Despite the heat uncharacteristically washing over San Francisco this week, families, workers, lifelong residents, and tourists still roamed the streets on the days leading up to July 4.
They savored cool drinks at neighborhood bars and cafes. They flopped down on grassy patches of shade in Dolores Park and squeezed onto air conditioned buses driving up Mission Street. They peered into the waves lapping against Pier 39, hoping to spot sea lions hiding from the sun, and unbuttoned their suits as they emerged from Salesforce Tower.
With uncertainty dominating national politics, we asked more than two dozen people here in San Francisco if they are proud to be Americans. Here’s what many of them said:
Taci Mackenzie, a nurse from Oakland, isn’t proud to be an American — but she’d like to be.
“A lot of people look up to America. They look up to our culture here, our fashion, our music. But, on the inside, there’s not a lot of love. We need to have more love,” Mackenzie said while showing her extended family around Pier 39.
When Vera and Rasmus, both 23-year-old students, decided to go on a West Coast road trip this summer, they made sure to book flights from Denmark that would get them to San Francisco before July 4.
“When you come from Europe … it’s like, the prime example of America is the Fourth of July,” Vera said. The couple is expecting the festivities to be “a bit overwhelming” — full of fireworks, flags and corndogs.
Rasmus described his impression of America as a large country of extremes. “So coming to America, it’s like, ‘Oh shit, this is actually a real place.’ It isn’t just something in movies,” he laughed. Their bucket list includes seeing Yosemite, and a Walmart.
Once a month, Paul Males sets up shop along Fisherman’s Wharf to sell blankets, shirts and, during the July 4 week, American flag hats.
“This is a great nation. I’m from Ecuador, and I’m really happy to be here … There [are] bad things, obviously, but there are bad things everywhere. It’s mostly great things here,” Males said.
When Aldea Wilder thinks about the state of the country, she feels “sad, scared, [and] depressed.” But she takes pride in her local community.
“I’m proud of us here at the shop and everything we’ve done. I think San Francisco is a beautiful city, even with all its faults,” Wilder said at Beacon Coffee & Pantry on Columbus Avenue, where she works.
Claire O’Dowd, a 23-year-old student from Cork, Ireland, chose to spend her summer working in San Francisco to experience the country’s cultural diversity. She loves it, but could do without the “divisive” politics.
“I think my impression of American patriotism is … you support America, and if you criticize it, you’re a bad citizen,” O’Dowd said. She finds the abundance of stars and stripes amusing: “You don’t really see the Irish flag, like, outside someone’s home,” O’Dowd giggled.
Pat Lawlor, 60, goes by many names adopted from his professional boxing days, including “the Pride of the Sunset District.” Though the native San Franciscan has only really traveled for boxing matches, he can’t imagine calling another place home.
“Sometimes I get angry, but there’s probably no place better,” Lawlor said. “The country seems to be happy with itself.”
In years past, July 4 was spent barbecuing or watching a parade, a couple sitting in Washington Square explained. These days, though, they said they shy away from events that might be violent or “politically inclined.” In fact, they seldom venture south of Market Street or west of Van Ness, wanting to avoid “lunatics.”
To them, being patriotic means unconditional love. “We love the United States of America … and we hope our politicians will just unite together and do something together, rather than divide and break it,” they said.
When 31-year-old native San Franciscan Jasmine Hulett lived abroad in Hungary and Italy, she often found herself defending Americans: “Yes, we’re crazy, but we’re also pretty great.”
Still, she calls herself one of the country’s “biggest critics.” “I think that I want to be patriotic, but I also am just so scared about what’s going on right now in the U.S., so it’s hard for me to be like, ‘yay!’” Hulett said with a smile and “rah rah” gesture.
“I’m not patriotic in the sense of, like, ‘Go, America!’ I’m patriotic in the sense of, like, the women’s national soccer team is going to play in the Olympics … That’s my patriotism.”
Angel Mayorga, the son of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants who came to the United States in the 50s, is proud to live in a “great country” with good jobs. “I mean, look at this city. It’s so beautiful,” he said from a corner table at Delirium Bar in the Mission.
“We have to protect the country from threats to democracy … Everyone’s saying that Trump is a threat to democracy. So maybe not voting for Trump is patriotic,” Mayorga added with a laugh.
For Morgan Cunningham, patriotism means disillusion.
“I feel like [at] any July 4 party that I go to, I can’t imagine we’re going to be waving flags. I think it’s going to be more of a mass mourning…” they said at Dog Eared Books in the Mission.
“I think the country is in absolute disrepair at the moment, politically,” Daniel Sant, a business owner in the Mission, said.
“I don’t feel like celebrating America on July 4. In fact, I think the best thing to do is to try and come up with other ways to affect life, because we’re not getting anything from the government.” Originally from England, Sant has lived in the United States for the last 26 years.
Jorge Luis, who immigrated from El Salvador 25 years ago, said he loves the United States. When asked about July 4, however, he spoke about El Salvador’s Independence Day celebration — a grand affair that draws dozens of relatives home.
His plans for July 4 here are more low-key. At a restaurant on Valencia, Luis and his wife will celebrate their daughter’s third birthday, which falls on the same day.
On his days off from working as a cook at Clooney’s Pub at 25th and Valencia streets, 70-year-old Fernando Alarcon sits in Dolores Park and looks for eagles. He says he has loved being American ever since he immigrated from Mazatlan, Mexico at 16.
“I’m not a politician … I just do my work,” Alarcon said. “[But] I love this country.”
“Are you proud to be an American?”
What a question to ask mere days after the US Supreme Court put the office of the US president above the law!
Under this fascistic decision, “We the people…” are no longer considered sovereign.
I am proud to assert that this situation is untenable and a tyranny.
It must not stand!
I am very proud to be American.
This country stood up to the Nazis. We stood up to Japanese imperialism. We then turned around and rebuilt our worst adversaries, turning them into our biggest allies, and setting the stage for decades of world economic growth.
This country is still the world’s main advocate of freedom. We are leading a reluctant Europe into aiding Ukraine against Russian aggression. We are leading the fight against pirates, and against the Houthis for control of the Red Sea. We are steadfastly supporting Taiwan when the EU is too cowardly to do so.
Our technology and entertainment industries are still easily the best in the world. It’s no wonder that our stock market is the world’s main stock exchange.
And you can be who you want to be here. We have real freedom of opportunity for everyone, no matter where they come from or what they look like.
I am very proud to be American.
Well done! Perfect read for today
I have been in this country for over 50 years, I am a citizen by choice and love this country, I have seen many changes good and bad, but always getting ahead. For better or for worse the United States is and will be the greatest country full of diversity and adventures, Here you can be anything you want. God bless us and American! Siempre P’lante!
The general sentiment from all seems to surround pride, love and positivity around being an American. This is due, in large part, to the unique experience of living in SF as it is a bubble that is more obvious when you venture outside of it. It felt somewhat utopian for me personally growing up in the city as a child (it has changed drastically since then but remnants of it still exists). We have cultural diversity, it’s beautiful and picturesque, and we continue to be a leader in many ways. Most respondents mentioned the current state of politics being the reason they aren’t as proud as they could be. I am proud of Americans but not proud of the systems and political infrastructure that is hellbent on dividing us and disenfranchising so many.
Great read!
This Nation is, and always has been and will be, a work in progress.
That is its strength. Keep in mind that hundreds of thousand, probably
tens of millions, want to come here, where as a few score thousand, at most, want to leave. Not the American Dream, but the Good Life.
I agree with a lot of the sentiment, but I also think San Francisco is itself a city of extremes within this vast country, if anything this city represents the new America better than any other place.