Dear t-shirt: you’ve been cancelled

I cry for my country

Photo by the author.

Going through my closets last night, looking for clothing to get rid of, I came across a rarely worn bright red t-shirt from the National Museum of American History. I remember buying it more than a decade ago during a visit to the museum with a friend: Before an attempted coup, before the right-wing Supreme Court took away a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, before the color red became a symbol I don’t care to be associated with. In other words, before America took a very wrong turn down a path leading to authoritarianism.

The shirt is almost like new, but it has to go. I can’t countenance wearing a shirt with USA emblazoned on the chest, lest anyone who sees me think I’m among what I call the “paper patriots.”