The land of the free is a nationalist country. While our culture may parody this idea often by spreading fun phrases like “‘murica” and “thanks Obama”, this nationalistic sense is a de facto aspect ingrained within Americans, particularly in people who hold powerful positions in the nation. Within seconds of feeling any facet of our nation threatened, we become defensive as our nationalistic senses rise. Although Americans may think of defending ourselves from terrorist attacks or other poignant incidents etched into our history, we rarely think of the instances where we have sacrificed the well-being of our own people in order to maintain the prevailing culture of the United States. As demonstrated both by the observations of Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow and the firsthand experiences of James Baldwin in A Talk to Teachers, the marginalization of people of color has occurred for years in order to impede the nearing changes that would shift our society and culture. Upon reading both Alexander and Baldwin’s works, it becomes clear that people …show more content…
While as a nation we have moved past blatant racism, we have moved onto a racism based on microaggressions, one that is indirect and constantly denied by our nation. Instead, politicians and people in power constantly mention that we are the “land of the free.” We are constantly encouraged to forget that our economic system is one that heavily relies on the so-called failing of a [group]. Our economic system, capitalism, cannot prosper as expected by Americans when all people have equal opportunities and similar opportunities. Due to this, people who our society deems unfit for higher positions must be discouraged from a young age to pursue that which is not their typical route and thus, marginalization blooms and expands throughout our