A Flag For Everyone
In our society, symbols are powerful tools. They are used to create meaningful connections to people’s experiences or places. They are neither good nor bad; they just are. It’s the meaning we, the people, attach to them that creates individual cultural relevance and connections. The American Flag is the most significant symbol of American ideals. From the outside looking in, the Flag is a symbol of freedom, a beacon of hope representing an opportunity for all its citizens. However, that is not every citizen’s experience.
The power a symbol represents is used to unite people around an idea or an ideal way of being. Currently, the US Flag is used to create division domestically and internationally. There’s a clear divide between Americans and the rest of the world, including ethnic and economic status within the United States. Adding a tagline like “Make America Great Again” — which divides and alienates all who don’t fit within the ideology of “Making America Great” — only leaves our country more divided.
Divide and conquer, a strategy to maintain control over one’s subordinates or subjects by encouraging discord between them. Winning only by getting one’s opponents to fight among themselves. This country’s forefathers fought a ruler who used command and control to maintain power. It astounds me that we are willingly walking back into that style of leadership. What happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Nowhere in that statement excludes anyone. In fact, it includes everyone. All of us. That, to me, is great. Everyone who subscribes to defending that, creating that, fostering that is what makes us great.
The Flag of the United States of America does not discriminate. It’s the symbol for all American Citizens. While our beliefs may differ, we are all connected by our citizenship regardless of ethnicity, faith, or economic status. One group may try to take claim of what the Flag represents. Nevertheless, we all own it collectively. Red, representing Hardiness and Valor. White, Purity and Innocence. Blue, Vigilance, Perseverance, and Justice. Our country’s Flag. The symbol of freedom.
As we prepare to celebrate The Fourth of July this year, it feels quite different; a little quieter. A little less colorful in the night sky. As the country celebrates this monumental day, I’m reflecting on what that means to me — Independence Day, the day of freedom.
Historically, this is not the day my ancestors received independence. We didn’t experience freedom from a controlling ruler. We didn’t experience justice. We had no rights. We were property. However, now I am an American citizen with every inalienable right, freedom, liberty, and justice that all citizens of the United States receive. Yet, it feels like it is only on paper. I wonder how many others feel this way. How many Americans truly feel free, included, accepted, and wanted by our own country?
I remember that on 9/11 when the towers fell, I watched a television interview of an individual covered in gray ash. He was colorless, with no distinguishing markers of ethnicity, economic status, or religious beliefs. He stated something to the effects of “it doesn’t matter what color we are, White, Black, Asian, Italian. We are all one today — New Yorkers and Americans. This happened to us all”.
Sometimes, in our quest for supremacy and for being right, we forget that this happened to us all. Slavery happened to us all. Destroying communities and political divides happen to us all, going from generation to generation. This will continue until most of us, as a collective body, says ENOUGH! Our way forward will not repeat the past. We will be the change that brings freedom and equality for all.
Now it’s time to create a new reality in which the main symbol of our country will genuinely mean freedom for all. With 13 stripes alternating red and white, 50 white stars on a blue patch representing every state in the Union. Three distinct and different colors representing the uniquely American culture of today is an ideal symbol because we’re all creating a future of inclusivity. Each one of us contributes to weave together a tapestry worthy of the American Flag of the United States.
