Fourth of July Message

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

Today, the United States of America celebrates its 245th anniversary as an independent nation. People all over the country will celebrate this great nation's birthday with backyard barbecues, family road trips, and the lighting of fireworks; the night sky will light up red, white, and blue in big cities, small towns, and out in the country from sea to shining sea.

I am currently staying with a relative until I can get some railing installed along the steps to my home's front and back doors. Several of the people in the neighborhood are flying the American flag in celebration of the fourth.

I understand our nation is experiencing some pretty serious issues. I will be the first to admit the United States is not perfect. I will be the first to admit the United States needs healing. Over the past couple of decades, the country has become more divided, more bitter, and more cynical than at any point in American history, save the time when the Civil War ripped our nation apart — some will even argue we are on the brink of a Second Civil War.

The Star Spangled Banner with 15 stars and 15 stripes

Some of the cynics have even taken to refuse to fly the American flag in protest. Others have decided to fly the flag upside down — the international symbol of distress. And still others have subscribed to the idea the American flag has replaced the Confederate battle flag of Northern Virginia (the flag erroneously called the Stars and Bars) as the flag of choice racist groups have chosen to fly, and therefore should be banned or replaced. 

The Current 50 star American Flag

And I understand completely. If anything, politicians have succeeded in pulling the wool over our eyes. Some politicians, regardless of party affiliation, have weaponized what it means to be American. Americans have to fit a certain criteria, and if you don't believe what they believe, you're un-American, and you shouldn't live here. Never before had I ever heard so many people, aside of ignorant racists, who are constantly telling people, "If you don't like it here, leave."

Not since the time of the Federalists and the passage of the Alien and Sedition acts of 1798 has it been illegal to speak out against the government, and not since the era of McCarthyism and the blacklist in the 1950's has associating with questionable organizations brought so many people grief. If anything, politicians and Americans have adopted the term Socialist and Socialism, a term people of my generation saw as an insult and something you did not want to be associated with.

Americans come from many different religions, ethnicities, and ancestries. That's what makes this country unique and great. Americans are not just one thing. They have many beliefs, many ways of living. And if you don't like it, it really doesn't matter. Living in a country with free speech and free expression means someone is going to say something or express themselves in a way you might not agree with. 

The First Navy Jack and the current Wartime Ensign of the US Navy

But none of our differences have to do anything with the American flag. Our flag, along with our other national symbols, represent the ideas and principles this great country was founded on. No matter how many politicians want to wrap themselves up in the American flag, the flag does not represent any one political party. The Republicans do not own the American flag. The Democrats do not own the American flag. The American flag does not represent one ethnic group. The American flag does not represent one religious group.

American soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, and guardsmen of every color, every ethnicity, every religion, and every sexual orientation have worn the American flag on their uniform. They have died defending that flag and the country on the battlefields of Yorktown, Lexington, Saratoga, and Bunker Hill, the battlefields at Shiloh, Manassas, and Gettysburg, to the trenches in France, across the North African desert and the beaches of Normandy, in the icy terrain of the Chosin Reservoir, across the rice paddies in Da Nang, to the scorching deserts and rocks in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Through all the death and destruction of war, and the foreign and domestic terrorist attacks and mass shootings of the past quarter century, the American flag has stood tall. No matter how many people have tried to destroy the United States, the American flag stood tall.

Even when the British laid siege to Washington City and set the White House aflame, the American flag did not fall. We rallied behind Old Glory and defeated the British a second time, as if defeating them and pushing them out of the United States once wasn't enough.

The Gadsden Flag

The point is, the American flag symbolizes the best of what it means to be an American, not the worst. It symbolizes the best virtues of the United States — hardiness, valor, purity, innocence, vigilance, perseverance, and justice. If you don't think these apply to you, next time you criticize the United States or one of her government officials, notice how the secret police isn't hauling you off to a prison or a work camp in Siberia. Next time a politician loses, notice how he isn't assassinated by the politicians in power. Hell, next time an election rolls around notice how you have the ability to vote for whomever you'd like to vote for.

You can choose to take your displeasure with how things are going by choosing not to fly the American flag on the Fourth of July. That is absolutely your right. But ask yourself this very important question — is choosing to show your disappointment with America by taking your anger out on a symbol the appropriate way to fix things?

Do you really think the symbol of a nation that has withstood attacks for nearly two and a half centuries is going to be defeated because you don't choose to fly it?

The flag was here long before you arrived, and it'll be flying proudly long after you've gone.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July.