I learned soon after leaving home for college, after leaving the conservative bubble in which I was raised, that it’s best not to admit you like the Fourth of July. Even after I was quick to quip, “My parents are immigrants, I’m allowed to be patriotic,” this admission was still taboo. Best not to admit you like America, let alone admire it.

I’m an educated, upper-class white woman. To like the United States — to vocalize this — is to be ignorant, tone deaf, and out of touch.