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| A U.S. flag is retired by burning in 2018. The U.S. Flag Code states that worn-out flags “should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning. |
Monday, June 16, 1997, was memorable for two reasons.
First, my younger son was born that afternoon. The nurse toweled him off, handed him to me. I gazed down and thought — sorry, buddy — "He looks just like Edward G. Robinson." Truly, there should have been the tiny stump of a cigar hanging off his quivering lower lip.
The other memorable event was that morning, the start of what began as a regular workday. I was having breakfast downtown with U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez. You'd think the life-changing event later that day would have wiped out any memory of what we discussed. But it didn't. Our exchange stuck with me.
Flag burning was in the news. Congressional action pending. I was surprised that Gutiérrez, a Democrat and supposed champion of liberal causes, would not oppose any ban. He explained that a Chicago TV station had a video clip of him, talking into a microphone at a forgotten 1970s protest rally where, behind him, somebody set fire to an American flag. If he opposed the latest government attempt to bunch the flag into a ball and jam it down the throats of protesters, that video would be disinterred and aired.
Not a profile in courage. It burned into my memory, because of the visceral disgust I felt. Really? You'd stand, hands in your pockets, gazing at the sky and whistling while free speech gets mugged in an alley? So you don't risk looking bad?
Thus I can't stand by while 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez gets beat up for appearing at a rally outside City Hall after a U.S. flag was burned. Ald. Chris Taliaferro (28th) and "quite a few" of his colleagues are considering censuring Sigcho-Lopez. I bet they are. Flag-waving theatrics are the go-to move of Trumpies who think that if they smooch Old Glory long enough, then their betraying every value America represents will be OK.
Let's be crystal clear. Setting flags on fire isn't the issue. Every VFW hall has a special bin where used American flags are to be deposited, later to be burned, with respect. It's burning a flag without respect, as a protest — aka free speech — that twists my-way-or-the-highway false patriots into a knot.
First, my younger son was born that afternoon. The nurse toweled him off, handed him to me. I gazed down and thought — sorry, buddy — "He looks just like Edward G. Robinson." Truly, there should have been the tiny stump of a cigar hanging off his quivering lower lip.
The other memorable event was that morning, the start of what began as a regular workday. I was having breakfast downtown with U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez. You'd think the life-changing event later that day would have wiped out any memory of what we discussed. But it didn't. Our exchange stuck with me.
Flag burning was in the news. Congressional action pending. I was surprised that Gutiérrez, a Democrat and supposed champion of liberal causes, would not oppose any ban. He explained that a Chicago TV station had a video clip of him, talking into a microphone at a forgotten 1970s protest rally where, behind him, somebody set fire to an American flag. If he opposed the latest government attempt to bunch the flag into a ball and jam it down the throats of protesters, that video would be disinterred and aired.
Not a profile in courage. It burned into my memory, because of the visceral disgust I felt. Really? You'd stand, hands in your pockets, gazing at the sky and whistling while free speech gets mugged in an alley? So you don't risk looking bad?
Thus I can't stand by while 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez gets beat up for appearing at a rally outside City Hall after a U.S. flag was burned. Ald. Chris Taliaferro (28th) and "quite a few" of his colleagues are considering censuring Sigcho-Lopez. I bet they are. Flag-waving theatrics are the go-to move of Trumpies who think that if they smooch Old Glory long enough, then their betraying every value America represents will be OK.
Let's be crystal clear. Setting flags on fire isn't the issue. Every VFW hall has a special bin where used American flags are to be deposited, later to be burned, with respect. It's burning a flag without respect, as a protest — aka free speech — that twists my-way-or-the-highway false patriots into a knot.
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Excellent piece Neil. Too many people forget that only defending speech with which you agree is not defending free speech at all.
ReplyDeleteThese "patriots" gladly shred our freedoms like voting rights or women's reproductive health and then get their panties in a bunch over a piece of cloth, often made in China.
I clicked on the link the Sun Times provided for the story you wrote about W.G.N. flag company over here by my house. I went there to buy my friend Tam Ngo the flag of the former nation of south Vietnam in honor of his retirement. surprised they had one. That flag was flying along the riverwalk some years ago. Its banned in Vietnam now and caused a kerfuffle when someone from their embassy saw it displayed along the river. the city ended up taking it down.
ReplyDeleteVietnam , now thats a dictatorship. The people you're talking about in todays piece are democrats, yes? Ouch! We can see the slippery slope cuts both ways. I love this country and what it stands for but not everything it/we do.
Nothing short of perfectly written and stated. Thank you, Neil.
ReplyDeleteCongress determines the flag by law. Color, stripes, stars, etc.If disrespecting the flag was ever proscribed, theoretically one could produce a flag with fifty-one stars, eleven stripes, for example, set it ablaze and not violate the law. Do not, however, do this in front of a VFW hall. I assume the people inside make little distinction between a real crime and a thought crime.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece! Thanks. Hard to believe we have to have this discussion every generation. Thought we had settled it back in the '60s.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if an ideal counterpoint might be sponsoring legislation to ban cross burnings.
ReplyDeleteSome years back I did a bit of casual digging and found they outnumber flag burnings by at least 10 to 1.
It might be worth it just to get MTG and her sorry ilk defending the practice on both camera and The Congressional Record, yes?
Ironically, free speech also includes the right to disparage others for exercising that freedom.
ReplyDeletejohn
Nicely played tate
DeleteOur condo board meetings start with the Pledge of Allegiance. I stand, but I do not speak. My allegiance is to ideas. The Golden Rule, do unto others, which is the core principle of Christianity, is also the gist of the Preamble, stating the reason for our country's very existence. The flag came later.
ReplyDeleteI always had a fondness for Boris Badenov's rule; do it to others, before they do it to you!
DeleteNeil, I appreciate your perspective and agree that a formal City Council censure would be inappropriate. I also believe that free speech and expression are values we must uphold. However, I have no problem with those who've expressed outrage over the alderman's appearance at the rally, as I believe public officials have a duty to be more discerning about what they associate themselves with, for example a rally featuring numerous stark images of the president calling him a terrorist who supports genocide. (In this instance, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't aware of the flag burning.) Public officials need to turn down the heat and encourage nuance and reasoned debate. I had a similar problem with my alder, Rosanna Rodriguez, who wore an "Eat the Rich" top at a recent press conference. I may or may not agree with the sentiment, and I certainly support the right of people to express themselves however they wish, but I think outrage over the taunting behavior of public officials is to be expected and not seen as an infringement on their right to free expression.
ReplyDeleteAs the old adage goes, when you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
Deletefrankly, anonymous, i was far more pissed off about that alderccritters vote on the one sided palestine resolution than i was about this issue, and further, really didn't see anything particularly worrisome about it. some of the attendees at the demonstration, there are always a few at any such function (i know, my work took me to many as an ally and i often cringed at some of self righteous folks also present) and, the flag burner even apologized for putting
Deletehim on the spot. finally, as kaye mentioned above, i lived through the flag buring drama as a viet nam vet in in the 60s, you'd think we'd be over it by now, but then the faux maga maggots just can't keep from chasing that car.
For at least half-a-dozen years, I've had to look out my front window at my neighbor's two-story-high flagpole, and see Old Glory flying 24/7/365. He flies it in the darkness and in all kinds of wind and weather. It's mostly in tatters now...and totally disrespected. It looks terrible. At least five other flags have suffered the same fate, only to be replaced when they finally became shredded.
ReplyDeleteBut if I get pissed-off enough to burn a U.S. flag in the street, he might shoot me. Hey, ain't America grand? I love America. It's Americans that I can't stand...
Byron Sigcho is no hero, and there is a reason Luis Guiterrez endorsed his opponent, Aida Flores, in 2023.
ReplyDeleteHe has left a trail of damage in our community, including the suppression of free speech.
On countless occasions, the man has acted like a Mimi Pol Pot using his army of cultists to rifle through garbage, stalk and harass them.
Most of his victims are women, though he has tried to get people fired from their jobs.
And if he was there accidentally, as you say, is he really the profile in courage many leftists are voting him to be?
He will eventually turn on them too, when he's run out of reason to keep them around.
Please don't be fooled, Neil. A day will come when all of Byron's demons come to the fore, and you regret publishing such a glowing piece of such a hate filled and resentful immigrant to our country.
Speaking of forced patriotism. How do you feel about playing the National Anthem at sporting events. No it is not the government. But you are pretty much forced to stand as you harassed by those around you. I am not sure where this started. Possibly during WW1, but I have read articles that differ.
ReplyDeleteI love the National Anthem and gladly stand for it. If you feel forced, then you lack the courage of your convictions. Nobody forces you to stand — that is just timidity on your part. Nobody ever harassed you for not standing.
DeleteMaybe not in his case, but it's happened to other people, in other places, for decades. At NIU in the early 70s, Black students would sit together at basketball games, and they refused to stand for the anthem. This angered white students, to the point where games were delayed and a race riot nearly ensued on at least one occasion. I believe that one game was even postponed, because things got so out-of-hand.
DeleteThese incidents made nationwide headlines. I blamed the white students for making my alma mater look bad, by bringing their urban prejudices and racism and hatred to peaceful DeKalb. It was not the first time that South Side bigotry came to the boonies. Nor was it the last.
The university president solved the problem, or so he thought, by decreeing that the anthem would no longer be played at NIU basketball games. That brought the wrath of veterans organizations and conservatives down upon his pointy intellectual head. His solution was no solution at all...it was, at least to me, just being a wimp. It might have stopped trouble, but it didn't stop the hate. Better to have said: " Be an asshat at the game...you get arrested, and you get suspended., No degree for you!" But it was the 70s. Administrators wussed out a lot back then.
Sorry, Mr. S...but people do get coerced into standing, via peer pressure, and even by physical intimidation. Sometimes, at sporting events, it's either stand up...or be knocked down and carried out. And it's not new. People who were deemed unpatriotic were lynched during WWI.
Land of the free, home of the brave. Yeah, right...try being 'brave' at NASCAR or at a football game. It might get pretty ugly. Especially these days.
Agree with most everything here,however...when you felt this (warranted) disgust with Ald Gutierrez did you share this with him? Because if you didn't you were arguably guilty of the same sort of thing he was--for him it was the fear of looking bad; for you the fear of antagonizing a valuable source
ReplyDeleteGutierrez was never a valuable source. I'm sure I challenged him, to the degree that it seemed to do any good.
DeleteAmerica the Beautiful would have been a much better choice
ReplyDelete