What does the word patriot mean to you?
I have always thought it simply described someone who loves their country. Not just Gadsden-flag-waving white men who whine about paying taxes, but anyone who loves their country, recognizes its flaws, and strives to make it better.
Erica L. Green of the New York Times published an article this past Sunday that told the story of Dr. Andrea Kane, the first Black superintendent of Queen Anne’s County Public Schools here in Maryland. It is masterfully written, both enlightening and infuriating as it details the horrible treatment Dr. Kane endured in this Eastern Shore community simply for being a Black woman who spoke out against racism. Something that caught my eye was that the group of people who organized to oppose Dr. Kane – the folks who took to Facebook to dehumanize, mock, and humiliate her – dubbed themselves the Kent Island Patriots.
Patriots. As if the word is in any way synonymous with people who go online to express their unequivocal contempt for a Black woman because she uttered the words “Black lives matter.”
Dr. Kane spoke her truth – that racism is still alive and well in Queen Anne’s County, and in its schools, and we need to talk about it – and the majority-white community may as well have said “there’s no racism here, you [racial slur].” Yet, Dr. Kane continued to stand firm in her truth. She continued to have the conversations about racism that are so critical to the future of Black students in Queen Anne’s County and elsewhere.
This is what Black women do. They work, fight, and advocate to make this country better, to form a more perfect union, and they continue to do so even when their fellow Americans inevitably turn their backs on them. For centuries, the United States has committed all manner of violence against Black women through enslavement, imprisonment, exclusion, oppression, exploitation, and erasure. But despite living that ugly history, women like Dr. Kane keep insisting that we can, and must, do better. Black women have long led the way in speaking out for themselves, for each other, and for the higher standard to which this country must hold itself.
That’s what love of country looks like. That’s what a patriot looks like.
In addition to reading Ms. Green’s article about Dr. Kane, please listen to Elevate Maryland’s podcast episode “Amplify Black Women: This Is What We Live,” in which Ms. Green joins Unapologetic Communications entrepreneur Takirra Winfield Dixon and Highland Project founder Gabrielle Wyatt in a moving conversation about their lives, their work, and their challenges as Black women.