What It Means To Be American Essay

My generation has many different views on what it means to be American. Some believe you must be patriotic. Some say you must be willing to do anything for the country. Some think that you have to love this country and that you have to believe America is the best country in the world. Most are influenced by their parents. The truth is, however, is that all it means to be American, is to have an American Citizenship. It’s as simple as that.

Everybody by now has heard about the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, as he made national news. Basically what happened was he took a knee during the National Anthem before one of his games because he believed african americans are being treated unfairly. There were many people who agreed with what he did, and many who …show more content…
Many people that fly this flag are normally a very patriotic group and tend to love this country. Most of them claim to fly it because, “it is my right and it represents my country”. However, if you really think about it, it does not represent our country. In fact, it is far from it. During the Civil War this flag was created by the south to show that the Confederacy (South) was no longer apart of the Union (North). Technically, this flag stands for a time where the South held a rebellion against the North. Rebellion against its own country. That doesn’t sound too patriotic to me. And it definitely does not represent this country as a whole. Many of the people that fly this flag are from my generation and their parents. The people that fly this flag and are very patriotic to this country, in harsh words, are hypocrites. If they went by their own terms of being American, then they would be classified, “Un-American” because they fly a flag that stands for a rebellion against our country. However, that is not how it works. They have their right to fly that flag, just like Colin Kaepernick has his right to take his