Posted on 06/14/2021 7:39:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
Our flag still means unity today. It stands for the union of our now 50 states into one nation, and every American who is a part of it.
Just in time for Flag Day, New York Times reporter Mara Gay dragged the American flag into the race conversation, calling it “disturbing” to see “dozens of American flags” and instead arguing we must “separate America from whiteness.” The New York Times simply claimed her comments were taken out of context.
Gay’s attitude showcases an urgent need to revisit the meaning of the American flag in our national conversation. Flag Day provides the opportunity to do just that.
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed a resolution describing the first official American flag. “Resolved: that the Flag of the United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white,” it said, “that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
The design conveyed two new meanings: states’ independence but also unity. Gone were the 13 British colonies. Replacing them were 13 American states symbolized by the flag’s stars. Often depicted in a circle, this new constellation symbolized union by showing no state was more important than another.
Our flag still means unity today. It doesn’t represent the president or one political party. It stands for the union of our now 50 states into one nation, and every American who is a part of it.
Missing from the Continental Congress’s 1777 flag declaration, however, was the meaning of the colors. The delegates didn’t reflect on what red, white, and blue meant in 1777; they were too busy managing the chaos of a two-year-old war.
But after the last major battle of the Revolutionary War in 1781, Americans had developed a deep familiarity with the cost of freedom. When Congress issued the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, which featured an eagle flying independently with a red, white, and blue shield, it defined the flag’s colors for the first time.
“The colours of the pales [stripes] are those used in the flag of the United States of America,” the Journal of the Continental Congress recorded in 1782. “White signifies purity and innocence. Red [means] hardiness and valour and Blue … signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.”
The congressional delegates knew 6,800 soldiers had died in battle and another 17,000 of disease. They had observed valor from heroes like Capt. John Paul Jones, who refused to surrender to the British with the vow, “I have not yet begun to fight!”
When they defined the flag’s red stripes, they also knew of the courage of everyday heroes such as Peter Salem. Salem is credited with fatally shooting Major Pitcairn, the British officer in command at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. Now, he is depicted in the large painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill hanging in the U.S. Capitol.
Congress was familiar with Phillis Wheatley, whose poems were well-known among her contemporaries, published in both a book and newspapers. She defined race not by skin color but by a shared hope for liberty. When she described America as “the land of freedom’s heaven-defended race,” she captured the purity of the cause of liberty, reflected in the flag’s white stripes.
The congressional delegates knew spies had risked their lives to pass along intelligence for the cause. One spy was James Armistead, who embodied the vigilance and perseverance behind the color blue by infiltrating British Gen. Charles Cornwallis’s command to keep watch for the Continental Army. Armistead gave Gen. Lafayette crucial information about the British plans at Yorktown, the Revolution’s final battle.
In addition to representing the colors red, white, and blue, Salem, Wheatley, and Armistead have one other color in common. They were all black Americans. Each had been a slave but became free. Each believed in the first American flag and wanted America to throw off the tyranny of King George III and begin a more perfect union as the United States. Each wanted to see other slaves become free, too.
The meaning of the flag and its colors have not changed since 1777 and 1782. Our problem today is a lack of perspective, knowledge, and appreciation about the flag and the rich history of liberty it represents. Instead of emphasizing unity and what we have in common, the far left focuses on dividing people into groups, defining people as oppressors or victims based on their skin color, and canceling or censoring opponents.
The fact that American flags held by Trump supporters triggered a New York Times reporter is proof of this division, the opposite of the flag’s symbolism of unity. Rather than canceling her, remind your children, teachers, pastors, business associates, and friends of the flag’s meaning and the heroes who embodied its virtues. And wave the American flag proudly, on Flag Day and every day.
Well, you can’t fly the Confederate Flag, because that one flew during the Civil War and is associated with slavery.
And you can’t fly the American Flag, even though that one flew during the Civil War and is associated with ending slavery.
Because everything is racist.
What we need is a new flag! One that reflects and respects all cultures and lifestyles.
We need a new social contract that replaces that outdated constitution that constrained our good government and slowed the end of slavery and rights for minorities.
We need a new economic system that is modern and works for the people, not for wealthy executives.
The Great Reset is the answer.
We must unite our peoples under a single governing system that eliminates the differences brought about by cultural racism and historical differences. A single world gov’t that is small and able to get things done rather than debate endlessly over trivial differences.
It is coming folks. Communism is here to stay and grow.
Today is FLAG DAY. I put ours out this morning. I have been ambivalent about flying it much since January 21st.
Political correctness never sleeps.
Past time to pull down all the fagrags and replace them on every flagpole we find them on with Old Glory.
Foreigners enter my country where I was born. They see the flag of my country and they want it down.
What’s wrong with that statement?
P.S. Although my relatives arrived in the early and mid-1800s I realize legal immigrants going through proper steps are now just as American as I am.
So can I go to Syria, Iran, China and Pakistan and burn their flags in protests and demand they not be replaced? Guess not. Something is wrong.
A very special flag. The home of the brave and the land of the free.
I don’t fly the flag of the corrupt American empire anymore. I pray that it is destroyed like Sodom, as it deserves to be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.