By Tracy Martin
First, I want to thank the Warren prayer flag display team. I have a deep respect for what they brought to our village in honor of July 4 this year. In a time of such distress, worldwide sickness, fear and loss, their idea to decorate our town with prayer flags stood as a true beacon of strength, community and love. For that I am forever grateful. Thank you.
In addition, I am writing now in response to their piece, ”Sorely disappointed,” from the July 16 paper. In this piece they expressed strong disapproval to those responsible for removing some controversial flags from the display. I thank them again, as their letter gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own views on this subject.
As I walked through an empty Warren on July 4 – a street usually spilling over with loud and raucous celebrations of the day - I was struck by the quiet and the calm. As I read each flag with its messages of peace, unity, love, family, justice and equality for all, I felt a nonpartisan unifying breeze in the air. There was strong togetherness, even while mandated to stay apart. Then I came to the flags that said, Make America Great Again and All Lives Matter.
How I wish I could look upon those flags as merely a difference of opinion and not as something threatening and dangerous. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The platform of this president, with his preaching of MAGA, has become synonymous with values many of us reject, Republicans as well as Democrats. The divisiveness this has caused in our country has been palpable for some time and is now seen on the streets of Portland, Chicago and Detroit. This administration seems to thrive on pitting Americans against each other. This is something I neither accept nor consider appropriate for display of unity and humanity – unless it is to categorically rise up against such rhetoric.
Similarly, All Lives Matter has become code for minimizing the very real and specific unlawful actions against black lives. It goes without saying that all lives matter, but all lives can’t matter until black lives matter. I understand that people who write Blue Lives or All Lives Matter believe they are protecting their family and loved ones and I believe this feeds directly into the divisiveness many of us so desperately want to admonish. Our Republican governor, Mr. Scott, was recently asked about BLM at a press conference. He aptly compared the situation to public response after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Banners proclaiming “Boston Strong” went up everywhere -- not because other cities aren’t strong, but because Boston’s needs were now. Systemic racism has promoted injustice towards black people for centuries. It is a shameful fact of our collective American history. George Floyd made it blindingly clear again, we have a ways to go -- Black Lives Matter now.
This is why I say, thank you, to those who peacefully removed such offensive and harmful messages of divisiveness. The act of removing such messages is, in itself, promoting acceptance of our differences and stopping this trend of divisiveness. Once again, I say, thank you, to those responsible for this action. I understand this is a controversial topic and I welcome discussion on these, often painful, topics. Only through speaking about our differences may we find the bridge to our connectedness.
I applaud the prayer flag committee for their ingenuity and huge hearts in providing our community with a July 4 parade full of our strong community spirit: love, kindness and justice for all.
Tracy Martin
Warren
