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NORTH COAST TIMES E A G L E , JAN&FEBRUARY 2002
AND OUR FLAG WAS STILL THERE
BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER
"You can’t win a war any more than you
can win an earthquake."
-JEANNETTE RANKIN*
My daughter came home from kindergarten and
announced, “Tomorrow we all have to wear red, white and
blue.
“Why?” I asked, trying not to sound wary.
“For all the people that died when the airplanes hit the
buildings."
I fear the sound of saber-rattling, dread that not just my
taxes but even my children are being dragged to the cause of
death in the wake of death. I asked quietly, “Why not wear black,
then? Why the colors of the flag, what does that mean?”
“It means we re a country. Just all people together.”
So we sent her to school in red, white and blue, because
it felt to her like something she could do to help people who are
hurting. And because my wise husband put a hand on my arm
and said, "You can’t let hateful people steal the flag from us "
He didn’t mean terrorists, he meant Americans. Like the
man in a city near us who went on a rampage crying, “I am an
American" as he shot at foreign-born neighbors, killing a gentle
Sikh man in a turban and terrifying every brown-skinned person
I know. Or the talk-radio hosts who viciously bully a handful of
members of Congress for airing sensible skepticism at a time
when the White House was announcing preposterous things in
apparent self-interest, such as the “revelation" that terrorists
had aimed to hunt down Air Force One with a high-jacked
commercial plane.
Rep. Barbara Lee cast the House's only vote against
handing over virtually unlimited war powers to one man that a
whole lot of us didn’t vote for As a consequence, so many red-
blooded Americans have threatened to kill her, she has to have
additional bodyguards.
Patriotism seems to be falling to whoever claims it
loudest, and we re left struggling to find a definition in a clamor
of reaction. This is what I'm hearing: Patriotism opposes the
lone representative of democracy who was brave enough to
vote her conscience instead of following an angry mob. (Several
others have confessed they wanted to vote the same way, but
chickened out.) Patriotism threatens free speech with death. It
is infuriated by thoughtful hesitation, constructive criticism of our
leaders and pleas for peace. It despises people of foreign birth
who’ve spent years learning our culture and contributing their
talents to our economy. It has specifically blamed homosexuals,
feminists and the American Civil Liberties Union. In other words,
the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence,
bigotry, sexism, homophobia, and shoving the Constitution
through a shredder? Who are we calling terrorists here?
Outsiders can destroy airplanes and buildings, but it is only
we, the people, who have the power to demolish our own ideals.
It's a fact of our culture that the loudest mouths get the
most airplay, and the loudmouths are saying now that in times
of crisis it is treasonous to question our leaders. Nonsense. That
kind of thinking let fascism grow out of the international depres
sion of the 1930s. In critical times our leaders need most to be
influenced by the moderating force of dissent That is the basis
of democracy, in sickness and in health, and especially when
national choices are difficult, and bear grave consequences.
It occurs to me that my patriotic duty is to recapture my
flag from the men now waving it in the name of jingoism and
censorship. This isn’t easy for me
The last time I looked at a flag with unambiguous pride,
I was 13 Right after that, Vietnam began teaching me lessons
in ambiguity, and the lessons have kept coming. I’ve learned
of things my government has done to the world that made me
direly ashamed. I’ve been further alienated from my flag by
people who waved it at me declaring I should love it or leave it.
I search my soul and find I cannot love killing for any
reason When I look at the flag I see it illuminated by the rocket’s
red glare. This is why the warmongers so easily gain the upper
hand in the patriot game: Our nation was established with a fight
for independence, so our iconography grew out of war. Our
national anthem celebrates it; our language of patriotism is
inseparable from a battle cry. Our every military campaign is
still launched with phrases about men dying for freedoms we
* Jeannette Rankin, Representative from Montana,
was the only member of Congress to vote against U.S entry
into World War 2. She said she wanted to show that a "good
democracy" does not always vote unanimously for war (She
also voted against the country's involvement in World War 1)
1335MARINE DR.
ASTORIA, OREGON
HEATH HINEGARDNER
hold dear, even when this is impossible to square with reality.
In the Persian Gulf War we rushed to the aid of Kuwait, a
monarchy in which women enjoyed approximately the same
rights as a 19th century slave. The values we fought for and
won there are best understood, I think, by the oil companies.
Meanwhile, a country of civilians was devastated, and remains
destroyed
SEPTEMBER 11TH
Thunder in the wind.
No rain.
Peace mourns its passing
No pain.
We are still human,
But our existence is bane.
Do we not bleed and die?
It is always the same refrain.
Nothing is right.
Terrorism shakes its ugly mane
Are we not all human?
Do we not feel pain?
Peace comes to an end
As the old moon wanes.
Jets fly overhead,
We decide to take trains.
We are struck by horror.
We are struck by pain
What do we do
When the time comes again?
Send our boys into battle,
Watch them die in vain.
Peace waves goodbye as
War says hello again.
Stating these realities does not violate the principles of
liberty, equality, and freedom of speech; it exercises them, and
by exercise we grow stronger. I would like to stand up for my
flag and wave it over a few things I believe in, including but not
limited to the protection of dissenting points of view. After 225
years, I vote to retire the rocket’s red glare and the bullet wound
as obsolete symbols of Old Glory. We desperately need a new
iconography of patriotism. I propose we rip stripes of cloth from
the uniforms of public servants who rescued the injured and
panic-stricken, remaining at their post until it fell down on them.
The red glare of candles held in vigils everywhere as peace-
loving people pray for the bereaved, and plead for compassion
and restraint. The blood donated to the Red Cross. The stars of
film and theater and music who are using their influence to raise
money for recovery.The small hands of schoolchildren collecting
pennies, toothpaste, teddy bears, anything they think might help
the kids who’ve lost their moms and dads.
My town,Tucson, Ariz., has become famous for a simple
gesture in which some 8,000 people wearing red, white or blue
T-shirts assembled themselves in the shape of a flag on a
baseball field and had their photograph taken from above.That
picture has begun to turn up everywhere but we saw it first on
our newspaper’s front page. Our family stood in silence for a
minute looking a that photo of a human flag, trying to know what
to make of it.Then my teenage daughter, who has a quick mind
for numbers and a sensitive heart, did an interesting thing She
laid her hand over half of the picture, leaving visible more or
less 3,000 people, and said, “That many are dead " We stared at
what that looked like — all those innocent souls, multi-colored
and packed into a conjoined destiny —and shuddered at the one
simple truth behind all the noise, which is that so many beloved
people have suddenly gone from us
That is my flag, and that’s what it means: We’re all just
people together
-JESS/ DUNKIN
Barbara Kingsolver is the author of nine books, including
The Poisonwood Bible
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