A History of Calling Racism Patriotism

This research paper traces the historical trajectory of how racist ideologies, policies, and actions have been conflated with patriotic sentiments in the United States. It examines the evolution of both racism—from overt individual prejudice to subtle systemic structures—and patriotism—from affection for one’s country to a malleable concept often manipulated by dominant groups. By analyzing key historical periods, rhetorical strategies, and the profound societal impacts, this paper demonstrates how the defense of racial hierarchy has been consistently framed as a national imperative, leading to enduring economic, political, and psychological consequences for marginalized communities. It further explores the powerful counter-narratives from Black leaders and movements who have challenged this narrow definition, advocating for a more inclusive and just vision of American identity.

1. Introduction: Defining the Conflation of Racism and Patriotism

Understanding the historical intertwining of racism and patriotism in the United States necessitates a clear conceptual foundation for both terms. This introductory section establishes the academic definitions of these complex phenomena and explores the historical construction of American identity, which has often facilitated their conflation.

1.1. Conceptualizing Racism: From Individual Prejudice to Systemic Structures

Racism, at its core, is an “ideology of racial domination” in which the presumed superiority of one or more racial groups, whether biological or cultural, is used to justify the inferior treatment or social position of other groups.¹ This process begins with “racialization,” where perceived physical differences, such as skin color, are used to categorize people into “races.” This categorization becomes racism when it involves a hierarchical and socially consequential valuation of these racial groups.² It is important to note that the scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that race is not a biological category among humans; genetic variation within so-called “racial” groups is far greater than between them, and phenotypic markers exist on a continuum rather than as discrete categories.¹ For social scientists, the primary focus of inquiry in the study of racism is this social construction of race, rather than a “natural” existence.²

The sociological understanding of racism has evolved significantly over time. In its earlier phase, from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, racism was typically conceived as a set of overt, individual-level attitudes, often seen as a historical relic.¹ During this period, the explicit nature of how race influenced the distribution of material and symbolic resources made it relatively straightforward for social scientists to define racism as prejudicial beliefs and attitudes. For example, income disparities between white and Black individuals were directly linked to workplace discrimination, and educational inequalities were attributed to legally segregated schools.¹

However, a more contemporary phase, from the mid-twentieth century to the present, expands this understanding to include not only explicit attitudes but also implicit biases, group-level processes, and systemic structures.¹ This broader perspective recognizes that racial inequality is reproduced in diffuse and often subtle ways.¹ Systemic and structural racism are defined as forms of racism pervasively and deeply embedded within societal systems, laws, written or unwritten policies, entrenched practices, and established beliefs that produce and perpetuate widespread unfair treatment and oppression of people of color.³ Examples include residential segregation, unfair lending practices, reliance of schools on local property taxes, environmental injustice, biased policing, and voter suppression policies.³ A critical aspect of systemic racism is that it often operates independently of individual intentions, and is frequently assumed to reflect the “natural, inevitable order of things”.³

Individual, or interpersonal, racism refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism, occurring at both conscious and unconscious levels, and can be active or passive.⁵ While seemingly distinct, individual racism does not emerge in a vacuum; it is shaped by and connected to broader socio-economic histories and processes, and is consistently supported and reinforced by systemic racism.⁶

The evolution in the understanding of racism, from a focus on individual prejudice to an emphasis on systemic and structural forms, is fundamental to analyzing how racism has been presented as patriotism. If racism were merely about overt individual acts, its connection to national loyalty would appear as a simple contradiction or the moral failing of a few. However, recognizing racism as deeply embedded in societal mechanisms, operating in subtle ways, allows for a more profound examination of how discriminatory policies and practices can be normalized and defended under the guise of national pride, even when explicit individual animosity is not the primary driver. This understanding moves the analysis beyond isolated “bad actors” to the societal mechanisms that embed and reproduce racial domination, making the conflation more insidious and pervasive. It helps explain how racial injustice can persist and be justified as part of the “natural, inevitable order of things” within a national framework.³

Furthermore, the academic consensus that race is a social construct, rather than a biological reality, is foundational to comprehending the ideological nature of racism and its conflation with national identity. Since race is not biologically real, the differentiation of groups into “races” and the subsequent assertions of moral, intellectual, or spiritual superiority are entirely human-invented processes.² This means that the “ideology of racial domination” is built on a fabricated premise. When this fabricated racial hierarchy is then used to justify or prescribe the inferior treatment of other racial groups, and this justification is subsequently linked to national identity or “patriotism,” it reveals a deliberate, ideological project. This project aims to legitimize power structures and exploitation by framing them as natural or necessary for the “nation,” thereby making the defense of this constructed racial order appear as a patriotic act. The explicit connection that individual racism is supported and reinforced by systemic racism suggests a powerful feedback loop that perpetuates this conflation. This highlights that individual acts of prejudice are not isolated but are nurtured by and, in turn, sustain broader systemic inequalities. When “patriotism” is invoked to defend these systems, it provides a powerful legitimizing framework for individual racist behaviors. For example, if a system of racial segregation is deemed “patriotic,” then individual acts of discrimination within that system are implicitly sanctioned as expressions of national loyalty. This makes the conflation deeply entrenched and difficult to challenge, as it integrates personal prejudice into a broader, seemingly noble national narrative.

1.2. Understanding Patriotism: Affection, Loyalty, and its Plural Forms

Patriotism is broadly defined as an affection for and a feeling of belonging to one’s country.⁷ Its enduring presence is often attributed to its role in fostering national group cohesion on behalf of the state and encouraging respect for civic obligations within society.⁷ Historically, patriotism has been invoked to defend national territory during military conflicts and has played a central role in processes of national construction, providing a collective imaginary for citizens to identify with.⁷

However, patriotism is not a monolithic concept; it manifests in a variety of forms, leading scholars to prefer speaking of “patriotisms” in the plural.⁷ It can be appropriated and promoted by public institutions as a “state-sponsored project” ⁷, but it can also develop “from below,” reflecting individual attitudes and everyday practices.⁷ Patriotism can be shaped by diverse societal forces, including liberalism, market dynamics, consumption, and individual aspirations.⁷

A crucial distinction exists between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is characterized by a love for one’s people, emphasizing shared values and beliefs, and possessing a defensive nature both militarily and culturally.⁹ A true patriot is proud of their country for “what it does,” demonstrates tolerance towards criticism, and actively seeks improvements.¹⁰ In contrast, nationalism often emphasizes a unity of cultural past, including language and heritage, and can be aggressive by nature.⁹ Nationalists tend to consider their nation superior to others and find it difficult to accept criticism, viewing it as humiliation or insult.¹⁰ The unchanging purpose of a nationalist is to secure more power and reputation for their nation.⁹ “Blind patriotism” represents an extreme form, characterized by unconditional loyalty to a country, state, opinion, or ideology, and an intolerance of any criticism, which is often perceived as betrayal.⁹ The term “patriotic” has, over time, become a “consensus-oriented term” and a “quasi-mandatory label for all public demonstrations,” often obscuring its true contours and allowing for broad, sometimes misleading, application.⁸

The inherent malleability and plural forms of patriotism make it highly susceptible to appropriation by dominant groups or state institutions to legitimize exclusionary or racist agendas. If patriotism were a fixed, universally positive concept, its conflation with racism would be a clear, easily identifiable perversion. However, the recognition that “patriotisms” exist in various forms and can be “appropriated and promoted by public institutions” means that the definition of “true patriotism” is contested terrain.⁷ Those in power, or groups seeking power, can strategically define patriotism in a way that aligns with their interests, including the maintenance of racial hierarchies. This enables them to present discriminatory actions as acts of national loyalty, thereby effectively “calling racism patriotism” and leveraging the term’s “consensus-oriented” nature to gain widespread acceptance or at least reduce opposition.⁸

The clear distinction between patriotism—which is values-based, defensive, and open to critique—and nationalism—which is aggressive, superiority-driven, and intolerant of criticism—reveals that the conflation of racism with “patriotism” is often a strategic mislabeling.⁹ When racism is defended under the banner of “patriotism,” it is frequently the aggressive, ethnocentric, and anti-criticism characteristics of nationalism or the unquestioning loyalty of “blind patriotism” that are truly at play.⁹ This provides a more precise analytical framework, suggesting that the term “patriotism” is often co-opted to soften the harsh edges of a more aggressive, exclusionary nationalism. Furthermore, patriotism’s status as a “quasi-mandatory label for all public demonstrations” creates an incentive for even hateful groups to adopt its rhetoric.⁸ If associating with “patriotism” is seen as a prerequisite for public acceptance or legitimacy, then groups with racist agendas will naturally wrap themselves in patriotic symbols and language. This allows them to obscure their true intentions and present their exclusionary aims as mainstream or even noble. This represents a subtle but effective mechanism of conflation, where the form of patriotism (its symbols and rhetoric) is adopted to mask the content of racism, making it harder for the public to discern the underlying hateful ideology.

1.3. The Interplay of Race, Nation, and Identity in American History

The American national identity has been profoundly shaped by the concept of race since its very inception. White supremacy has been deeply embedded “at the heart of our collective national identity,” with the deliberate fashioning of “American identity” as “fundamentally, inevitably, and unalterably ‘white'”.¹¹ This historical construction established a foundational understanding where non-whiteness was often inherently viewed as “un-American.”

This racialized understanding of national identity was not accidental; it was actively cultivated and justified. There is a centuries-long tradition of white Americans exploiting classical antiquity to legitimize enslavement and, by extension, to promulgate anti-Black racism.¹² This involved presenting ancient Greco-Roman temples and statues as white, despite their original vibrant colors, and elevating classics curricula to devalue contributions to American culture originating outside of Europe.¹² This uncritical veneration of a “white classical world” laid a foundation for white supremacy across various educational and cultural spheres.¹²

The prevailing conception of patriotism, termed “hegemonic patriotism,” is described as “drenched in whiteness” and “hegemonic masculinity”.¹³ This framework positions white individuals as exclusively the “true Americans,” crediting them with all of the nation’s achievements and absolving them of its failures.¹³ This perspective actively “expunges black contributions” and signals that Black people are “outsiders, parasitic companions, merely by-catch in the nets of European conquest”.¹³ Such exclusion from symbolic citizenship is not benign; it has significant consequences for individual and collective well-being, civic engagement, and the ability to challenge oppressive systems.¹³

The intertwining of race, nation, and identity is further illuminated by the economic and political forces at play. The nationalist drive that propelled mercantile expeditions and the founding of New World settlements also accelerated capitalist expansions, which in turn led to the racialization of settler colonies.¹⁴ This historical process resulted in exclusionary white nationalist policies that systematically disenfranchised Black and Indigenous peoples.¹⁴ The deep historical embedding of white supremacy “at the heart of our collective national identity” means that “American” identity was deliberately constructed as “fundamentally, inevitably, and unalterably ‘white'”.¹¹ This historical construction establishes a baseline where non-whiteness is inherently seen as “un-American.” When “patriotism” is invoked, it naturally aligns with this pre-existing “white” national identity. This alignment makes it easier to frame policies or actions that maintain white racial hierarchy as patriotic, as they are perceived to be preserving the “true” or “authentic” American character. It creates a framework where racial exclusion is not a deviation from, but rather a fulfillment of, national ideals.

The concept of “hegemonic patriotism” being “drenched in whiteness” and casting whites as the “true Americans” directly facilitates the conflation of racism and patriotism.¹³ If patriotism is defined in a way that inherently excludes Black contributions and frames Black people as “outsiders, parasitic companions,” then any challenge to white dominance can be readily dismissed as unpatriotic or anti-American.¹³ This ideological framing provides a powerful rhetorical weapon to silence dissent and justify discriminatory practices by linking them to national pride and perceived national greatness. It creates a false dichotomy where racial equality is presented as a threat to national identity, rather than an enhancement of it. The connection between “nationalist drive,” “capitalist expansions,” and “racializations of settler colonies” leading to “exclusionary white nationalist policies” reveals the material interests underpinning the conflation.¹⁴ The conflation of racism with patriotism is not merely an ideological phenomenon but is deeply rooted in economic and political objectives. The establishment of racial hierarchies served to justify exploitation, such as slavery and land appropriation, and to maintain power structures, such as disenfranchisement. By framing these exploitative and oppressive systems as essential for national prosperity or survival, dominant groups could mobilize popular support and suppress opposition, presenting the defense of their economic and political interests as a patriotic duty. This highlights that the act of “calling racism patriotism” is often a deliberate strategy to protect power and resources.

2. Historical Manifestations of Conflation

The conflation of racism with patriotism has manifested throughout American history in various forms, adapting to changing social and political landscapes while consistently serving to legitimize racial hierarchy.

2.1. Antebellum Era: Justifying Slavery and Manifest Destiny

In the antebellum South, the institution of slavery was inextricably linked to the region’s economic and social fabric, and its defense became deeply intertwined with regional and national identity. A significant social class, poor whites, though often marginalized and stereotyped as “uneducated, uncleanly, immoral, and ‘trashy’,” played a pivotal role in the dynamics of race and whiteness.¹⁵ While some antislavery authors highlighted the suffering of poor whites to argue against slavery, proslavery authors and slaveholders recognized the importance of uniting poor whites with the planter class, especially as the threat of the Civil War escalated.¹⁵

This unity was fostered through what historian George M. Fredrickson termed “herrenvolk democracy,” an “ideological marriage between egalitarian democracy and biological racism”.¹⁵ This concept pandered to both the democratic sensibilities and racial prejudices of the “plain folk,” thereby maintaining inter-class solidarity between planters and non-slaveholders in the South.¹⁵ Historians have argued that “racism and whiteness, as well as localism and republican democracy, prevented class tensions from becoming serious” among white Southerners.¹⁵ This meant that the shared belief in white racial superiority effectively superseded potential class consciousness, uniting disparate white groups under a common banner of racial privilege.

The rhetoric of “states’ rights” also became a prominent defense of slavery, often conflated with patriotic duty. While “states’ rights” appeals are not inherently Southern or reactionary, they were seized upon by secessionists in the nineteenth century to defend white supremacy.¹⁶ Proponents of slavery argued that the federal government’s interference with slavery violated states’ rights, framing this as a defense of constitutional principles and local autonomy.¹⁷ The Confederate States of America, for instance, explicitly founded its government on the “great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition”.¹⁸ Yet, the “Lost Cause” narrative, which emerged after the Civil War, actively sought to revise this history, arguing that the Confederacy fought for “states’ rights” and a “Southern way of life,” not slavery.¹⁷ This narrative romanticized the Confederate soldier as heroic and saintly, and portrayed slavery as a benevolent institution where enslaved people were “contented with their lot” and shared a “happier dependence of labor and capital” with their enslavers.¹⁷ This revisionist history, promoted through monuments and textbooks, aimed to ensure Southern whites knew the “true” narrative, effectively calling the defense of racial subjugation a patriotic act.¹⁷

2.2. Reconstruction and Jim Crow: Reasserting White Supremacy

Following the Civil War and the formal abolition of slavery, efforts to re-establish antebellum power relations and maintain white supremacy rapidly emerged, often cloaked in the language of order and tradition. President Andrew Johnson, an “unapologetic racist,” offered quick restoration to Southern states with minimal federal interference, allowing many to enact “Black Codes”.¹⁹ These laws, which limited Black mobility, criminalized Black leisure, and locked many into exploitative farming contracts, were effectively “slavery by another name”.¹⁹

The period of Reconstruction (1865-1877) initially offered promise for African Americans, with mass democratic participation, Black men registering to vote in large numbers, and Black leaders winning elections across the South.¹⁹ However, this commitment to abolishing chattel slavery was not accompanied by a commitment to equal rights, and the era quickly devolved into widespread violence and oppression.²⁰ White perpetrators of violence against formerly enslaved people were almost never held accountable, often celebrated instead.²⁰

As federal oversight lessened after 1877, the “Jim Crow” system emerged, a codified system of racial apartheid that dominated the American South until the mid-1960s.²¹ Jim Crow laws mandated segregation in virtually all aspects of daily life—schools, public transport, facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods—and were underpinned by the belief that white people were inherently superior to Black people in intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior.²¹ The concept of “separate but equal,” though a legal ruse that never provided equal facilities for Black people, became the legal justification for this system following the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896.²¹ This doctrine gave constitutional sanction to laws designed to achieve racial segregation, effectively framing racial discrimination as an acceptable, even ideal, part of the American social order.²⁴

Violence was instrumental to the Jim Crow system, serving as a method of social control.²¹ Black individuals who violated Jim Crow norms risked their homes, jobs, and lives, with white people able to physically assault Black people with impunity due to an all-white criminal justice system.²¹ Lynchings were the most extreme form of this violence, often public spectacles that celebrated white supremacy.²¹

The White Citizens’ Councils, formed in response to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, represented a “respectable resistance” to integration.²⁷ Unlike the Ku Klux Klan, these councils sought to implement “legal” encumbrances to civil rights progress, presenting themselves as upholders of civic virtue and moral citizenship.²⁸ They framed opposition to federal demands for equality as justified, arguing that segregation was “natural and eternally fixed” and that Black people were “inherently inferior”.²⁸ By presenting their actions as non-violent and lawful, they sought to legitimize their racist agenda under the guise of defending Southern traditions and community stability.²⁸

2.3. Nativist Movements: “America for Americans”

Nativism, defined as a policy favoring native-born inhabitants over immigrants, has been a persistent and contentious force in American politics for centuries.²⁹ Nativist movements have historically targeted a wide variety of nationalities, including anti-German sentiments in colonial America, and later, intense opposition to Irish Catholic immigrants in the 1830s-1850s.²⁹ These movements were fueled by fears that immigrants would dilute American culture, take jobs, and introduce “un-American” connections or loyalties.²⁹

The “Know Nothing” or “American Party” of the 1850s exemplified this political manifestation of nativism, campaigning for laws to lengthen the waiting period for naturalization and restrict officeholding to native-born citizens.²⁹ They feared that Catholic immigrants would prioritize the Pope’s interests over those of the United States and portrayed new arrivals as too “drunken and violent” to wield political power wisely.³¹

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, nativism resurfaced, targeting immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, and especially Asian immigrants.²⁹ Laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1924 Immigration Act, which established quotas, severely restricted immigration based on country of origin, reflecting the peak of nativist sentiment.²⁹ Nativists and labor unions argued for literacy tests, fearing that illiterate immigrants would lower wages and disrupt social order.²⁹ During times of conflict, such as World War I, nativism intensified, with immigrants associated with potential threats to national security and cultural identity, leading to social ostracism, violence, and discrimination.³⁵

Propaganda was a key tool for nativist movements to link anti-immigrant sentiment to American values.³³ They argued that immigrants were responsible for crime, poverty, and social unrest, and that their presence threatened the “American way of life”.³⁰ This rhetoric often portrayed immigrants as racially inferior, drawing on 19th-century ideas that tied physical traits to character.³⁴

White supremacist groups, most notably the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), have historically leveraged “extreme patriotism” as a recruitment tactic.³⁶ The “Second” Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s wrapped itself in the flag and the cross, proclaiming themselves the “moral guardians of America”.³⁷ Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans outlined the Klan’s ideology as a potent mix of “Americanism, Protestantism, and white supremacy,” condensed into the slogan “Native, white, Protestant supremacy”.³⁷ To a Klansman, patriotism meant “America for Americans,” and a “betrayal of Americanism or the American race is treason”.³⁷ This ideology asserted that “Americanism” could only be achieved if the “pioneer stock is kept pure,” and that “racial integrity” was paramount.³⁷ The Klan’s use of patriotic language allowed them to recruit openly without immediately revealing their true nature, demonstrating the success of framing their racist agenda as a defense of national identity.³⁶

2.4. World Wars and Civil Rights Era: Shifting Dynamics

The World Wars presented a complex dynamic for African Americans, who served in the U.S. military despite facing pervasive racism and segregation at home and within the armed forces. African Americans served in every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War onward, with notable units like the 1st Rhode Island Regiment and Black regiments in the Union Army.³⁸ However, their service was consistently met with discrimination. During World War I, most of the 200,000 African Americans in the regular Army served in support roles within segregated units, and 170,000 never left the United States.³⁸ The Navy restricted Black service to support duties until 1932, and Black women were not allowed in the Navy until 1945.³⁸

President Woodrow Wilson’s administration (1913-1921) exacerbated military segregation, implementing Jim Crow policies within the U.S. Navy, which had previously been relatively integrated due to the lack of space on ships.³⁹ Black sailors were largely relegated to roles as messmen, serving white officers and cleaning.³⁹ Wilson even sided with an insubordinate white officer to undercut and retire Colonel Charles Young, a highly regarded African American officer, preventing him from becoming America’s first Black general during World War I.³⁹ Despite efforts by Black sailors and civil rights activists, the Navy stopped recruiting Black people entirely in 1922 and only desegregated with the rest of the military in 1948.³⁹ Even after World War II, when the federal government’s Gillem Board recommended improvements for Black soldiers, elements within every service resisted integration, leading to a sharp decline in African American enlistment.³⁸ This historical pattern demonstrates a persistent internal conflict: while military service is often seen as the epitome of patriotism, the nation simultaneously denied full rights and equal treatment to its Black servicemen and women, effectively calling their subjugation a necessary part of the national order.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s faced hostile opposition from white supremacists across the country, who employed a range of tactics from cultural campaigns and legal strategies to terrorist attacks.⁴⁰ This opposition came from various sources, including white elected officials at federal, state, and local levels, local resistance to school integration, pushes for Black voter disenfranchisement, and the increased popularity of racist philosophies.⁴⁰ Organizations like “white citizens’ councils” formed to resist integration, often framing their actions as a defense of community values and states’ rights.²⁷ The “Massive Resistance” movement, for instance, involved widespread efforts to defy school desegregation orders.⁴¹ Violence against activists, including police brutality, lynchings, bombings, and assassinations, was commonplace and brutal, extending beyond the South to urban centers.⁴⁰ During the Cold War, anti-communist purges led by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) were used to stigmatize and persecute Black civil rights advocates for perceived communist sympathies, effectively equating demands for racial equality with disloyalty to the nation.⁴⁰ This tactic aimed to delegitimize the movement by portraying its goals as a foreign, subversive threat rather than a pursuit of American ideals.

2.5. Post-9/11 and Modern Era: Evolving Conflations

The tragic events of September 11, 2001, ushered in a period of intense national pride and hyper-nationalism in the United States.⁴² In the aftermath, the concepts of “citizen,” “patriot,” and “retaliation” merged into a singular “American” identity, creating a political climate where dissent was often equated with disloyalty.⁴² The Bush administration skillfully exploited this heightened nationalism to rally support for a permanent war economy, aggressive military retaliation, and the suppression of civil liberties at home.⁴² This period saw a significant rise in public confidence in the executive branch and the military, demonstrating how national crises can be leveraged to consolidate power and define patriotism in narrow, exclusionary terms.⁴² This hyper-nationalism also fueled anti-Arab racism and discrimination, as Arab Americans became targets of suspicion and prejudice, often implicitly framed as “un-American” due to their perceived foreignness.⁴³

In the contemporary era, America’s legacy of anti-Black racism persists, evident in the modern framing of American identity.¹³ “Hegemonic patriotism” continues to be “drenched in whiteness,” casting white individuals as the exclusive “true Americans” and absolving them of the nation’s failures.¹³ This framework systematically “expunges black contributions” and positions Black people as “outsiders, parasitic companions”.¹³ This symbolic exclusion has profound psychological and social consequences, contributing to what W.E.B. Du Bois termed “double consciousness,” where Black Americans experience an internal conflict between striving to be American and striving to be Black.¹³ The “Birther Movement,” which questioned President Barack Obama’s citizenship and portrayed him as an “un-American, un-patriotic, Islamic African,” serves as a stark example of how hegemonic patriotism is used to delegitimize and degrade Black leaders by questioning their American authenticity.¹³ This framework is often protected by an embedded ideology of “color-blindness” and “meritocracy,” which dismisses claims of racism as exaggerated or false.¹³

The modern era has also seen the rise of white nationalist groups like Patriot Front, which have “rehabilitated the explicitly fascist agenda” of their predecessors with “garish patriotism”.⁴⁴ Patriot Front, formed after the 2017 Charlottesville rally, promotes an ultra-nationalist ideology centered on creating a “white ethnostate” in the United States, rejecting multiculturalism and diversity.⁴⁵ Their manifesto explicitly casts their politics as a “revival of an allegedly authentic American identity based on ‘pan-European’ colonizers”.⁴⁴ They frequently promote the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which posits an organized effort to replace “native” white Americans with non-white immigrants, framing this as an existential threat to “white America”.⁴⁵ This theory, often using martial rhetoric of a migrant “invasion,” is a potent example of calling racism patriotism, as it frames anti-immigrant sentiment and racial purity as essential for national survival.⁴⁶ These groups use patriotic imagery, symbols like the fasces (a symbol of fascism), and tightly choreographed public appearances to maximize propaganda value and broaden their appeal, effectively cloaking their white supremacist aims in Americana.⁴⁵

Contemporary political rhetoric also employs coded language to link immigration to “un-Americanism”.⁴⁸ While explicit racial slurs have become less overt since the Civil Rights era, covert forms of discrimination persist through indirect signifiers that contain negative value judgments and are contextually implied.⁴⁹ For example, modern Republican political speech has been found to use language suggestive of dehumanizing metaphors (e.g., “animals,” “cargo”) and frames like “crime” and “legality” when discussing immigrants, implicitly linking immigration to threats to national safety and values.⁵⁰ This rhetoric, often playing to white fear and resentment, strategically employs political terms like “patriot” to activate radical redefinitions in the minds of white supremacists, framing their extremist views as legitimate expressions of national loyalty.⁵¹ The evolution of terms like “patriot” and “nationalist” within far-right rhetoric often serves to mask white supremacist ideologies, presenting them as mainstream or even noble defenses of American identity.⁵²

3. Profound Societal Impacts

The historical conflation of racism with patriotism has had profound and enduring societal impacts, particularly on marginalized communities, manifesting in significant economic disparities, political disenfranchisement, and severe social and psychological consequences.

3.1. Economic Disparities and Wealth Gaps

The Jim Crow era, following Reconstruction, established a system of legal segregation and discrimination that severely hindered Black economic progress.⁵⁵ Despite emancipation, African Americans faced significant barriers to economic stability and opportunity.⁵⁵ Sharecropping, a prevalent system in the South, often resulted in exploitative arrangements that trapped Black farmers in cycles of debt and poverty, effectively maintaining a cheap labor force after slavery.⁵⁵ Black Americans were systematically barred from favorable loans, unions, housing, and access to quality education and healthcare, ensuring their income remained disproportionately low.⁵⁵ The economic conditions of the Jim Crow South, rooted in earlier Black Codes, were designed to perpetuate socioeconomic inequalities by restricting Black Americans’ rights and opportunities for advancement.⁵⁵

A major factor contributing to the persistent Black-white wealth gap is housing discrimination, particularly through “redlining”.⁵⁶ Starting in the 1930s, federal policies, like those of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), refused to insure mortgages in Black neighborhoods, deeming them “unsafe for lending”.⁵⁶ Private lenders followed suit, effectively shutting Black Americans out of one of the most common avenues for accumulating wealth: homeownership.⁵⁶ Racially restrictive covenants in deeds further prevented Black families from moving into white communities, and urban renewal projects in the 1950s often leveled Black homes and businesses to make way for new developments, stripping residents of their properties.⁵⁸ Between 1934 and 1962, households of color received only 2% of all government-backed mortgages, severely impacting their long-term economic mobility.⁵⁸ Even after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited restrictive covenants, discriminatory practices continued through new zoning rules that segregated by wealth and income, entrenching existing racial segregation.⁵⁸

The benefits of the post-World War II GI Bill, which significantly fueled the growth of the American middle class, were largely denied to Black veterans due to the insistence of white members of Congress from the South who sought to enforce racial segregation.⁵⁶ Black veterans were either outright rejected by lenders or prohibited from purchasing homes due to restrictive covenants, while white veterans used these affordable mortgages to establish stable homes and build generational wealth.⁵⁸

The cumulative effect of these discriminatory policies is a persistent and substantial Black-white wealth gap.⁵⁶ As of 2019, median Black families had 10 times less wealth than median white families.⁵⁶ In 2022, the median white household held over six times the wealth of the median Black household.⁵⁹ This gap is projected to cost the U.S. economy between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion in lost consumption and investment between 2019 and 2028, translating to a projected GDP penalty of 4% to 6% in 2028.⁵⁶ The economic impact of systemic racism is not only a moral issue but also a significant brake on overall economic development.⁵⁶

3.2. Political Disenfranchisement and Undermining Democracy

The conflation of racism with patriotism has historically underpinned widespread political disenfranchisement, undermining the fundamental principles of American democracy. Voter suppression tactics have been employed throughout U.S. history to discourage or prevent specific groups, particularly marginalized communities, from exercising their right to vote.⁶⁰

During the Jim Crow era, reactionary laws were passed that subjected Black Americans to practices impeding their civil rights, including their ability to vote.⁶⁰ These tactics included legal obstacles such as literacy tests, poll taxes (fees charged to poor Black people), and “grandfather clauses” that effectively prevented formerly enslaved individuals and their descendants from voting.²¹ For example, in Louisiana, Black voter numbers plummeted from over 44% in 1896 to a mere 4% four years later due to such laws.⁶⁰ White supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan also used violent measures, including intimidation, threats, and physical attacks, to prevent Black people from voting.⁶⁰

While landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to curb these practices, voter suppression continues to evolve.⁶¹ The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down a key section of the VRA, allowed for an increase in voter suppression efforts.⁴⁰ Modern tactics include targeted voter ID requirements, registration hurdles, restricting vote-by-mail, and making voting facilities physically inconvenient to access through long distances, long lines, or short hours.³ These measures, whether by design or coincidence, disproportionately affect minority populations, the elderly, and those with lower socioeconomic status.⁶³

Felon disenfranchisement laws, which first appeared in the 1600s, were strategically used after slavery was abolished to disenfranchise Black voters, with Southern states specifically passing laws that targeted those convicted of “black” crimes.⁶⁴ The link between felon disenfranchisement and race is significant, as studies show that large-scale disenfranchisement of felons leads to a significant decrease in voter turnout among minority groups.⁶⁴

The impact of voter suppression on democratic institutions is profound. It undermines the principle of political equality, where each citizen’s vote should have an equal impact, and skews election outcomes.⁶¹ When certain groups are disenfranchised, the representativeness of elected bodies is compromised, potentially leading to policies that do not reflect the will or needs of the broader population.⁶¹ This creates a distrust of governmental institutions and damages the United States’ standing as a symbol of democracy on the global stage.⁶³ Furthermore, research indicates that eligible voters turned away from casting a ballot once are significantly less likely to try again in later elections, suggesting that voter suppression can have lasting, even generational, effects on civic participation.⁶⁵

3.3. Social and Psychological Consequences

The constant conflation of racism with patriotism has deeply affected the social and psychological well-being of marginalized communities, particularly Black Americans. W.E.B. Du Bois famously articulated the concept of “double consciousness,” describing the predicament of Black Americans who feel a “twoness”—an American and a Negro—two warring ideals within one body.¹³ This internal psychological conflict arises as Black individuals continually perceive themselves through the lens of a dominant society that often assigns them an inferior status, with inauthentic, temporary, or partial membership in the national identity.¹³ The American identity, yearning for full social inclusion and attachment to national history and values, often contradicts the Black identity, which is frequently a victim of Americanism, systemic racism, and hegemonic patriotism.¹³ This ongoing negotiation of identities can lead to self-inquiry, internal conflict, and constant adjustments.¹³

The prevailing conception of patriotism, “drenched in whiteness,” casts white individuals as the true Americans, responsible for the nation’s greatness and none of its failures.¹³ This “hegemonic patriotism” systematically “expunges black contributions” and signals that Black people are “outsiders, parasitic companions”.¹³ Exclusion from this symbolic citizenship is not benign; it deprives individuals of a source of psychological and social capital, impacting their efficacy, civic engagement, and capacity for grassroots political mobilization.¹³ The constant witnessing of perceived racially motivated police killings, for instance, can lead to re-traumatization.¹³

Beyond this internal conflict, individuals subjected to negative stereotypes and discrimination experience profound external impacts. “Stereotype threat” describes the social-psychological predicament arising from widely-known negative stereotypes about one’s group, which can have disruptive effects on a person’s life and performance.⁶⁹ Persistent exposure to discrimination affects people’s opportunities, well-being, and sense of agency.⁶⁹ It can lead individuals to internalize prejudice or stigma, manifesting in shame, low self-esteem, fear, stress, and poor health outcomes.⁶⁹ This is evident in the long-term health consequences of historical redlining, which is linked to increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, and early mortality, operating by suppressing economic opportunity and human capital.⁷⁰ The concentration of mass incarceration, a manifestation of systemic racism, further contributes to neighborhood-level disadvantage, creating environments where a large proportion of the population faces barriers to employment, education, housing, and social services, destabilizing social and family networks.⁷⁰

The conflation of racism with patriotism also exacerbates societal divisions and polarization. When racial discrimination is framed as a defense of national values, it creates an “us vs. them” mentality, where those advocating for racial equality are positioned as “un-American” or a threat to national identity.⁷² This can lead to increased hostility and violence against marginalized groups, as seen in the backlash against multiculturalism and cosmopolitan values.¹⁴ The societal systems and structures that expose people of color to health-harming conditions and impose barriers to opportunities are often more difficult to recognize than explicit interpersonal racism because they are assumed to be part of the “natural, inevitable order of things”.³ This normalization makes it challenging to address the root causes of inequality and perpetuates a cycle of disadvantage and conflict.

4. Counter-Narratives and Redefining Patriotism

Despite the pervasive historical conflation of racism with patriotism, marginalized communities and their allies have consistently developed powerful counter-narratives, challenging narrow definitions of American identity and advocating for a more inclusive and just vision of the nation.

4.1. Abolitionist Movement: Challenging Racist Patriotism

The abolitionist movement, a biracial assault against slavery in the first half of the nineteenth century, played a crucial role in challenging the racist underpinnings of American patriotism.⁷³ While many white abolitionists focused solely on ending slavery, Black Americans often coupled anti-slavery activities with demands for broader racial equality and justice.⁷³

Frederick Douglass, a formerly enslaved person who became one of the nation’s most influential voices, famously articulated this challenge in his 1852 address, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”.⁷⁴ Douglass praised the nation’s origins in righteous protest against oppression but sharply distinguished the holiday for his audience from the ongoing misery of enslaved people.⁷⁴ He declared, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn,” highlighting the gross injustice and cruelty that persisted.⁷⁵ Douglass asserted that the “character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker” than on that day, accusing America of being “false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future”.⁷⁴ His powerful oratory cut through the rhetoric of freedom and democracy, exposing the profound hypocrisy of a nation that celebrated independence while condoning slavery.⁷⁴ Douglass’s critique was not a rejection of America’s potential, but a demand for the nation to live up to its professed ideals of liberty and equality for all.⁷⁶ He maintained that the United States must uphold the emancipation principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, advocating for the rights, protection, and opportunities for all countrymen, regardless of color.⁷⁶

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a pioneering investigative journalist and anti-lynching activist, also framed her fight against racial terror as a patriotic duty.⁷⁸ She meticulously documented the history and statistical data on lynching, exposing it as “color line murder” and “the awful indictment against American civilization”.⁸⁰ Wells passionately argued that lynching was not a response to criminal behavior but a form of economic retaliation and social control against Black men.⁷⁹ She challenged the nation to protect its own citizens, asserting that “every citizen of this country is first a citizen of the United States and secondly a citizen of the state in which he belongs”.⁸⁰ Wells demanded that the federal government assert itself and defend federal citizenship at home, just as it would protect its citizens abroad, arguing that if the government could protect a foreigner from insult, it certainly had the power to save a citizen’s life.⁸⁰ Her activism underscored that true patriotism required upholding the rule of law and ensuring justice and safety for all, rather than tolerating racial violence.

4.2. Civil Rights Movement: Forging an Inclusive American Identity

The Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century profoundly redefined American patriotism by deploying a “counter-hegemonic alternative patriotism”.⁸² Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. urged Americans to avoid confusing dissent with disloyalty, stressing that his critiques were aimed at “saving the soul of America” and cautioning against “smooth patriotism”—a reflexive, uncritical loyalty.⁸²

King’s rhetoric was highly effective in stretching the terms of civic nationalism towards ideals of social democracy.⁸² He consistently appealed to “the best of the American national project,” fusing alternative patriotism with religious and moral appeals.⁸² King and the movement generated enormous moral capital by focusing on issues like education, desegregation of public facilities, and voting rights, significantly shaping public opinion on how patriotism and national values should accept these issues.⁸² King’s oratory allowed him to reinterpret the core intuition of democratic justice, positioning him as a “new founding father” who could drive “toward the heart of the Constitution” to liberate its essential spirit.⁸² He believed that American patriotism was “inseparable from the pursuit of justice” and that America was to be loved not because it was perfect, but because it was “perfectible”.⁸³ King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, for instance, applied America’s founding ideals to the cause of civil rights, seeking to secure those rights while strengthening the national idea, rather than undermining it.⁸⁴ He insisted that the nation needed only to “rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal'”.⁸⁴

W.E.B. Du Bois, a founding member of the NAACP and a leading Black intellectual, also grappled with the complexities of patriotism through his concept of “double consciousness”.⁶⁷ He articulated the internal conflict of being both an American and a Negro, with “two warring ideals in one dark body”.⁶⁷ Du Bois initially encouraged Black participation in World War I, hoping to reconcile his double consciousness and be “without reservation a patriotic American”.⁸⁶ However, he later questioned this stance, lamenting the failure of the United States to make democracy a reality for people of African descent.⁸⁶ Despite his critiques and eventual estrangement from the U.S., Du Bois’s life work, including his voluminous writings against racism and colonialism, consistently challenged America to end Jim Crow segregation and reexamine its whitewashed history.⁶⁸ His efforts, alongside other civil rights leaders, forced a re-evaluation of what patriotism truly meant, allowing protesters to claim a stake in the concept and demand redress for the exclusion of Black Americans from the national narrative.⁸²

4.3. Contemporary Efforts: Expanding the Contours of Americanism

In the modern era, the struggle to redefine patriotism continues, with contemporary Black leaders and movements actively challenging exclusionary narratives and expanding the contours of American identity. Figures like Representative Ilhan Omar strategically embrace the language of patriotism when critiquing American power, both domestically and internationally.⁸⁸ Her insistence on expanding the nation’s contours represents a “dissident form of Americanism,” grappling with histories of racial violence and exclusion while demanding a radical transformation of U.S. democracy.⁸⁸ This approach demonstrates that patriotism can coexist with critique, aligning with James Baldwin’s sentiment: “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually”.¹³

Black activists continue to lead the fight against white nationalism, recognizing it as a direct threat to the entire democratic system that emerged as a backlash to the 1960s civil rights movement.⁸⁹ They emphasize that white nationalism, which seeks to establish a whites-only nation, goes beyond anti-Black racial bias and requires direct confrontation.⁸⁹ Black community leaders are actively building a 21st-century civil rights movement, drawing on the legacy of past liberation movements to protect hard-won victories from white nationalism.⁸⁹

The construction of alternative patriotic brands allows for affection and critique to coexist, offering a pathway for a more inclusive American identity.¹³ This involves challenging “hegemonic patriotism” that is “drenched in whiteness” and instead fostering patriotic identities that acknowledge and incorporate the diverse contributions and experiences of all Americans.¹³ The ongoing efforts to dismantle systemic racism, address economic inequalities, and combat political disenfranchisement are integral to this redefinition, asserting that a truly patriotic nation is one that strives for justice, equality, and full inclusion for all its citizens.

5. Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy and Path Forward

The historical record unequivocally demonstrates a persistent and deliberate conflation of racism with patriotism in the United States. From the foundational construction of American identity as inherently white, through the justifications for slavery, Jim Crow, and nativist movements, to contemporary white nationalist rhetoric, the defense of racial hierarchy has been consistently framed as a national imperative. This conflation has served to legitimize exploitation, maintain power structures, and suppress dissent, often by masking aggressive, exclusionary nationalism under the guise of benign national loyalty.

The profound impacts of this historical pattern are evident in enduring economic disparities, such as the persistent Black-white wealth gap exacerbated by practices like redlining and the denial of benefits like the GI Bill. It is equally manifest in the systematic political disenfranchisement of marginalized communities through various voter suppression tactics, which continue to undermine democratic principles and representation. The social and psychological toll, particularly the “double consciousness” experienced by Black Americans and the internalization of prejudice, reveals the deep scars left by a national narrative that frequently cast them as outsiders.

However, this history is not solely one of oppression. It is also a testament to the resilient and persistent efforts of Black leaders and movements, from abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells to Civil Rights icons like Martin Luther King Jr. and W.E.B. Du Bois. These figures consistently challenged the narrow, racist definitions of patriotism, articulating powerful counter-narratives that demanded the nation live up to its stated ideals of liberty and equality for all. Their “alternative patriotism” was not a rejection of America, but a profound insistence on its perfectibility and a call for a more inclusive vision of national identity.

Moving forward, a genuine, inclusive patriotism necessitates a critical confrontation with this complex history. It requires acknowledging how racial hierarchies were historically embedded in the national fabric and actively dismantling the systemic structures that continue to perpetuate racial inequality. A truly patriotic nation embraces its diversity, addresses its injustices, and strives for a future where the ideals of freedom and equality are a lived reality for all its citizens, not merely a rhetorical facade. This ongoing process of redefinition and reconciliation is essential for the United States to fulfill its promise as a just and equitable society.

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