Toni Smith & The Flag

Yesterday as I was getting ready to pick up [Abby] for dinner I was listening to the radio and I flipped to a channel that was talking about some big controversy over some female college athlete that’s done some horrible thing. After listening ot this talk radio type show for a half hour, I still had no idea what on earth she had done. On top of this just being bad radio, it was annoying. So today I set out on a quest to figure out what on earth is going on.

The story goes something like this: Toni Smith, a basketball player for the Division III Manhattanville College, has been irking a whole lot of people lately by turning her back on the flag during the pledge at basketball games.

Today, the Chicago Sun-Times ran a fairly liberally shifted article about the situation, wherein Ms. Smith was quoted as saying: “For some time now, the inequalities that are embedded into the American system have bothered me. As they are becoming progressively worse and it is clear that the government’s priorities are not on bettering the quality of life for all of its people, but rather on expanding its own power, I cannot, in good conscience, salute the flag.”

Now, I’m not here to debate the war again, or any such thing. But this sort of attitude just bothers me.

When you pledge your allegiance to the flag and our country, you are not pledging allegiance to George W. Bush or Congress or the Department of Defense. You’re saying that you support the concepts and foundations of our society and government. When you sit silently while a gymnasium full of people pledge to the flag, you’re exercising a right that the flag’s ideals have given you. When you light the stars and stripes on fire in the street, you’re laying waste to a symbol that embodies the the very paradigms that give you the right to express yourself in such a manner.

This type of behavior is ignorant and hypocritical. GW’s likeness isn’t emblazoned in the field of stars, or taking up residence atop the red and white stripes. The flag is not about our government or military. The flag, rather, is a representation of the pure and unpoliticized values that caused thirteen small colonies to rebel against one of the world’s strongest nations. That flag is the very thing that should be bringing us together, regardless of our political views.

When you disrespect the flag, you’re disrespecting a country, a mindset, and a people. If you think there are problems in the USA, you’re right. If you think the flag is the cause or representation of them, you’re sadly mistaken.

Relevant Links:
ESPN (AP Article)
New York Post Article (has picture)