A Wisconsin college professor is facing backlash for voicing his discomfort with the American flag, arguing the symbol is a source of anxiety for “non-White people.”
Dr. Grant Silva, an associate philosophy professor at Marquette University, made the comment during an interview on Flag Day. He explained, “I get a little bit anxious around the excessive imagery of the flag, in part because in my experience, patriotism quickly slips into nationalism.”
“As much as I would like to see the flag displayed in a proud manner, it all too quickly takes on the stakes that, as a non-white person, can mean a lot, right?,” he continued. “It can mean a sense of inclusion or exclusion, a sense of belonging or the ascription of perpetual foreigner, perpetual outsider status; that that flag is not for me unless I’m willing to abide by the assimilatory paradigm that some of these individuals that you’re talking about tend to put forward.”
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Murray went on to argue that critics are often celebrated for voicing complains about America, adding the reporter who conducted the interview with Silva remarked she felt “unsafe” as a Black American.
“These people sort of whip themselves up – these extraordinarily narcissistic, self-obsessed people whip themselves up and reward each other for saying these untruths,” Murray said.
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“People fought for this flag. They died for this flag. They came to this country for this flag. The flag is a unifier of the nation,” Murray explained. “These people are trying to divide us.”