I can only agree with you as a white middle aged ma in so far as saying you are completely right. Great for who? That label has always been questioned by me if only because of the idea that the Americans heroes marched into a broke burnt down country that wasn’t theirs where 20 million Russian had already defeated Hitler and claimed victory. But you’re analysis really drives home the even deeper problem of their “greatness”: that the triumphant American victory was used to deepen economic and social inequities and political injustices in America, not end them.
As far as being a white male, let’s remember that there have always been a deep division within this race: a minority of white men fought for abolition from day one of the founding of America, created the idea of a secular humanist democracy, while a majority of powerful whites fought against the enactment of those ideas. The deep division remains today and we continue to side with the rights of minorities and women against the tyrannical instincts of right wing whites and their controlling interests. Thanks much for you insights.