I wrote a post in 2020 called “Patriotic Education”. I wrote about my participation in the American educational system. I went through a public educational system k-12 outside of Detroit, Michigan. The student body was diverse. My high school graduating class was about 85% Black. I said all of this for context.
MAGA says they want American students to have a patriotic education. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and I think I had a patriotic education. Every day from kindergarten to fifth grade my school had a sing a patriotic song. I was one of three songs for six years. The choices were “Star Spangled Banner”, “This Land is Your Land” and “My Country Tis of Thee”. We also said the “Pledge of Allegiance” every morning. That seems pretty patriotic to me.
The point of this post is that I’ve reviewed the post from 2020 and two of the links I posted are no longer available. The You Tube posting to “This Land is Your Land” is gone. “My Country Tis of Thee” is gone as well. That strikes me as ironic. I’m unsure of the reason but I will post them again along with some of the lyrics and the national anthem. Hopefully these won’t be wiped from the internet.
“This Land is Your Land”
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/This-Land-Is-Your-Land.pdf
♪ This land is your land, this land is my land From California, to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters This land was made for you and me ♫ …
“My Country Tis of Thee”
https://www.loc.gov/collections/patriotic-melodies/articles-and-essays/my-country-tis-of-thee/
… ♪ My country ’tis This wee sweet land of liberty Of thee I sing Land where my fathers died Land of the pilgrim’s pride From every mountainside Let freedom ring ♫
“Star Spangled Banner”
https://www.loc.gov/collections/patriotic-melodies/articles-and-essays/star-spangled-banner/
♪ O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,…♪
I forgot about this one. We sang this too.
“America the Beautiful”
https://www.loc.gov/collections/patriotic-melodies/articles-and-essays/america-the-beautiful/
♪ America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! ♫
The federal government recently hung a banner of a racist podcaster from the Department of Education building in Washington D.C. I’m shocked, saddened and disgusted. How have we come to this?
Shannon's Life in the Midwest 
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