THIS-S-S!!!
I could've highlighted the entirety of this very excellent piece, Guy (damned-near did!) -- but that sentiment right there is everything! I say it ALL THE DAMNED TIME! From the time my 66 year-old ass began going to school, up until and including today as my grandchildren now do -- THEY'VE NEVER CARED about anybody else but them. And now, they're doing the same shit to a whole new generation, trying to make them feel "less than" as they try to create yet more generations of white supremacists.
Like you, I struggle both with being an American AND from SC, now living in "the Belly of the Beast" (TX ) with my sons and grandchildren having to worry about getting their brains blown out by an insecure fool with a real, Weapon of Mass Destruction, as has happened here on several occasions. The husband and I are retired and we could easily pack up and move out of this hellhole of a country, but I have to stay, for them and for all our children suffering these horrible injustices.
(By the way, I watched Wanda's special too! It was so good, I texted all my family and their friends with the heads-up to watch it!)