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An overt affront

By Staff | Jul 15, 2020

To the editor:

The flag of the United States of America is a symbol of unity that ideally binds all citizens. Historically, and recently, the flag has had its detractors and yet it is the only flag that is the generally accepted single symbol of a unified United States of America.

A recent event in Oklahoma resulted in a woman being shot in the abdomen and legs by a white, male homeowner, as she was stealing a Nazi flag from his property. Both his and her actions were illegal. He is legally allowed to fly the flag. But his choice to fly a Nazi flag is divisive by its very nature and is a bold display of ignorance.

What type of man overtly displays a Nazi flag in his yard and then shoots a woman when she steals it? Is he a Holocaust denier or is he a man feeling marginalized by the overwhelming changes in our society for which he was unprepared, or both?

In Cape Coral, my wife and I saw a large Confederate flag flying in front of a house. What type of person overtly displays a Confederate flag in their yard? What are they attempting to communicate? Do they, too, feel marginalized and what do they hope to achieve with their ill-conceived display of an anti-abolitionist flag? Are they enslaved by the thought of a lost war and a long-gone way of life?

Flying a Nazi or Confederate flag is an overt affront to all educated, thoughtful people, because those flags purposely divide people. Those flags scream for support of values that most United States citizens unanimously reject.

During the 2016 Presidential Election there were many flags flying for the Republican candidate. The flags for his re-election are flying again. Three and one-half years later, many of us know much more about this President than we did before. And we know who he is and what his flag represents.

All three of these flags are an overt affront to the sensibilities of all rational people. Fly the United States flag and take the others down and put them in the proper receptacle.

Paul Kiefner

Cape Coral