This is definitely a minor feast day, but this year in particular I am thinking about banners and symbols.
What do the names of military bases stand for? What does it stand for when the President of the United States waves a borrowed Bible in his hand? What does it mean when I fly an American flag on my front porch.
It is important to note that I quit doing that for a while in case someone might infer that I was a Republican. But I’ve reclaimed it and it’s out there today.
I have a collection of flags that I rotate out there: my tribal flag, an Oregon flag, a flag of the state of my origin, a rainbow PACE flag that I bought in Italy, a big blue marble flag.
There is a circle of state flags (currently under renovation) on one of the many lawns at the Oregon Capitol.
A few years ago, the flag of Mississippi there was taken down because someone happened to notice that the canton was a Confederate flag, which is, in fact, the flag of another country. A very brief country. Every time I see that flag displayed, I cringe. However, in this case, I would have left it up. It was a powerful statement. I understand that there is a movement in Mississippi to change it. Others there say it symbolizes their state’s history.
Well, yeah. And this flag symbolizes a period of history in another country too. Symbols are very powerful. Whenever I see it on someone’s pickup truck or being held aloft by someone in fatigues with a semi-automatic over his shoulder, I am nauseated and terrified.
Nobody ever thinks about it, but we have another state flag that has the flag of a foreign country in its canton too. No one thought about taking it down.
That’s the Hawaii state flag and that’s the Union Jack, flag of the UK, in the canton. “They” say it symbolizes the historical “friendship” between the British and the Islands. I’m not offended by it, but I’m not buying it. It’s true, the US has a great ally in the UK, but no one thinks highly of British Imperialism these days. I don’t know Hawaiian history well enough to weigh the good the Brits did against the bad. I do know it was the white sailors who brought diseases and non-native pests to the islands. I believe the English referred to themselves as a “protectorate” of the Sandwich Islands.
Well, it’s Flag Day. Three cheers for the red, white, and blue.
