Oh, Say, Can You See the Ironies Here?

Pat Buchanan wears it on Abbie Hoffman’s old hat. Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren sell it on sweatshirts. Fine. It’s a grand old flag, it’s a high-flyin’ flag.

I guess Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Denver Nuggets guard, learned his lesson. He sat quietly in the locker room. Everybody else stood. They found him out and he paid.

“Wherever and whenever it is displayed,” says The New York Public Library Desk Reference, “the first requirement for flying the flag is that it be flown with respect.” Protocol demands it come in at night, except where flying 24 hours--at the Capitol and Ft. McHenry.

Don’t drop the flag. What if, accidentally, it touches terra firma? Think Iwo Jima. Think respect. Don’t drop it in the first place.

“Hoist” Old Glory. Use the verbs “hoist” and “hang” when handling the Stars and Stripes. Watching a parade? Right hand over heart. Fellas, remove your hats. No special instruction for gals. Military personnel know what to do. Noncitizens need only stand at attention.

Professional athletes? The NBA Guide is mostly dress code. Shirts tucked in. Sport coats for coaches. Dignified posture. Respect.

Now, a flag quiz: Why is it that at the drop of a holiday, Lincoln’s Birthday to Arbor Day, such national pride animates America that out comes the flag, but on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday our spacious skies, porches and bunting-bound gazebos are absent any sign of it?

Before answering, consider first Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s quiet noncompliance. Consider respect.

Answer (multiple choice):

(a) America forgets. Like it forgets My Lai, Manzanar, slavery and American Indian Day (fourth Friday in September).

(b) Limited advertising angles exist for tying national pride in King to consumerism.

(c) Many Americans do not identify with human rights struggles unless they involve Valley Forge or people in faraway enemy lands.

(d) All the above.

Flags are, finally, symbols. Of the history of powerful, victorious nation states. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s characterization of our flag as a symbol of tyranny begs we consider what historian Michael Parenti calls “real history,” including the struggles of people, not only nations.

Near passage of a constitutional amendment to prosecute flag burners for symbolic political expression and the attack on Abdul-Rauf inspires the unlikeliest flag waver (me) to wrap himself in one. If only to point out that it’s how you use it.