Project 2025: Affirmative Action – The Pivot

In this unprecedented time, when our fundamental rights and democracy itself are under threat, I’m reflecting on why, as a queer black woman and proud child of immigrants, I feel more fear than joy during the holidays and—crucially—what I will do about it.

Of course, it is logical that people whose ancestors have been disenfranchised since day one would experience some inner conflict on a day dedicated to celebrating freedom. How should we commemorate one of the greatest political experiments of all time when we know that its aim was only to secure freedoms for a privileged few?

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So many have been kept from the country’s power, wealth, and benefits: Indigenous peoples were forcibly incorporated into a hostile and stolen America; African Americans were initially denied freedom and opportunities for prosperity, equality, and full civic participation after the Civil War; women were denied the right to vote and their bodily autonomy; immigrants are dehumanized and often forced to take more dangerous or menial jobs; non-believers and adherents of faiths other than Christianity are stigmatized, excluded, and even attacked; queer people are often relegated to the margins of society and at times face unspeakable violence and inequality; and today, transgender people are forced to sit at the center of an outrageous fear-mongering campaign by the far right.

The list of this nation’s sins is long, and too many have been denied equal protection under our laws. It is a story as old as America itself.

Many of these historical injustices persist, albeit in new, sometimes more discreet forms. The far right is relentlessly pursuing policies that ensure many of us remain socially, politically and economically marginalised. Yet I fear many have become complacent.

We have won victories for freedom and inclusion. But students of history know that there is always a backlash. We are now living in the midst of a backlash against progress, and it is changing the political landscape for the worse. For example: nine states have passed laws allowing parliaments to assume power over the conduct of elections, as false claims of electoral fraud circulated following the 2020 presidential election; 14 states have passed a total ban on abortion, another seven states prohibit abortions between the sixth and 18th week of pregnancy (before many women even know they are pregnant); and 24 states have passed bans on medical care for transgender youth, with six of them going so far as to make providing care a crime. These and many other recent policy changes limit Americans’ freedoms and are further evidence of why it is often difficult to enjoy the Fourth of July celebrations uncritically.

In a nation that supposedly puts liberty on the highest pedestal, for some, liberty is not real liberty but a farce that thinly disguises that freedom is nothing more than a fickle privilege, grudgingly granted and easily taken away. And make no mistake, our liberties are under attack. Today they may be mine and the liberties of others like me, but tomorrow they could very well be yours. From restricting access to life-saving health care, to banning books and censoring historically accurate education, to creating numerous insidious hurdles to voting, these attacks on our freedoms are both implicitly connected and part of an explicitly coordinated effort to impose tight control over American life.

Yet I consider myself a patriot. Even though it has failed me and so many others at times in countless ways, I love my country. The word “patriot” has been co-opted by those who work together to erode civil rights protections for women, people of color, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and more. These individuals would have you believe that refusing to maintain a hierarchy with white, straight, cisgender, Christian, and native-born citizens at the top is, by definition, unpatriotic. Their definition would certainly exclude me, and perhaps you, from what they believe is the “real America.” Not only is this narrow view of patriotism a misunderstanding of the concept, it also fails to take into account the most important implication of patriotism: to truly love your country, in all its complexity and unfinished work, means to feel a commitment to improving it.

Whatever the far right may think — and despite their efforts to erase our country’s history — some of the greatest patriots come from the very communities they continue to marginalize. Black Americans risked their lives to make America a greater nation by fighting for civil rights; women navigated a maze of glass ceilings to move us toward gender justice; and people of different spiritual beliefs have worked together on an interfaith basis to preserve the separation of church and state. Making America more inclusive, democratic, and free can be difficult work, and yet people try every day. That, to me, is patriotism.

It can be exhausting to love this country when you are not loved in return. People deserve freedom, no matter who they are. But the fact is that many were grappling with fear and anxiety on the Fourth of July because our freedoms and our ability to pursue our happiness are in danger. And despite those feelings of unease, I caution for hope over despair and implore action over paralysis.

This moment is hard, but don’t let it rob you of hope. Let it be a wake-up call! People who love this country have always fought to expand our freedoms and to include more communities in the project of creating a more perfect Union.

Independence Day is simply a reminder that each of us still has the opportunity to

country and hold ourselves to the highest standards. Don’t let the far right turn this country into a place where they can dictate to you and your fellow Americans what you can do, think, say, or make decisions about your body. Exercise your fundamental rights while you still have them: use your freedom of speech, assembly, and voting to make the most of this nation. It’s not too late.

As for me, I love this country, even when it hurts sometimes. And to honor that love, I will not stop fighting relentlessly to keep this nation true to its founding promises, which are owed not just to the privileged few, but to each and every one of us. I urge everyone who loves this country to do the same.