“The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.”
– U.S. Flag Code
I try not to pay much attention to the antics happening at so-called progressive colleges, but last month the president of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., Jonathan Lash, stated the U.S. flag is “a disruptive symbol.” This got my attention.
It turns out the children attending this liberal arts college led by the adolescents parading as college administrators got pretty upset over their presidential candidate losing the election. Some of the students had an outright hissy fit (even worse than having a broken cell phone) and decided to lower the campus flag to half-staff the day after the election.
Then, someone on campus took the next step by taking the flag down and burning it. To add further insult, the remnants of the burned flag were found on campus on the morning of Veterans Day. Lash decided then to remove the flag altogether while the college had further “discussions.”
I was not surprised to see the Amherst VFW quickly organize a protest on Nov. 27 in front of Hampshire College.
The college that advocates for free speech and protests curiously was now prohibiting the veterans from protesting on their campus and advising their students not to speak to the media.
News reports said more than a thousand participated in the peaceful protest. Online pictures and videos of the veterans’ protest showed a sea of flags of every size. Chants of “Raise our flag!” and “U.S.A.!” were heard. “God Bless America” was sung, and veterans gave impassioned speeches.
Ron Chimelis, a local newspaper journalist at The Republican, sharply wrote, “To people across the nation, Hampshire College stands as an example of detached, elitist and pompous left-wing radicalism gone too far.”
Never mind that Harvard-educated Lash thumbed his nose at the U.S. Flag Code, the federal law that details etiquette, protocol and respect for the flag.
How is the flag described in the statutes of the U.S. Flag Code?
U.S.C. Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8 states, “The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.”
Anyone so inclined to set alight our sacred flag should remember that hundreds of thousands of our veterans have sacrificed their lives to protect and preserve this “living thing” called the United States of America.
Lash claimed the college had received “thousands and thousands” of angry emails and phone calls and finally returned the flag at Hampshire College to full staff on Dec. 2.
An unknown author once said: “The flag does not fly because of the wind that blows it. The flag flies because each soldier’s last breath blows by it.”
(John Meinhold of Portsmouth is a U.S. Air Force veteran and the son of a decorated World War II combat veteran.)