I find the flag debate, such as it is, to be an interesting sidebar issue. I flew a 3x4 foot American flag upside down at a recent protest and stood next to a man who was wearing a Vietnam vet hat flying a right side up flag. I asked him how he felt about what I was doing. He thanked me for asking and I explained to him why I did this, pointing out the history going back to sailing days when it was used as a distress signal. As the two of us stood next to each other I think we made a powerful statement.
The photo is of Ann and I at demonstration by the road in front of the senior community next to ours. You can’t see other protesters. There were about 45 of them. We are having another protest in front of the facility where we live tomorrow.
What I expect will happen as far as the protest movement goes is that we will see more and more American flags with most displayed the normal way and gradually we'll see more upside down. The more people who display the distress-indicating flag the more people will understand that this does not disrespect the flag.
This flag is described on Amazon as an “Upside Down American Garden Flag - America Is In Distress Flags Double Sided 12x18 Inch, Patriotic Outdoor Decoration” and sends an unambiguous message as to what it means:
The display of an upside down flag has been in the news since Trump won the election. Yesterday it was on the main page of HUFFPOST:
This Google News search come up with many articles.
A good website page to look at that explains the history is Operation Military Kids here.
The website Grunge had a good article about this last week (here).
For the present we intend to display our own American flag in the traditional manner. We make a further statement. We ordered a smaller Pride flag and extensions to the pole so we will fly both as shown in the top photo.
Prior to deciding to using the flag at protests we were among the the majority of people with signs. These were two of ours.
These are some photos I took at a large protest along a busy road at a nearby shopping center.
When we arrived at the protest we were walking from our car and saw a pickup truck with an American flag and another flag flying from the back of the truck. We thought “uh-oh” thinking it was a MAGA provocateur. Then we saw who it was.
I talked to the man and got permission to use my photos of him in my Substacks because he doesn’t look like the kind of man you’d expect at an anti-Trump protest.
I wll be looking for him at the next protest at this location. I’m curious as to whether he’ll still be flying the flag right side up or will have it upside down.
There are many anti-Trump signs available here on Amazon.
Then there’s the meaning of displaying the Pride flag at anti-Trump demonstrations.
Because Trump and MAGA have declared war against “woke” and DEI this flag does far more than it used to when it indicated you were a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community or that you were in solidarity with them.
While it still does this, it also says that you object to Trump and MAGA’s demonization of not only this group but, by association, to their overall bigotry.
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