Can a flag be racist?
It’s a piece of cloth. Usually dyed, sometimes sewn, and it’s life is solely dependent on the wind. How can something so lifeless be racist? A few years ago, Australian rapper “360” claimed that he identifies the Australian flag with racism.
This is why I think flags are so interesting. Some of the most simple pieces of design, flown on a cloth, are some of the most charged objects we see everyday. People will die for them, kill because of them, burn them out of hatred, or rally behind them. They can invoke more emotion in a viewer than any other type of design.
As a designer, when I read things like Mr. 360's quote, I think, “Could I design a flag that is racist?” Other than just putting racial slurs on a flag (Vexillology Rule #1: Never put words on a flag), what about a flag’s design can be offensive?”
Sardinia’s Flag of the Four Moors.
It may look nice but it represents four severed heads. That’s concerning. But other than showing obvious human decapitation as your symbol of pride, what design could be racist?
When I spent a month in India, almost immediately I started seeing swastikas around every corner. On cars, busses, houses… though I was smart enough to rule out the obvious “All these Indians are Nazis!” In fact the swastika was an ancient Hindu symbol for good luck long before Hitler and his National Socialism used it for their (less fortunate) cause. All of humanity uses symbols to express complex ideas. Unfortunately, ideas are not universal.
Racist South
I grew up in the south where southern “rebel” flags proudly fly on the back of large trucks and in the yards of…the same people who drive large trucks. What they are ignorant of (among many things) is that the flag they fly never once represented the Confederate States of America, but was rather a rejected design and was only flown as a battle flag under General Lee. Never the less, there are even shirts down here, sold mostly at truck-stops, with the design on it with the words “Heritage, not hate”.
Though, unless your ancestor fought under General Lee, I don’t see how that could be the case.
I am really going to try and stay objective. Nothing in the design of this flag is inherently racist or hateful. But unfortunately for the flag, I grew up in the south and have always attached (admittedly unjustly) a sigma of racism to it. I attached the ideas of the people who fly it, to the flag itself.
The state of Mississippi still flies this flag as a predominate feature of it’s official state flag. Georgia removed all traces of it from it’s state flag in 2003…replacing their official state flag with none other than the ACTUAL CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA FLAG.
Flags are not racist. People are racist.
360 goes on to say that he sees “dickheads” using false nationalism to be racist against hard working immigrants, all while wearing the Australian flag around their necks. In this case, he unknowingly agrees that individuals that are racist and they identify with the flag. This I think is the answer.
They are given an original meaning by their designer but unfortunately, an uneducated flag waver can pollute the original purpose. Brands deal with this all the time. A brand cannot control what its customers do with it’s products and they spend a lot of time and money on image control when their brand is misrepresented.
Nations are brands and flags are their logos.
I would never fly a Confederate States of America flag, an ISIS flag or a Nazi flag because their original meaning is something I don’t agree with. I also wouldn’t fly Lee’s battle flag because…well I am not a soldier under General Lee. I proudly fly the Australian flag on my ceiling because I spent a fantastic time of my life living “down under” and I believe in it’s original purpose.
In the end, education is the problem.
People mis-use and are offended by flags because of lack of education on both sides. Changing the Australian flag wouldn’t change false-patriotism, just like changing Vegemite’s logo wouldn’t make it any less disgusting.
Branding the Nations is a project by designer Michael Green in an attempt to explore the largest “brands” on earth, our nations. Flags, passports, currency, all of these things are designs that effect our view of entire nations and their people. Michael hopes to turn these ramblings into a book in the near future.
