Thank you for the inspiration. I’ve never been afraid to live in this country until now. What’s happening in the US was once unthinkable; it’s like waking up in the middle of a nightmare and finding out it’s not a nightmare but is actually very real.
I saw an American flag waving proudly in the breeze atop a flagpole today. Beneath it, a TRUMP 2024 flag was hanging down, sad and limp, like tRump’s talleywhacker. I felt so much pride.
I'm not proud of my country's long history of attempts to dominate our neighbors nor our hard resistance to facing up to our failures to embody the values of our founding documents. However, it is my country and I am committed to bending the arc of our history towards justice. Too often our flag is forefront in US offenses to the rights of those in other countries, in benefit to the powerful here at home. I have great respect for the resistance the US has met abroad and in the resilience of native, enslaved, and oppressed in this land we occupy.
I think it’s deeper than the primacy of old glory. There have always been those who would argue that the flag does not belong to all of us. That it doesn’t cover us all even as we put our hands on our hearts daily, pledging allegiance as students.
Meatheads would make it clear. Jocks would make it clear. We’d get our asses kicked on the way home from school by mean boys. Sometimes they tried to sexually assault us. They fit in perfectly, but their message was, “You don’t belong.” They had full permission confirming superiority over those who didn’t. And the language to denigrate us flowed freely.
The American flag was abused again most recently during the drumming up of patriotism alongside the false premise used to justify the Iraq war.
At any moment we can shift the paradigm. I’m not going to climb a flagpole to touch a flag today. But I will wear these Stars and Stripes leg warmers because I can. It’s strange, too, the fear it can invoke nowadays. Sometimes people assume it’s a cult symbol and they feel less safe until we shoot the breeze.
Thank you for the reminder--it is a good time to bring back the displaying of our flag in these difficult times. Having grown up with a WWII vet father, we had our very own flag pole and followed the protocol for raising, lowering, folding, and protecting it. As a child, it was an effective practice of respecting our nation, for all its faults.
I handed out small flags at the April 4 protest!
Thank you for the inspiration. I’ve never been afraid to live in this country until now. What’s happening in the US was once unthinkable; it’s like waking up in the middle of a nightmare and finding out it’s not a nightmare but is actually very real.
I saw an American flag waving proudly in the breeze atop a flagpole today. Beneath it, a TRUMP 2024 flag was hanging down, sad and limp, like tRump’s talleywhacker. I felt so much pride.
I'm not proud of my country's long history of attempts to dominate our neighbors nor our hard resistance to facing up to our failures to embody the values of our founding documents. However, it is my country and I am committed to bending the arc of our history towards justice. Too often our flag is forefront in US offenses to the rights of those in other countries, in benefit to the powerful here at home. I have great respect for the resistance the US has met abroad and in the resilience of native, enslaved, and oppressed in this land we occupy.
I think it’s deeper than the primacy of old glory. There have always been those who would argue that the flag does not belong to all of us. That it doesn’t cover us all even as we put our hands on our hearts daily, pledging allegiance as students.
Meatheads would make it clear. Jocks would make it clear. We’d get our asses kicked on the way home from school by mean boys. Sometimes they tried to sexually assault us. They fit in perfectly, but their message was, “You don’t belong.” They had full permission confirming superiority over those who didn’t. And the language to denigrate us flowed freely.
The American flag was abused again most recently during the drumming up of patriotism alongside the false premise used to justify the Iraq war.
At any moment we can shift the paradigm. I’m not going to climb a flagpole to touch a flag today. But I will wear these Stars and Stripes leg warmers because I can. It’s strange, too, the fear it can invoke nowadays. Sometimes people assume it’s a cult symbol and they feel less safe until we shoot the breeze.
Don’t let the gaslighting get to you.
Thank you for the reminder--it is a good time to bring back the displaying of our flag in these difficult times. Having grown up with a WWII vet father, we had our very own flag pole and followed the protocol for raising, lowering, folding, and protecting it. As a child, it was an effective practice of respecting our nation, for all its faults.
No red state no blue state, the Union forever.