Flags

 Tomorrow is one of those holidays few pay much attention too. After all, no parades, no three-day weekend, and you don't get gifts. Tomorrow is Flag Day. So, I thought I would write about that a bit, a brief lesson on the why of it. The majority of this information most of us would already know and some are little known facts. And yes, I did look it all up to see if I was right and to add some material that I didn't know. The first thing I learned, something I confess I had never given a thought to was, why a flag in the first place? Sure, I know everyone has a flag. Countries, groups, clubs, clans or whatever. But during the early stages of the American Revolution there was no "national" flag. Each state, group, battalion, or company had their own flag. The closest thing we had was a flag with red and white stripes with the union jack in the corner. George Washington thought this flag too closely resembled the British Flag and insisted on a change. That's when the thirteen stars were added to a field of blue making it more readily distinguished from the British Flag. It was June 14,1777 when the second continental congress took a break from writing the articles of confederation to address this directly. That's why June 14 is Flag Day.

 We were all taught that Betsy Ross made the first flag. She sewed that up. At least that's what her grandson said. New evidence and documents disprove that, however. It was really a person named Francis Hopkinson that designed that flag. Betsy may have sown it, but she didn't design it. Over the years as the states were added the stars got rearranged. It was a high school student that arranged the fifty stars in the pattern we see today. It was a school project and sent to the President, at the time, Eisenhower. He liked it, it was approved, and the kid got an A. His name, Bob Heft. 

 In 1968 the Flag Act was passed following protests about the war in Vietnam. It was made illegal to burn the flag. In 1988, just twenty years later, the flag act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. In a close vote, 5-4 it was struck down on grounds that it violated the first amendment. The argument central to this was that burning the flag did not disturb the peace, unlikely to cause any unrest, and is protected political speech. It is something still debated to this very day. Another flag protection act was passed in 1989 but overturned in 1990. 

 Today we hear a lot about another flag, the Pride flag. There is much debate about flying that flag in classrooms across this nation. My stance is a simple one, if there is no protection for the American Flag there is no protection for the Pride Flag either. I think we can all agree that if anyone where to tear down, trample on and indeed set fire to a Pride Flag they would be arrested for a hate crime! It certainly would gain national attention. It isn't lost on me that this Pride Month celebration, with its' attending flag, is June. A coincidence? I doubt that. A design to replace the Star Spangled Banner with a flag representing exactly what? A sexual preference? Can I gather a crowd and burn pride flags in the street while receiving support from the main stream media? I doubt that! Yet, the American Flag is often burned, trampled on, used for clothing, advertisement, and a myriad of abuses all the while being told, it's my right! 

 Look it's simply my belief that the American Flag should be protected against all of that as vehemently as words or symbols supporting other causes are. It's not illegal to wear or fly a Swastika in America because of the same ruling, it's free speech. Does it cause unrest when done? Yup, sure does. Does imposing the Pride Flag cause unrest? Yup, sure does. Would you allow a teacher to display a Swastika Flag in their classroom and fully support that? What about the flag with a Hammer and Sickle on it? You alright with that? I believe this: there is room but for one flag in our classrooms, The American Flag. All the others are for show and tell days.