Nationalism, a symptom

When discussing nationalism, in my mind, the word itself brings me to the Holocaust and Germany's hyper nationalism. I've found that i have never been one to support the idea of nationalism even with my own people as it gives the people of a nation a sense of superiority and ownership of their “inferiors”, which history has proven it leads people to excuse their violent and oppressive nature. Nationalism and democracy as two terms slinging together leads to a fascist regime, much like the United States current political climate. Nation-branding is the idea of how a nation presents itself to the outside world and the propaganda that it feeds to the people. In the 1930s, when the Germany’s economy was in extreme turmoil and the sentiments of defeat and widespread depression plagued their people, nationalism was in a sense used as a defense mechanism. In the worst way possible, it healed those by taking the blame away from Germany as a whole for their failure and instead placed it on marginalized groups, predominantly the Jewish population, and thus a campaign to eradicate these people from the Earth so that the Aryan race could prevail. I’m sure I don’t need to stress to you how insanely evil and disgusting this was and is. But to think the dangers of nationalism is exclusive to Germany is completely misinforming and a joke to history. Colonialism and imperialism prevailed because of nationalism, because of greed and white supremacy. It gave the European people a justification to kidnap, rape, torture, exploit, and enslave my people and most others. In the United States, nationalism is used to tell people it is wrong for them to stand against the injustice performed by the elites of the country and the elite race and class. Standing against the tyrannical and bigoted officers in our government of all levels makes me “anti-American”. It is so important that we remember that you can love your country and hate your government. I counter this by saying because I love America so much, I want to fight for the best position for everyone in this country and those that are affected by our actions abroad. I want us to stop talking about indigenous oppression as if it were something in the past and not an everyday struggle to date for the natives of this land. I want us to recognize the offsprings of the people kidnapped and enslaved here as human beings, as those worthy to life and equality as their lighter skinned counterparts. I want us to stop tearing apart the homes of people abroad and then denying them a life here. Nationalism in America isn’t intersectional, it is only for white people.