Being an American has always been complicated for me. Being patriotic about the country I happened to be born in has always felt like a muscle that’s needed to be worked out rather than second nature. At times in my life, usually around a World Cup, I’d bust out the mental gymnastics and cheer for the USA.
I remember at the age of 18 being in an (the only?) Irish pub in my hometown San Clemente, Calif. for Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria at the 2010 World Cup. Four years later, John Brooks’ header against Ghana had me on the floor of a brewery in Seattle with strangers I’d never met.
As I got older and more aware of my surroundings, I became much more jaded with the country I consider home. After all, how can someone truly be proud in a country that’s capable of the horrors that have happened in the name of America? I was over it. Not for me. And at the same time, my support of the national team flickered out like a candle.
Since then, I’ve spent the better part of a decade being a hater. I hate most things about America. How can a country that does so many bad things with no vision of change for the future be something worth being proud of?
This past year, I felt like I’ve undergone a spiritual awakening. Maybe I’ve gone soft, but I need a vision of the future that keeps me going. I could no longer be a jaded asshole who sat online pointing out every bad thing with no end in sight. There needs to be something collective we’re working toward.
Some of you reading this know me personally and most of you probably don’t, but I spent the last four years living in Minnesota. I had to leave Seattle to get unstuck in various ways, and the Twin Cities was the perfect place for my rebirth to happen.
Those four years included this past winter, obviously. A winter where the federal government invaded their own people to separate families, murder Americans, and brutalize an entire community. For weeks on end, I witnessed and participated with my neighbors to protect the most vulnerable. The very people who left their own homelands to come to America because there was a promise of a better future. These people were having that future ripped away from them, and Minnesotans wouldn’t let that stand. So every day, often in below-zero temperatures, I’d see people putting their lives on the line to protect their community. Because that’s what Minnesotans do.
Minnesota is a place of ruthless optimism. The future is better than the past if you’re ruthless about making it happen. It’s a place that has taught me to carry that ruthless optimism with me for the rest of my life. The people who I protested with in -17 degree weather are more representative of America than any goon in a suit will ever be.
My vision and my American ideal isn’t represented by a political party. It’s represented by the cities and people that make this place great.
Being away from Seattle for four years — particularly this past four years — has been very hard for me. Not being able to go to every Sounders home game, not being able to see the city transform up close, and most of all, not being able to be close to my friends made it all very hard. Seeing Seattle reveal itself to the entire world as an international hub that can welcome everyone was truly beautiful. The version of America where Seattle is an international hub and is welcoming to people from all over. After all, everyone in the world should get to experience the Puget Sound and a Seattle Dog.
I’ve been on a complicated journey this year figuring out what I believe in when it comes to America, and the reason why I’ve decided to root for the USMNT during the World Cup is that I think the America I believe in is the vision I experienced living in Minnesota. People standing up and putting their lives on the line to protect their immigrant neighbors. The version of America that flatly rejects a fascist government invading its cities. A vision of the future that transforms a city into one that can accommodate the world’s stage in such a beautiful way.
America is Folarin Balogun’s story. America is Take Me Home, Country Roads. America is the ruthless optimism of the people of Minnesota. America is Renee Good. America is Alex Pretti. America is Seattle’s beauty. America is you and I.
