I Want You to Reclaim the United States Flag in the Name of Liberty and Justice for All
The flag of course has always been an iconic symbol even as it has had several iterations over the history of the United States. Each variant, including the current one which has been officially flown as the flag of the United States for roughly 60 years, is a symbol of the country yes, but also of patriotism, justified revolt, freedom, and of the ideal of liberty and justice for all. For me also, as the child of immigrants, it is an enduring a symbol of hope, opportunity, and promise.
The problem is that so much of our country's history has been marred with legally allowed policies and actions that undermine these ideals and so the flag inextricably carries that history also. Most can acknowledge the white hot mark of slavery, but the country has also been shaped by the genocide of Native Americans, the internment of Japanese during WWII, the absence of a non-cisgendered male president who doesn’t have some degree of White ancestry, problematic relationships with the District of Puerto Rico and other holdings, police brutality, the locking of children in cages at the Mexican-American border, and countless foreign wars that have resulted in harm here and abroad, and on, and on.
Because of all of this, when I fly the flag either as symbol of our country or marker of my…
