As I hung out our flag in honor of Flag Day, I found myself asking, why?
Why do I do this, and what does it mean?
I know what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean I am proud of our history. We are a nation that uses, and has always used, violence to get the things it wants. Native Americans, immigrant populations, African Americans, and the LGBTQ+ communities have disproportionately suffered from horrendously violent acts.
I am ashamed of that history, and hanging our flag is done in spite of our history of violence.
So, why do I hang this flag? I hang it as a prayer that we will use the tremendous freedom granted to us to correct the sins that have so grievously harmed so many people. I hang it in gratitude for the freedoms that just might make change in our nation’s conduct possible.
RICHARD SLATER
Hopkinton