Furor Over Flag Burning

Paging through the July 2nd edition of The Times, I count 17 advertisements containing either a U.S. flag, or some variation on Old Glory.

Over the holiday weekend, commercial establishments from the corner gas station to Dodger Stadium were decked out in “Stars and Stripes” bunting.

Leaving aside freedom-of-speech for the moment, should we not also be asking ourselves just what exactly does, or does not, constitute “desecration” of the flag? Will all these then be illegal under the proposed amendment?

As far as the question of flag burning as valid political expression, or “an inarticulate grunt,” as Chief Justice William Rehnquist has termed it, we need only turn again to the July 2nd Times. There on the front page is a picture of Chinese students here in Los Angeles protesting the actions of their government by burning China’s national flag and the Communist Party’s flag. An inarticulate grunt? The editors of The Times seem to think not. Neither do I. And neither, I’d guess, do the majority of your readers.

ROBERT EARLE

Torrance