Not since The Big Bang’s Sheldon did his “Fun with Flags” segment have flags been flapping so loudly in the news.
There’s been the racist binge from the right about athletes not standing for the National Anthem and the flag. On January 6, an array of flags made appearances in support of causes unrelated to democracy. Republicans have attempted to corner the market on the American flag by claiming to be the only real patriots.
America’s aggressive capitalism pre-empts national holidays even with the American flag flying everywhere. Memorial Day sales, Presidents Day mattress sales, Fourth of July sales — nothing is sacred to the purveyors of profit.
Samuel Alito
But never underestimate the power of the flag — and specifically, the American flag.
The irony is how much evangelical lovers of literalism are often so emotionally involved in symbols like flags, the posting of the Ten Commandments, and the holding up of the Bible as a metaphor for evangelical truth.
In 2016, Colin Kaepernick, a Black NFL quarterback, began sitting and kneeling during The Star-Spangled Banner to protest oppression against people of color in the United States. Instead of beginning a discussion on race, however, Kaepernick’s resistance sparked criticisms that he was unpatriotic.
A critical analysis of 10 American newspapers found patriotic ideals — the American flag, the military and National Anthem, in particular — were used as a way to completely avoid discussions on racism.
Newspaper columnists and reporters around the country described the nation’s response as an “angry backlash,” a “firestorm,” “a furor” and “an uproar.”
Kaepernick explained: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”
A recent episode on FBI on CBS included an investigator saying a man told him he had an American flag outside his apartment because it made him feel safer. The explanation: People who saw his flag would think he was a Republican and had a gun. Therefore, they would be less likely to break into his place.
And I thought having the ADT sign in the flower bed was sufficient.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag at the Alito beach house.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has been the subject of criticism over not one but two flags flying over his properties. At his home, after the January 6 event — variously described as everything from a tour group to an insurrection — an upside-down American flag was waving in the breeze at his home.
The meaning of the upside down flag is a sign of distress and/or extreme danger. According to the U.S. Flag Code, flying the flag upside down is only to be used in cases of extreme danger to life or property.
MAGA has co-opted the upside down American flag as a symbol of their despair over the state of the nation. The flag figured prominently in the January 6 debacle.
But when a member of the U.S. Supreme Court joins the “culture wars” with the offensive upside down American flag, we should know we have a problem. At least one member of the Supreme Court is politicized.
Calls for Alito to rescue himself from cases involving January 6 and Trump are increasing, but Alito is unlikely to pay any attention — just as his fellow conservative justice Clarence Thomas contends he has not shown impaired judgment by accepting (and not reporting) lavish trips from a conservative millionaire.
Now, a photo of a second flag carried by rioters January 6 appears to have been flown outside Alito’s beach house in Long Beach Island, N.J. The New York Times says an “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown at Alito’s beach home.
The phrase “appeal to heaven” appears in John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, where it is used to describe the right of revolution. They flag more recently has been used by far-right groups opposing the federal government.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag is seen outside of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) office on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2024. The flag was toted by rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Most recently the flag has been displayed outside of the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. (Photo by Michael A. McCoy/Getty Image
Perhaps Alito has more episodes of “Fun with Flags” forthcoming. Is Justice Alito a closet member of the January 6 crowd of insurrectionists, white supremacists, Lost Cause adherents and assorted other convicted felons?
The Supreme Court justice has responded by lying like a rug. Borrowing a page from ancient Adam of biblical fame, he claimed, “My wife did it.”
Without a shred of evidence, Alito has alleged that “my wife put up the flag as a protest against our neighbor.” He claims a neighbor started the “war” with an offensive sign about Trump. And, in Trump’s defense, his wife felt she had to respond. Alito’s argument is specious at best.
This flag-waving display is demeaning to the institution of the Supreme Court, to Justice Alito and to all Americans. On the day he was sworn in as a justice he swore oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and to “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as a Supreme Court justice.”
Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, no liberal, has criticized Alito for showing a lack of judgment. When Sen. Graham is the voice of reason, we should be suspicious of Alito’s argument.
“Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood,” Graham told reporters Monday. “But no, it’s not good judgment to do that. He said his wife was insulted and got mad. I assume that to be true, but he’s still a Supreme Court justice, and people have to realize (at) moments like that to think it through.”
No one has ever accused Marjorie Taylor Greene of “sober judgment” or “thinking it through.” Greene has a habit of bringing a can of gasoline to a fire.
Just days after inciting a verbal fracas in a House Oversight Committee meeting, Greene posted an upside-down flag on her X account Wednesday, with a call for Americans to do the same in solidarity with Justice Alito and the Trump insurrectionist movement.
In all caps Greene posted: “WE SHOULD ALL BE FLYING THE FLAG UPSIDE DOWN!!!”
MAGA Marjorie attaches herself to any controversy capable of getting her in the news.
“She is trying to make a statement about her support of Justice Alito, but she didn’t have the self-awareness to realize she was desecrating Memorial Day.”
On the eve of Memorial Day, a self-avowed and proud Christian nationalist wants to fly the flag upside down. She is trying to make a statement about her support of Justice Alito, but she didn’t have the self-awareness to realize she was desecrating Memorial Day.
Flags will cover the landscape in my Louisiana neighborhood this weekend — American flags — but those flags will not be upside down. Instead, we will honor those who have died to make and keep our country free.
Has Greene forgotten Memorial Day is a solemn national holiday, observed on the last Monday in May to remember the men and women who died in military service to the United States?
Instead of Alito and Greene’s desecrations, I offer a more thoughtful, sober interpretation of Memorial Day from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest
On this Field of Grounded Arms,
Where foes no more molest,
Nor sentry’s shot alarms!
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
This Memorial Day weekend, Alito, Greene and a legion of MAGA folks should be flying kites instead of flags.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer who serves in New York state and Louisiana. He is the author of 10 books, including his latest, Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy.