Skip to main content

Musings About a Flag

Again we respond to horrific tragedy in our social media communities. It makes me sick that an acceptable protocol has evolved for expressing grief. In days gone by a tolling of church bells or a lowered flag were the symbols of national calamity. Now we have an array of profile pics and memes to tell our sorrow, invoke a higher power, urge greater love. We "react" and we "share" until the moment has passed.

And when the next horrific slaughter occurs we will be ready to do it all again.

I was surprised to see some people use an American flag yesterday to express their solidarity with the victims and their families. I understood quite well the rainbow images I was seeing. The Rainbow flag is the standard of the LGBTQ cause and the act of terror and hate was committed in a well-known Orlando gay nightclub. But I realized that I had an almost visceral response to seeing the traditional red, white, and blue.

I shrank from it. Why?

The Rainbow flag is a flag of inclusion, acceptance. It celebrates diversity. Does the American flag? Do our LGTBQ brothers and sisters see an American flag and feel it speaks for them? Certainly many have fought and even died in military service to defend it and what it represents. As teachers they have taught students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. As judges and lawyers they have upheld notions crucial to holding this republic together.

But what does it mean to them?

Does this flag represent inclusion and acceptance? Does it celebrate their diversity? Most importantly, does this flag guarantee their equal protection under the law?

It does not. Not anywhere near enough.

More often than not the people who wrap themselves in the American flag do so to exclude and and revile those who are different. That's not how it should be. If our nation claims to be a place of Liberty and Justice for All, we are doing very poorly indeed.

And we are doing poorly not merely by our LGBTQ citizens, but also by African-Americans, Hispanics, the chronically and deeply poor, the mentally ill...I would hazard a guess that there are people in almost every state working to create policies and laws that define "those people" as less than American. Less than worthy of protection.

The truth is that memes of candles and rainbows and hearts and words of love are just barely holding back the tide of hate speech on social media. I want to believe, like Lin-Manuel Miranda, that

Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside.

But this flag, though.

To whom does it belong? Does it remain a pure symbol of a diverse nation which is somehow indivisible? Does it still speak the promise of Liberty and Justice for All? Or is it merely a casualty of war, diluted and defiled by hate?

Should we reclaim it for all that is good? I really don't know if that's possible at this point. I do know that, if I were in trouble or in danger, I'd much rather wrap myself in a Rainbow Flag, because I know what that means.

I love my country. I love the ideals which brought it into life. I would proudly admit to being patriotic if that did not make me think of other, darker things. I'm struggling to see the beauty.

I don't want to give up hope.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...
2 comments
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more