Dear Editor:
In the spirit of your February 17 column entitled “Want to Burn the Flag?”, I would like to offer an additional suggestion. I think that the idea of receiving permission from three sponsors before desecrating the American flag was so good that it should be carried even further. I propose that before any American even flies the sacred flag, they must first receive permission from three sponsors.
The first sponsor must be a Native American. Since we stole this nation from them and destroyed most of their great people in the process, I have no doubt they have strong feelings about Old Glory and what has been done in her name. The Trail of Tears, slaughtered women and children, Wounded Knee, broken treaties and lately the desecration of religious symbols in the name of “sports” are all excellent examples of the greatness of our country. How do you think a Native American feels about the American flag?
Next, I propose that potential flag–flyers solicit permission from an African–American. Not only did we kidnap their people from their native land, we enslaved them for a century. Even after we allegedly “freed” them from slavery, until recently we continued to treat them like animals. Even today most people regard African–Americans as inferior or barbaric to some degree. Although we have made great advances in this regard in recent years, I have little doubt an African–American could enlighten you about what the American flag means to them.
Finally, I think you should receive permission from a mother. Not just any mother, but a mother of some one who gave his life in a war or “police action” that they neither supported nor understood. Or maybe a mother whose son returned from that war physically or psychologically crippled for life. No doubt she will have strong feelings about the lives that have been given “for the flag.”
Of course, the idea of getting permission to fly the flag is ridiculuous, but no more so that asking permission to exercise our constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech. This is what soldiers have fought and died for since our country was founded. Freedom. The flag symbolizes that freedom for many, but for many it also symbolizes all the travesties that this country has inflicted on innocents. Assuming it does symbolize freedom, wouldn’t we be dishonoring their memories by destroying that for which they fought?
In researching this topic, I came upon an excellent quote from Ivan Warner, a Vietnam era POW. Much of his internment was spent being cruelly tortured in an attempt to make him admit that his country was wrong.
"I remember one interrogation where I was shown a photograph of some Americans protesting the war by burning a flag. 'There,' the officer said. 'People in your country protest against your cause. That proves you are wrong.'
"'No,' I said. 'That proves that I am right. In my country we are not afraid of freedom, even if it means that people disagree with us.' The officer was on his feet in an instant, his face purple with rage. He smashed his fist onto the table and screamed at me to shut up. While he was ranting I was astonished to see pain, compounded by fear, in his eyes. I have never forgotten that look, nor have I forgotten the satisfaction I felt at using his tool, the picture of the burning flag, against him.
"We don't need to amend the Constitution in order to punish those who burn our flag. They burn the flag because they hate America and they are afraid of freedom. What better way to hurt them than with the subversive idea of freedom? Spread freedom.... Don't be afraid of freedom."
It is possible to love this country and all its ideals without turning it’s symbols into sacred cows. Especially when protecting those symbols means destroying that which they symbolize.