On Khizr Khan and Patriotism

My love for government, politics, and history can be attributed in large part to two people.

My brother, a few years older than me, converted his high school and college years in Model United Nations and Model Congress into a profession as a beloved, though strict, high school history teacher who founded Model UN & Congress clubs in his high school.

Inspired by his passion for these clubs, I pursued similar pursuits in high school as well, which caused its own ripple effect for me.

And, my own AP US History teacher, Mr. D., who taught us there are patterns in history to follow and never ignore the past. Not because those who do are doomed to repeat it, but because you can simply learn a lot about the current state of the world from it.

Mr. D had us keep a copy of the Constitution all year and when we discussed Supreme Court cases, pull it out and re-read the specific Amendments or sections of the document out loud and discuss their meanings.

I thought back to those classroom days earlier this week when listening to Khizr Khan.

On the last night of the DNC, Khizr Khan, a father who lost his son saving the lives of the men in his command from a suicide bomber in Iraq, took the stage to give a passionate denouncement of Trump and his proposed ban on Muslim immigrants.

That Khan or his son, Captain Humayum Khan, are Muslims, should be irrelevant.

That Khan was born in Pakistan, is trivial.

That Khan, a lawyer by profession, was a graduate of Harvard Law School when he arrived to the United States, is commendable.

That Khan and his wife, following their son’s death, host the R.O.T.C. cadets of their son’s alma mater, University of Virginia, every year and give a pocket-sized copy of the United States Constitution — same as the one he pulled from his breast pocket on stage at the DNC and offered Trump to borrow — is humbling and awe-inspiring.

That Khan challenged Trump to read the words about “liberty” and “equal protection of law,” is compelling.

That Captain Khan’s last conversation with his parents was on Mother’s Day 2004, where he promised his mother he would return back safely to her, but noted his commitment to his fellow soldiers, is simply heart-breaking.

I read these points, with a lump in my throat, in this recent New York Times article on Khan and how he ended up on stage at the DNC.

In the lead-up to the DNC, he told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Nowhere but in the United States is it possible that an immigrant who came to the country empty-handed only a few years ago gets to stand in front of patriots and in front of a major political party…it is my small share to show the world, by standing there, the goodness of American

Conversely, the deep disappointment in Trump only grew upon reading his reply, when asked if he had any thoughts to Khan’s comments: “I’d like to hear his wife say something.”

Khan’s comments about America struck a nerve with me. “What a wonderful honor,” he said, of having some earlier comments about his son, be used at the DNC. “Who am I to say no?” He also noted that while he respected both the Republican and Democratic parties, “I definitely will continue to raise my voice out of concern that the Republican leadership must pay attention to what is taking place,” in reference to Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigrants.

The show-stopping line from Khan was a simple question addressed to Trump: “Have you even read the United States Constitution?”

It’s a question worth repeating not just for Trump, but for all Americans.

Have you even read the United States Constitution?

And for citizens of any other country as well. Have you even read your country’s founding documents?

Have you ever sat down to read the nuances words, cobbled together after heated discussions, welded together through compromise, and penned late at night from the light of melting candles?

Have you seen how seven articles provide a framework for a government, establish a separate of powers, create three branches of government, wax poetic about the powers of federalism and the rights and responsibilities given to the states?

Have you studied the subsequent amendments added on, the Bill of Rights guaranteeing individual liberties and restrictions on government power?

Have you seen how the 17 other amendments were added in realisation that the framers and founders were not perfect, though they developed safeguards to modify this governing document as needed?

This document, the first of its kind ever created, the shortest of its kind ever written, and perhaps the one with the most influence on national constitutions adopted by other sovereign states.

Have you read it?

Lost in the finger-pointing of who is most American, which perceivably can be measured by lapel flag pins, rows of American flags on stage, and whether a speech ends with God bless the United States of America or not, is a more fundamental measure of patriotism — understanding the principles of the country and where they originated.

Patriotism, to me, cannot be measured with how loudly you shout about your love for country. A million flags do not tip the scale in anyway, if there is no baseline understanding of its founding documents or an attempt at trying to decode what they mean.

People can express their patriotism in many ways. One way, with near universal recognition, is to serve on behalf of your nation as a member of the armed forces. Is there anything, more loyal and patriotic, than sacrificing your own life, for it? Unless you get captured and tortured, according to Trump. In which, no one likes you.

But that is not the only way to show patriotism, or love for country. The preamble of the constitution also calls on the people of the United States to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare.”

Aren’t teachers patriotic in promoting the general welfare? Nurses and doctors for insuring domestic tranquility? Law enforcement and firefighters for providing the common defence? Labourers, merchants, businessman who fairly pay taxes and contribute to society for securing our posterity?

If you have a few free minutes, take the time to read the Constitution of the United States. As noted, it’s the shortest one out there, so it shouldn’t take too long.

As to Khan’s points about “liberty” and “equal protection of law”:

5th Amendment: No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

14th Amendment, Section 1: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall…deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.