Perhaps someone will be able to explain to me just how a flag- display policy at a public school is related to the ability of its graduates to read, write and reason. And with that explanation, I might be able to understand our legislature’s response to some recent demonstrations.
The demonstrations started in late March, as thousands of immigrants marched in opposition to congressional proposals that ranged from building a wall along the Mexican border to making it a felony to provide a cup of water to a thirsty person. Many demonstrators carried American flags.
This moved to schools in Colorado. Some students carried Mexican flags; many others bore American flags. There were conflicts. At least two schools – Shaw Heights Middle School in Westminster and Skyline High School in Longmont – reacted by banning flags or depictions of flags on student clothing.
I’m all for free speech, although I did once criticize my older daughter, Columbine, for wearing a certain T-shirt to Salida High School. The black shirt had a big marijuana leaf on the back with “Make sense, not war,” and on the front, a smaller pot leaf and “Legalize it.”
She of course chose to wear it during “Drug Awareness Week.” I got a call from the principal advising me of her inappropriate apparel. “You’re damn right that she’s going to be in trouble at home for this,” I responded. “That’s my shirt and she wore it without my permission.” The principal said I had an attitude problem, and I never heard any more about it. When she got home, I did make it clear to her that she should not borrow my clothing without permission.
But I understand the reasoning in the recent cases. Immigration is a hot issue, and flags are strong emotional symbols that can induce confrontations and perhaps fisticuffs. The students are supposed to be parsing sentences and solving equations, not provoking disputes by wearing flags.
It’s not as though the principals were anti-Americans who removed flags from classrooms, or cut down the flagpoles at their schools. They just wanted to keep their schools as calm as possible.
However, they broke a state law in the process. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers pointed out that CRS 27-2-108.5 reads, “The right to display reasonably the flag of the United States shall not be infringed with respect to the display: (a) On an individual’s person; (b) Anywhere on an individual’s personal or real property.”
Beyond the law (flag-burning is protected free speech, after all), there’s also the question of respect for the flag, as codified in federal law and promulgated by the American Legion. Among those provisions are, “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery,” and, “No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume.”
So were those students who claimed to be proclaiming their patriotism by wearing T-shirts with flag images really acting with noble impulses? Or were the flags part of a costume? Back in the 1960s, putting flags on T-shirts and blue jeans was considered unpatriotic, but it could not be stopped because our courts back then were aware of the Bill of Rights.
Somehow, this all starts to remind me of those used-car dealers who can’t put up garish lights on account of sign codes, so they install huge flapping 50-foot American flags to attract attention to their lots. Then they denounce anyone who complains as an unpatriotic foe of the American flag, rather than a critic of their crass commercialism.
Back to our legislature, where there’s a bill to remove the accreditation from any public school that limits flag displays. Just what any of this has to do with whether the students are learning anything is a mystery, and as Attorney General Suthers pointed out, the schools can’t legally limit flag displays anyway.
So the proposed law is meaningless. But it does demonstrate one of the most common misuses of our flag – political grandstanding. And that should be educational for Colorado students who might have otherwise missed this lesson.
Ed Quillen of Salida (ed@cozine.com) is a former newspaper editor whose writes Tuesdays and Sundays.
