I didn’t grow up attending protests, but I did grow up with a strong sense of patriotism and a pride in a country branded as “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.
My father was a fighter pilot in the Vietnam war, and then a test pilot for the Airforce for much of my childhood. Protests were not something he encouraged nor that he considered necessarily patriotic. In his time, he watched his friends get conscripted to fight for democracy. He witnessed many of the same friends and comrades get shot down and killed while they battled against communism beside him. He didn’t have a choice, but he was brave and rightfully proud. He did his patriotic duty. When he was done, he came home greeted by a sea of protesters ready and willing to demonize him and my mother as they left the airport with a 3-year-old “me” in their arms.
While my father was deployed in Vietnam my mother lived in a country filled with crowds of her peers, and daily images on TV determined to villainize those fighting for a military deployed to battle a communist threat far from our shores. She did this while raising a toddler on her own and worrying every single day about the return of her husband. She didn’t have a choice. She was doing her patriotic duty.
As time went on my parents remained loyal and patriotic Republicans. They raised their children to respect authority, but to also be brave enough to stand up for what is right. They raised my sister and me to think for ourselves. To courageously fight for the right to do anything we set our minds to, and to be fearlessly proud of our convictions.
To this day my father refuses to celebrate or even acknowledge anything with Jane Fonda in it. To them she represents the face of the ugliest side of free speech during a time when they were putting their own lives in danger for a country they loved. Both my parents are loyal Republicans and still consider Reagan to be one of the greatest presidents of their time. However, they did not force either me or my sister to adopt their political beliefs. To be fair we really didn’t talk much about politics at all. But it was intuitive that my parents would respect us even if they disagreed with our political choices. They believed deeply in the constitution, freedom, liberty and justice for all. They raised their children to recognize right from wrong and to think for themselves.
For that I am eternally thankful.
Because of my upbringing and my parent’s experience I recognize that there are multiple sides to every protest. I can understand and acknowledge the hurt my parents felt in the 1960s and 70s when their own countrymen and women seemed to blame them for choices they did not have. When their peers belittled the sacrifices they made to fight for the very freedoms the protesters were taking advantage of.
But I also recognize the protestors using their First Amendment to be heard by standing up peacefully for civil rights, speaking out loudly against the Vietnam War, and fighting with their collective voices for women’s rights paved the way for what made ALL of our lives collectively better. It made sure ‘We the People’ were heard. It had an impact on policies, and it created much needed change by enabling our collective voices to break through. It empowered many more to feel safe that they can and should join in with their voices to help bring the change they wanted to reality.
It wasn’t until 1974 that women finally had the right Federally to have their own bank account without a man co-signing. The ability to freely speak out for what is right and the protests in the 70’s made this possible. The widespread protests against the Vietnam war significantly contributed to the end of the draft and conscription in 1973. I don’t have to fear that my own son will be forced to relive the angst of fighting in a war he does not support. And of course, preceding these events were the Civil Rights protests that directly influenced the abolition of the Jim Crow laws.
Today many of these freedoms the generation before me so loudly fought for are at risk. Women’s reproductive choice and the Civil Rights act of 1964 are both being destroyed. The Republican Congress has abdicated their role as a guardrail against a very unpopular agenda being forced through by a corrupt administration dead set on weaponizing the DOJ and politicising the military. Putting the programs and the policies that make our lives better and that our representatives in congress fought for at risk. Programs like affordable healthcare, food assistance for the neediest, educational support for the learning disabled, and those programs and government departments that enforce science-based regulations to assure food safety and protect public health. Not to mention the loss of due process and the militarization of ICE that is threatening citizens in cities across our nation.
These are the reasons I march. These are the reasons I feel compelled to use my freedom of speech to collectively raise the volume alongside those ready to peacefully join in the fight.
Protesting is a First Amendment right. It is patriotic and American. My parents taught me that my convictions are worth fighting for – and if it’s worth fighting for you need to use the tools you have to make it be.
The tool ‘We the People’ have is the constitution. It is the First Amendment. It is worth fighting for. Therefore, I will use it loudly and I hope you will find an event near you and join your fellow citizens in honor of what is and should always be “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.
Stay educated, think critically. Every truth matters.
