i too, am america

ok this is old as fuck and you may have seen the bottom picture before- i was like “ehhhhhh i need to fix the entire piece” but now that i’ve found it in my computer after months i think maybe i quite like it.

What’s always struck me is how the patriotic narratives of all nations bear little resemblance to actual history. America’s founding is viewed as a glorious epic of trimphant liberty over tyranny, by men far ahead of their time. In many ways, that was true- democracy and a president in an era where the divine right to rule was the order of things. But this America was also built on the blood of African-American slaves and the Native Americans who were driven out of their lands. It’s the dark side of the coin that is impossible to ignore, because all of that is inherently contradictory to the promise of liberty and equality America’s founding is supposed to embody. All of this, good and bad, IS America- nations are giant masses of contradictions.