Colin Kaepernick. (photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Flag Idolatry Is a Pathology That Crushes Real American Values
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
27 September 17
What, if anything, does it mean to respect the American flag?
The flag is a symbol, and there is no agreement as to what it actually
symbolizes. By design, the flag's thirteen stripes stand for the original 13
states, none of which would ban slavery. The 14th state, Vermont, was the
first state to ban slavery, doing it weakly in its 1777 state constitution
(not that the principle was enforced: in 1802 the Town of Windsor sued a
State Supreme Court justice to get him to take care of an elderly, infirm
slave he had dumped on town welfare; the town lost the case). The original
flag had 13 stars for those same original 13 states, and it took over 70
years before all 36 stars in the 1865 flag represented states without
slavery (but not states without racist Jim Crow laws and the freedom to
lynch without consequence). The colors of the stars and stripes had no
meaning in 1777, when it was adopted, as distinct from the colors of the
Great Seal that did have meaning.
Then there's the Star Spangled Banner, written by a slave owner in
celebration of the defense of a slave state in a battle against the British.
The British force included a contingent of former slaves who were promised
freedom if they fought for the British. How many people at the beginning of
a sports event understand "the land of the free and the home of the brave"
in its deepest historical irony?
All in all, the typical American flag ritual is an exercise in mindless
obedience in which any talk of real meaning interferes with the underlying
objective of fealty to the state. The ritual is totemic and totalitarian,
but not so extreme as the Two Minutes Hate required by the Party in George
Orwell's novel "1984." The difference is one of degree, not kind, and the
enemy in both instances is rational, individual thought.
Mindless obedience has long been a goal of self-appointed patriots, wrapping
themselves in the flag to defend indefensible domestic injustice or criminal
wars (both of which we have more than our share these days). There is no
meaning in the demand to "respect" any abstract symbol, much less one as
drenched in horrifying contradiction as the American flag. In a mature
world, respect is what you earn, not what you demand. In a mature world, a
person is respected for who and what he or she is and does, not for any
office or position of authority. We do not live in a mature world.
Some quarterbacks are more obtuse than others
More than a year ago, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick first sat
quietly, then kneeled during the national anthem at the beginning of his
team's games. The gesture was quiet, respectful, and principled. And
Kaepernick was articulate in his explanation that he was objecting to
bigotry and injustice in America, and especially to police suffering no
consequences for shooting and killing unarmed black men. For this objection,
he has been blacklisted by the National Football League owners, the same
owners who turkey-danced in all directions last weekend in a panic to find
the right response to an intensity of protest they mostly neither shared nor
understood, beyond the need for public relations management.
No one has a coherent argument for saluting the flag, because there isn't
one. The flag ritual is an expression of our secular religion, American
Exceptionalism. Coherence and reason are at best irrelevant and require
suppression before they spread and become a threat. The result is widespread
confusion among a large portion of the population, expressed as sincerely
and sadly as anyone by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Brees
started by making it about President Trump, which it's not, and then went on
to say with inarticulate imprecision: "I disagree with what the President
said and how he said it. I think it's very unbecoming of the office of the
President of the United States to talk like that to the great people like
that."
The rest of the Drew Brees statement got even more disconnected in its
thought pattern:
Well, let me say this first: Do I think that there is inequality in this
country? Yes, I do. Do I think that there is racism? Yes, I do. I think
there's inequality for women, for women in the workplace. I think that
there's inequality for people of color, for minorities, for immigrants.
But as it pertains to the National Anthem, I will always feel that if you
are an American, that the National Anthem is the opportunity for us all to
stand up together, to be unified and to show respect for our country, to
show respect for what it stands for, the birth of our nation.
We will-there will always be issues with our country. There will always be
things that we're battling, and we should all be striving to make those
things better.
But if the protest becomes that we're going to sit down or kneel or not show
respect to the flag of the United States of America and everything that it
symbolizes and everything that it stands for and everything that our country
has been through to get to this point, I do not agree with that.
I feel like that is a unifying thing.
The national anthem and standing for the national anthem and looking at the
flag with your hand over your heart is a unifying thing that should bring us
all together and say, "You know what? We know that things are not where they
should be, but we will continue to work and strive to make things better, to
bring equality to all people: men, women, no matter what your race, creed,
religion - it doesn't matter - equality for all." But if you're an American,
then I will always believe that we should be standing, showing respect to
our flag with our hand over our heart.
Well, that's just nuts. And it hasn't worked. Historically, all the flag
worship in the world has done little to assure justice. Like an ungodly
number of his fellow citizens, Brees is deep in American denial. His is a
common knee-jerk response, absent logical thought despite some accurate
perceptions. Yes, it sort of sounds good - until you try to figure out what
it means. Knee-jerk reactions are not about knees but jerks. And when people
like Brees are standing for the national anthem, what are they really
standing for?
Is this a tipping point? Are we watching a fad or a movement?
When Colin Kaepernick was protesting alone in 2016, it's doubtful even he
expected to see so many NFL players and owners expressing such solidarity
and support in 2017. Granted, the message was muddled, as some players
kneeled, some linked arms, some stayed in the locker room, and so on, with
no clear message emerging beyond, perhaps, some disgruntlement at being
dissed by Trump. The game is on, but it's not clear yet what the game is,
and no clear leadership has emerged. But the legitimacy of professional
American athletes protesting, even in the mildest way, is a new thing. If
the protest expands and endures and coheres, it could be a very good thing
for the country. These protestors include an inordinate number of new
millionaires who have decided not to forget what they know about being black
and brown in this America. And for anyone wondering what that means, there's
America's response to storms in Texas and Florida, and America's virtual
abandonment of Puerto Rico, as Trump blames the looted colony for being at
the mercy of the United States. Puerto Ricans are American citizens who
serve in the US military at disproportionately high rates. Tell them about
saluting the flag.
And now sports protest has spread from professional football to major league
baseball, although just barely. On September 23, Oakland Athletics rookie
catcher Bruce Maxwell became first major league baseball player to kneel for
the national anthem, hat over his heart and a teammate's hand on his
shoulder. Maxwell was born on a US military base in Germany. He is the son
of a career soldier. Maxwell's statement after the event had a coherence
Drew Brees should envy:
The point of my kneeling is not to disrespect our military. It's not to
disrespect our constitution. My hand was over my heart because I love this
country. I've had plenty of family members, including my father, that have
bled for this country, that continue to serve for this country. At the end
of the day, this is the best country on the planet. I am and forever will be
an American citizen, and I'm more than forever grateful for being here. But
my kneeling is what is getting the attention, because I'm kneeling for the
people that don't have a voice. This goes beyond the black community. This
goes beyond the Hispanic community. Because right now we're having a racial
divide in all types of people. It's being practiced from the highest power
that we have in this country, and he's basically saying that it's OK to
treat people differently. My kneeling, the way I did it, was to symbolize
the fact that I'm kneeling for a cause, but I'm in no way or form
disrespecting my country or my flag.
Maxwell is, intentionally or not, echoing Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural
address in 1861, when he said, with seven states already seceded from the
union for the sake of slavery:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may
have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords
of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the
better angels of our nature.
We have no president today capable of such words, and even less capable of
such sentiments. That understanding is part of what drives NFL players to
demonstrate, however inchoately. From Kaepernick to Maxwell, professional
athletes are in touch with our better angels, and this is something new in
American life. It is enough to give one hope, at least for the moment. Maybe
they will be bullied back into silence and mindless obedience by the
screechers demanding respect - respect for the flag, respect for the
military, respect for the police even though they keep killing unarmed black
people (and others). The screechers know no boundaries and are unburdened by
integrity; they want only consent by any means necessary. But they are
screeching for a despicable president who earns disrespect daily, so maybe
hundreds, even thousands of over-privileged professional athletes will
become America's saving grace. We're a long way from there. But wouldn't
that be an amazing example of giving something back?
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV,
print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont
judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination
from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
e-max.it: your social media marketing partner