I was feeling uncomfortable as I drove along the street in an unfamiliar gated community searching for the house where a candidate meet-and-greet was to be held. As I looked for the correct number, I was tempted to pass over the number of the house with the huge American flag out front. However, when I checked out the number, I found it was the house to which I had sent my RSVP to meet the candidates.
Instinctively we know that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate, racism, and discrimination. My reaction to the national flag in front of the house I was about to enter brought home to me the ways in which the symbolism of the American flag has in many ways been appropriated by people who want to roll back progress, returning the nation to a time when the majority ruled absolutely, and anyone the majority categorized as “other” was inferior and needed to be weeded out, held down, and pushed back.
But the flag does not belong to any one group. It is the flag of an increasingly diverse nation. I want to think of it as a symbol of the nation’s evolving aspirations toward “liberty and justice for all.”
It’s such a pity that good people have allowed the national flag to be used to strike fear into the hearts of people when they see it flying from the back of a pickup truck or on a flagpole in the front yard of a house. We should not be threatened or intimidated by the nation’s flag. We should reclaim it and fly it as our right to freedom, equity, justice, inclusion, and opportunity.
Gwen Dungy 
I could not agree more. Thanks for writing ths.
At 10 a.m. this morning, I will be at the Old State House in Boston to hear the Declaration of Independence read just as it was read on July 18, 1776. This evening, I will celebrate my birthday with family and friends by listening to the Boston Pops July 4th concert, watching the fireworks along the Charles River, and eating lots of cake and ice cream.
As I read your post, I realized that I smile whenever I see American flags in Boston. In the state where I currently reside, however, I avoid houses or cars flying the flag because these flags are typically accompanied by the Confederate flag, the flag of the felon running for president, or guns—lots of guns.
Your post also reminded me that there is something seriously wrong when citizens who understand what the American flag represents allow clueless, misguided, or downright evil people to appropriate that flag. The American flag belongs to the people who understand what this country represents—not the people who are committed to “making America great” by destroying everything good and decent about this country.
When I return home next week, I plan to redouble my efforts to help the people of Florida remember what it means to be an American and to do my best to motivate decent people to reclaim their heritage and their flag.
Given the current political climate in Florida, I realize that I will be facing an uphill battle. But I think all of us have to try— and there is always witness protection if I stir up too much trouble!
Nobody owns this flag and I get really frustrated when some groups co-opt it. Ive felt this way since Vietnam
Thanks Dee, Maggie and Jane. Reclaiming the flag is the least we can do in this new world order.