Patriotism and Symbols of Hate

While the rest of us were celebrating Veterans Day, someone drew a swastika on the chalkboard in the student center at my university. There are arguments over who drew the symbol and what it means. Many students assume the swastika is related to other white supremacist propaganda that sprang up recently on campus. The College Republicans issued a statement saying it was a liberal false-flag operation. Regardless of who is to blame, this symbol of hate hurts the whole community.

My family and I are not the direct targets of white supremacy. I can only imagine how people who are the direct targets must feel right now. I do feel hurt and betrayed by the use of this symbol, though, on behalf of other members of my community and as a proud American.

Grandpa Cunningham in Germany, 1947

Both of my grandfathers were part of the World War II war effort, as were both of my husband's grandfathers. My maternal grandfather was a career Air Force officer who spent most of the war in Ohio but was sent to Germany and France soon after to help with the reconstruction of those nations. He saw first-hand the destruction the Nazis had wrought. He left behind a young family (my mother was just an infant) in order to serve his country.

My paternal grandfather was a Marine. He stormed the beaches in the South Pacific and fought in well-known battles like Guadalcanal and the invasion of Okinawa. He literally went through hell, and would later say that the only thing that got him through that war was the knowledge that, if the U.S. won, his sons would not have to fight it again. He first son, my father, was born while my grandfather was fighting overseas. He did not meet him until a year later.

Grandpa Dean, just before he left for WWII

My husband's maternal grandfather was an Army doctor in Michigan. His father's father was on submarine crews in the Atlantic. [UPDATE: My apologies, but I got this wrong. My husband's maternal grandfather was stationed in Michigan for part of the war but spent part of it in the South Pacific. He was certainly in New Guinea at one point. His paternal grandfather's submarine duty was also in the South Pacific, not the Atlantic.] They sacrificed so much. It sickens me to think that some punk kid whose greatest sacrifice has probably been using an older-model smart phone would draw the symbol of their defeated enemies on a chalkboard.

I don't usually consider our students to be entitled or bratty. I'm making an exception for this one. Similarly, I don't usually believe in significant differences between the generations, but in this case I can't believe that any Millennial (or GenXer or Baby Boomer) who would draw that symbol is worthy to kiss my grandfathers' boots, or those of any member of the Greatest Generation who gave so much to free our country and others of that taint of fascism.

I blogged last time about Hiram Brattain, my only direct ancestor to fight in the Civil War. I feel similarly about the symbolism of the Confederate flag. With all due respect to those who have Southern ancestry (as I do myself), that flag is a sign of treason. Our nation went through unspeakable horror to remain an undivided nation and rid ourselves of slavery. Whenever I see the Confederate flag flying, especially here in the North, I'm literally sickened that the descendants of men and women who gave, in Lincoln's words, "the last full measure of devotion...that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth," would display such absolute contempt for their ancestors and our country.