examples need to be echoed many, many times.

Hmmmm... I get the impression that you are going a couple of ways here.

I don't think patriotism is that different from other abstract societal values like beauty or intelligence in that from the perspective of mainstream culture at large, those values tend to conflate whiteness with all of those good 'Merican values.

It's not just politicians that feed into that either. Sure, George Allen put it on display when he told an Indian-American citizen of these United States to come see "Real America." Sure, the tea partiers don't help the situation when they have no problem accommodating some really ugly birther/socialist/un-American nonsense. Yes, the Republican Party's overuse of trite platitudes toward "middle America" and open disdain for all but the whitest media outlets don't help the situation either, especially given their ridiculous claims to patriotism when they do so.

But also advertising and the wheels of our commerce marginalize anything outside of the American dream. I think our country's singular vision of what it is to be an American in our shared media is what is most damaging.

Patriotism seems to me to be in the eye of the beholder/the mind of the patriot. I find the "My country right or wrong" idea of patriotism to be exactly the opposite of real patriotism, but I know that many people think that's the only thing that defines a patriot.

Well I am a flag waving SOB. Big Time

However:

1 - I wave the flag, for which the country stands for.
2 - I wave the flag for all the people here legally, regardless of race.
3 - I wave the flag for all the people who died for our freedoms and for those who protect it.

Like DLC stated watch Glory,Saving Private Ryan and where is the Afro-Americans portrayed in these movies? This is not fair to the Blacks years ago. They have been terribly underestimated.I an not saying the whites do not deserve any recognition but surely the blacks never really received any years ago in the military.J

To be accurate those movies portrayed a segregated army because the US had a segregated army. There were no blacks in the platoon in saving Private Ryan because they were not there. They were in the mess tent making coffee behind the lines or in an all black platoon.

Putting a black in that platoon would be making stuff up. Next you will want to not show them smoking cigarettes.

The US Army was segregated in World War II. The Navy was segregated. You served in the mess or you were not on a boat.