At this point, it's hard to turn a blind eye to the climate of what is going on in the United States, whether it's political or social. For such a long time now, there's been a tense debate between showing pride for your country and kneeling (or other forms of protest). One side argues that you should always stand for the pledge and be patriotic regardless of your personal opinion of the country while others feel the opposite.

This year is no exception, especially with the growing momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement following public outcry of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Flyod, Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain. What's striking about all these deaths is that these are all deaths that became viral, many of their killers not being arrested nor fired from positions of power until the media called for it. For some, it took months until any action was taken.

June was definitely a month of activism, especially for social media. Many shed light on Juneteenth, which was usually overlooked year after year for the Fourth of July. Now more than ever, people are focusing on what standing by the American flag really means. It stands as a symbol of a country that cages children of immigrants in ICE camps, the systemic oppression and killing of Black men and women, and denying basic human rights to millions of Americans out there.

To be honest, though, this isn't new. I didn't realize it at the time, but this is something that has been brewing for such a long time. Even something as simple as back in high school during my school's homecoming spirit week, one of the themed days was a patriotic day. Going to a predominantly white conservative school, the BIPOC students often felt separated and lived a very different life than the others. A group of BIPOC students decided to form a blackout instead of wearing red, white, and blue and this became immense controversy at our school.

Many of the community felt that wearing black was a sign of rebellion and would tell the Hispanic and Black students to go back to where they came from, despite the fact that most of them were born and raised in the same community as them. At the time, I understood why they opted to wear black instead of the flag colors and what it meant on the surface level; five years later as an educated adult, I truly understand now what that silent protest meant. So, should you skip out on studying the most patriotic of all of our federal American holidays? Well, the answer to that might just lie on what the American flag means to you.