Civil rights heroes loved America. Today's grievance peddlers just hate it

I was scrolling on X the other day when I came across a post from Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democrat and community organizer running for Congress in New York's 13th District. If she wins in November, she plans to abolish ICE, and she has been endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. She declared that "Hate has no place Uptown and in the Bronx" and that there is "no room for the hateful politics of the past." Sounds reasonable enough.

Then something interesting happened. Filmmaker Eli Steele quote-posted her, highlighting the contradiction in the words above with previous comments by the would-be U.S. representative.

This is the same candidate who previously called the United States a "f---ing disgrace" and declared "ALL PIGS EVERYWHERE ARE HARAM" — meaning all police are impure, enemies of the people. Now she wants to wrap herself in the language of unity and anti-hate?

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The hypocrisy is obvious. What troubled me more were the replies cheering her on. Pastor Ben Dixon: "America is a disgrace.... what is the controversy?" Javier Soriano went further: "The United States of America has been a 'f---ing disgrace,' terrorist country since day one." What White Europeans did to Native Americans and black slaves was terrorism, he wrote. American foreign policy is terrorism.

Reading those comments forced a hard realization: When did hating America become a virtue?

Anti-Americanism is not a political opinion. It is not legitimate critique. It is a soul-rotting disease. And it has infected large parts of our communities for so long that many now treat it as normal.

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I know this sickness intimately. I grew up seeing its effects in the black underclass. Part of me understands where the rage comes from — generations of real oppression leave scars. But this hatred has metastasized. It no longer targets specific injustices. It targets the country itself.

How do you raise a Black child — or any child — when every signal tells them their nation is evil at its core? That it is racist to the bone, built to destroy them, and will never change? How do you instill pride, ambition, or responsibility in a child you've convinced is living in enemy territory?

This poison is no longer confined to the streets. It is now taught in some of America's wealthiest schools under the banner of "liberated ethnic studies." Children are divided into oppressor (White) and oppressed (people of color) camps. The message is clear: You are your race first, and America is rigged against you. The individual disappears. Tribalism becomes destiny.

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You cannot build a brighter future in a nation you believe is your enemy. That is the point.

If I truly believed America was irredeemably racist and evil, I would not be pouring my sweat and prayers into building a community center on the South Side of Chicago. I would be looking for the exit ramp, not digging in deeper. But I know the narrative is a lie. And the lie persists for three main reasons: it excuses personal failure ("The system is rigged, so why try?"), it feels revolutionary without requiring real work, and it grants power — the power to tear down rather than build up.

Chevalier's platform offers nothing inspiring. Abolish ICE. America is rotten. Any fool can repeat slogans. Real leadership requires telling the truth: America is imperfect, but it remains the greatest vehicle for human flourishing ever created. It gave my ancestors a chance their forebears in Africa never had. It gave me the chance to build.

This anti-American record has played for decades — through the 1960s and '70s, fading somewhat in the '80s, roaring back with Black Lives Matter in the 2010s. Each time, it torches credibility, communities, and futures, all while calling itself justice.

The civil rights generation marched into fire hoses and billy clubs not because they hated America, but because they loved it enough to demand it live up to its principles. They bled for this country's promise. Today's professional haters offer only fire and grievance. When the fire comes back at them, they act shocked.

When you make hatred your identity, you invite hatred into your life. That is not America's fault — it is the predictable consequence of the choices we make.

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In my neighborhood, I fight this every single day. I refuse to tell young people that their country is their enemy. The moment I do, I have given them permission to give up. Instead, I tell them the truth: America is flawed, but it rewards builders.

It is time to throw out the broken record of hatred and start building something that blesses the next generation with real opportunity.

That is the only revolution worth fighting for.

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