Each week on The Newsfeed, host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists dive deep into one topic and provide impactful reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.
The United States will soon mark 250th anniversary, at a moment when many of its people feel divided, fearful, and concerned about the future of the country.
With that in mind, for the last few months, we’ve been asking people we’ve interviewed for the show this question: what does patriotism mean to you? All this week, we’ll be sharing what some of them said.
Elle Cree
Here’s the response from Elle Cree, a veteran and trans woman who we interviewed earlier this month for a story about her move to Washington from a red state.
“Patriotism, to me, is being able to stand up for your values, to be able to stand in a city square and say, ‘The emperor has no clothes.’ It's an old story. And to be able to do so without fear of retribution, without fear of retaliation. This country was founded upon people that held up their hand and said, ‘Enough!’ We have the ability to do that. Our voices cannot be silenced.
Patriotism is treating everybody with respect. Everybody with dignity, and to value each person's opinion. I share that value and I expect others to give that same respect to me. That's what being a patriot is.
It's not about putting flags on your car. There's a John Prine song that I love, and it's ‘Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore.’ And by God, that's what this is about. It's not about putting something up. It's not about being somewhere on a Sunday morning. It's about every day taking care of everybody that's around us and making sure that everybody has a voice at the table,” Cree said.
