Raising the Flag

The other day my boyfriend and I were driving through his town in New Jersey and we noticed that the car in front of us had a sticker of the Italy flag.  He remarked that if it was a flag of Mexico that the person in the car would be considered probably undocumented or at least not a "true" American, i.e. one who is assimilated into Whiteness.  I can't help but agree with him on his comment.  If one has a flag that is of European origin then it must mean that the person is proud of his/her roots and ethnic heritage.  And that's seen as acceptable.  Even if the person spoke the language of those roots, s/he still wouldn't get the same kind of denigration for a person of certain backgrounds that's deemed as potentially "illegal" or certainly shameful.

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