Independents Day

In the 1930s Broadway legend Ira Gershwin wrote the lyric, “Of thee I sing, baby,” a ditty that offered a hip take on love and patriotism. Even though the song was for a political satire, Americans at the time were aghast, horrified at the flip take on the almost sacred “My Country Tis of Thee.”

In the 1990s, a once staunchly proud nation barely blinks an eye when L.A. rock group Rage Against The Machine shouts epithets against the flag and other symbols of an “imperialist” nation.

But are the generations really all that far apart? Do folks young as well as old still feel a swell of warmth when fireworks light the skies? Do young people today still hold dear the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence?

The answer is a little yes and a little no.

That’s what emerged from a few days of quick roaming conversations around L.A. with dozens of students, professionals and even a wino.

One example of a growing chasm is 20-year-old Cassadie Mitchell. Though she grew up with festive celebrations full of beer and piping hot barbecue, Mitchell, who has purple hair and a nose ring, admits to seeing the world through radically different eyes than her grandparents.

“I think its been so many years since the patriotism movement, like the G. I. time before the boomers,” said the Eugene, Ore., native while walking along Venice Beach last week.

“I think we know a lot more now than we did then. I don’t think we trust the government as much as we used to. I think the Fourth of July is a commercialist scam. If you think about it, the fireworks are pollution and are expensive. And fireworks are geared toward little kids. Plus, they make a lot of money selling flags. I don’t think it has anything to do with freedom. It’s just a day.”

Aaron Ogawa, a 17-year-old Bishop Amat High School student who lives in La Puente, was stumped as he pondered the meaning behind Fourth of July.

“I haven’t really thought about what it means,” he said. “It’s just a holiday, a day to hang out with friends.”

But at the Chatsworth Garden Guest Home, feelings were 180 degrees from Mitchell and Ogawa. Some in Chatsworth wonder why there are so few flags, a universal symbol of a once-ambitious 13 colonies, waving on porches nowadays.

“Families are different now,” observed Jeannette Marx, an 83-year-old retired bookkeeper who lived in Granada Hills before moving to Garden Guest Home. “They are not as close as they used to be. And kids today aren’t as patriotic as we were at their age. We were very patriotic. We got the flag out when the day was approaching. I looked forward to the picnics and parades.”

The gap between the “take it or leave it” young adults of today and the graying Americans of the die-hard G.I. era is seen nationwide, said Diane Crispell, editor of American Demographics magazine.

A Roper Report poll conducted last year found that while 60% of people over 60 called themselves patriotic, about 50% of Americans 29 and under so labeled themselves.

Overall, polls taken over the years confirm that patriotism is on the decline. According to Roper Starch, a marketing and public opinion research firm, in October 1986 the number of people of all ages who agreed that patriotism was “in” totaled 74%. By the same date 10 years later, that number had dropped to just 59% of the respondents.

Contrast: A young professional basketball player named Mahmoud Abdul-Rahif refuses to stand for the “Star-Spangled Banner,” declaring the American flag to be “a symbol of oppression and tyranny.” Then there’s 97-year-old Bill Snow, leaning on a cane in the Chatsworth home, who nearly levitates off the ground when asked if people should be allowed the burn the flag.

“Hell no,” he grunted. “No way. When those bastards do that, it burns me up.”

Ex-Navy man Snow, a bubbling former auto body shop owner and avid dancer, said he remembers when the Fourth of July drew a community together, a time to celebrate freedom earned by soldiers.

“In the olden days, they used to have parades,” Snow recalled. “And I mean big ones. I remember when I was 12, we marched in parades with the men in uniform. No more. I don’t see it. Now I think that they don’t teach them as much in school about the holiday. My wife and I talk about it all the time.”

All may not be lost, though, because even within the Gen-X crowd, there are glimpses of patriotism.

“I respect my country and I am willing to go to war for it,” said Cesar Osorio, a 15-year-old 10th-grader at Pacific Palisades High School. “If they want me to go, I will go. I believe everyone is an American no matter what race. But I think a lot of my friends take their freedom for granted. In 20 years I think it’s going to be the same. There are going to be some people who would die for their country and others who just don’t care.”

Twenty-one-year-old Lauren Snyder says if she saw someone torching the flag, she would not just stand there and watch. “I wouldn’t get angry with them,” said the Santa Monica College student, but she would try to stop them.

“I would question why they are here in America,” Snyder said, her emotions building as she spoke. “Because there is no other place like America. Yeah, we need to work on some things, but there’s no other place you can be free and have your own opinions. This is a great country, and I think it should be celebrated. The symbolism and traditions are no longer as meaningful, but the whole idea is good.”

But why do views of patriotism differ? Is it simply the inevitable difference between age and youth? Partly. But again and again people interviewed for this story tied patriotism to war.

“If a war broke out now,” said 80-year-old former Northridge musician Ruth Gorrin, whose husband was in the Army, “I don’t think we would have as many youngsters that would volunteer for the service, as compared to the World War II time and previous years.”

The large majority of older people interviewed said the children of a peacekeeping era have never felt patriotism deeply, mainly because they have never lived through any long-term wars. Sure, there was the Persian Gulf War, but even a schoolkid’s summer vacation is longer than that.

“My father was in World War II,” said 35-year-old Donna Salcido, sitting on a bus bench in Pacoima. “He was born in Mexico and died fighting for this country. People should respect that day. They should realize the importance of Independence Day. Nobody respects that any more. Now they wanna burn the flag. I think the flag should be respected.”

And perhaps because they have not truly experienced war, seniors say, the “youngsters” rarely have been forced to voice their support for the USA.

“The young people don’t like tradition because they like to spend more time having fun,” said Thomas Iwnicki, a 47-year-old cardiac technician from Hollywood. “And the old people have tradition, like World War II or the Vietnam War. Old people remember so many bad things.”

“Kids now take everything for granted,” said Mary Myers, a 53-year-old Redlands counselor, who sees the holiday losing steam each year. “I work at a group home, and some of the little girls up there are from about age 7 to 17. And they don’t know what the day is all about because they have never been taught.”

Stuck in the middle of the youth and the seniors are the baby boomers. Or as Sam Hyman, a middle-aged ex-hippie flippantly put it: “I think we are more spoiled than the generation before us and the Gen-Xers are even more spoiled than us.”

Although exposed to the patriotism of their parents, they also lived through Watergate and Vietnam, leaving boomers more cautious about patriotism. Many retain some of their parents’ unabashed love of country, but also share some of the skepticism of their children.

In fact, adds Hyman, a 47-year-old regional manager for ICI, the tendency of the twentysomething crowd to question tradition is “just a phase.” Hyman, who lives in Van Nuys, predicts that as the new generation gets grayer, they will begin believing more wholeheartedly in the American dream as they start buying homes or becoming parents.

Now listen to two other voices, who each offer a completely different take on the Fourth of July.

“Because you get to spend time with your family and eat barbecue,” said 8-year-old Edward Magdaleno of North Hollywood, with a partially toothless grin, when asked about the Fourth. “That’s why I like it.”

And though he points to the sands of Venice Beach when asked what city he lives in, Bobby Brown, a 60-year-old self-described “World’s Greatest Wino” and “Sexual Advisor,” said even with no roof, life ain’t half-bad in America.

“This is still my country,” Brown said, fresh from an afternoon nap in the sun. “I don’t care how it is. I am not living in Russia. I’m not living in Iran. So I gotta honor America first. Anybody that thinks differently is stupid. If you don’t like America, get the hell out of it. Go someplace else. . . . I can cuss the police out walking around here. We can do that. That’s why I am proud to be an American.”