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Health & Fitness

A Very Special Independence Day

Immigrants can be patriotic too.

I’m half British. So I guess yesterday shouldn’t have been much of a celebration for me, right? After all, the Fourth of July was the beginning of the end of the king’s reign over the American colonies. Well, wrong. First of all, I’m also half Danish. I was raised in Denmark and the damn Brits actually also tried to invade us at one point. Led by Admiral Nelson, the British bombed the hell out of Copenhagen and simply stole what was left of the Danish fleet to go fight the French.

Maybe it was revenge for the Viking raids, I don’t know. I just know that yesterday I felt more patriotic than I have in my entire life—and not on behalf of my native country, but out of love for my adopted home here in Beverly Hills in the United States. Danes aren’t very patriotic in general. Being a small country with a huge language barrier, we’ve always been open towards the world, interacting with foreign nations in a tolerant and productive way. We had to—nobody was going to come to us for anything, we would have to go seek trade opportunities out in the world.

That’s why English is mandatory in Danish schools from 3rd grade and up. That’s why we subtitle foreign movies and TV series, instead of dubbing them into our own language like most of Europe. However, Denmark has also been on a nationalistic trip for the past 11 years, under the reign of a (very) right-wing government. The government is backed by the Danish People’s Party, which according to a recent New York Times article has made Denmark the leader in  nationalism, protectionism and even racism in Europe.

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It’s actually one of the reasons I left. I couldn’t stand the wide acceptance of racism anymore. It’s not just among regular people, who maybe just don’t know better because they’ve never met a black man or a Muslim before. Denmark has elected officials who have retained their positions, even though they’ve been convicted of racist libel. I didn’t want to be part of that anymore. And even though racism is still very much on the agenda here in the U.S., there’s a sense, especially among Californians, that racism is something that should never be accepted or tolerated.

So I left my native country, in which they now have a particular brand of patriotism, that I can definitely not be part of. It’s now considered patriotic to hate everything that isn’t born or created in Denmark. That’s why I chose the U.S. and California instead: Even though there is a huge immigration debate going on, nobody doubts that this country finds strength in its diversity of cultures. It’s a consensus that’s been in place for almost 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement.

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It was with this in mind I went down to Newport Beach yesterday and got on a yacht (in Denmark, boats of that size are called ferries!). A good friend of mine had taken me to a party onboard, and I stood at the stern as the boat sailed around the bay, until darkness fell and it was time for fireworks.

Close to my heart, in my wallet, I carried the physical manifestation of why I was feeling more patriotic than ever. Until a few days ago, I’ve stayed here on non-immigrant visas that usually had to be renewed every couple of years. And technically, on paper, my primary address was still in Denmark.

But not anymore. On July 2, the anniversary of the day when the Continental Congress actually VOTED for independence and decided to break free from the British tyranny, the mailman brought me my Green Card. I’m now a permanent resident.

And as the fireworks lit the sky over Orange County, it was almost as if I could feel a welcoming warmth emanating from the green, credit-card-sized slab of plastic. When patriotism is inclusive, it’s a beautiful thing.

Thank you for welcoming me, America. And happy birthday.

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