Islamophobia Has Corroded American Values

Every July, I take my boys back to my hometown in Indiana so we can watch the Independence Day parade. They run around in American-flag shirts and devour far too many rocket pops as vintage cars, tractors, and an Abraham Lincoln in shorts make their way down Main Street.

I’ve always loved that parade, but it’s not the same one I recall watching as a girl. In recent years—in between the marching bands and Girl Scouts—comes a camouflage military Humvee, a papier-mâché bald eagle flying at a jumbo-size Bible, and a tribute to “Indiana’s fallen heroes,” during which photos of so many, too many, young Hoosiers who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq are carried out on banners. It’s a somber scene. The shadow of September 11, the wars that followed, and the culture that shaped us all hangs over the parade.