picture perfect pride

Why is it that in order to celebrate a bank holiday, the Rotary Club of my small little town finds it necessary to put up the American Flag?

Let's take Martin Luther King Day for example. The flags were lining Main Street like a Norman Rockwell print bursting at the seems with picture perfect pride. This incredible man fought for his freedoms...political and individual...as a black man of America. In the height of his career, he was battling hatred against minorities, violence to his kindred and standing up against issues that affected the communities his friends and family lived in. He did all these things as a citizen of America. The same America where a majority of the people oppressed him to begin with. The same America where tons of folks rose up against his principles and his stand for freedom, saying that he wasn't worthy of the same rights as his white neighbors.

Granted, there was another half of America that wasn't busy hating black people so much they had to hurt them. And for those folks, I'd hang an American flag in honor of MLK day. But why hang something that means as much negative as it does positive? These days when I see the American flag, it conjures up images of dear President Bush blatanly lying on National public televsion, a government hand picked by that dear man who, over the next four years, is on a campaign to destroy everthing that doesn't make money for rich folks or uphold outdated Christian morals, 18 year old men and women defending America for the sake of a firstly fabricated war that's turned into a stockpile of unneccessary deaths, and a country where more than half of its citizens voted (AGAIN!) for a President that would put its country through this. How am I supposed to look at an American flag and feel pride about the aforementioned things?

I love my country. But do not expect me to love my government. If there was a seperate flag that represented Mr. Bush and his government, then those who supported our current political situation could mark themselves as such. I will hang an American flag in support of my beautiful and diverse country, for my pride in the peaceful history and democratic systems of this enormous continent, for free speech, for privacy and for my ability to write this blog without being shot for publishing propoganda against my country. As for right now, though, with all its negative meaning, I cannot conjure up a positive, sentimental feeling towards the red, white and blue.

Consequently, if we're going to celebrate a holiday...let's celebrate the actual reason for the holiday, rather than finding another excuse to hang the American flag that right now represents support for the government rather than its people. We're celebrating MLK day, not support America's government day. MLK is the one who gained the freedoms...not the government. He's the one who had the ideas...not the government. Our great leaders always take the credit for other people's actions. I say we give Mr. King all the credit by finding a symbol that represents only him...only his achievements...only his contribution to this country. How about a flag with a picture of him on it? If MLK had the right to pick a symbol to celebrate his life and ideas, do you really think he'd pick the American flag to represent them? C'mon America...let's celebrate the individuals who made our country whole, not the country that is making our individuals disappear!