One of my students made a proposal to School Congress today requesting a minimal amount of funds to purchase a Pride flag and a Black Lives Matter flag to hang somewhere on our school’s property. I’m proud to say that there was zero discussion regarding the wisdom of hanging each of those flags somewhere on the property and zero controversy surrounding the procurement of school funds for the purchase of those flags.
I’m also proud to say that there was tremendous discussion and controversy around the need to accompany those flags with an American one.
During the discussion, both students and staff made reasonable and passionate arguments for and against flying the American flag on school property. Arguments for included respect for the service that military veterans have given to this country, the progressive principles enshrined in our nation’s founding documents, and the refusal to relinquish the symbols of the United States of America to the forces of capitalism, intolerance, and hate.
Arguments against included our nation’s history of genocide and oppression, its traditionalist committment to systemic racism, its imperialist foreign military, and its violent support of nationalistic thieves and madmen in the name of capitalist stability.
The discussion continued long after the school’s Congress adjourned. I discussed it at length with several students throughout the day and heard from other teachers that their classes were also dedicated to its discussion. Later in the afternoon, the controversy had grown so strong one opponent openly declared that they would rather burn the flag than fly it, while one supporter of the flying the American flag used this controversey to tell the school they were planning on leaving soon.
I couldn’t have been happier about the uproar. One student forwarded me an article on the legality of flag burning. Another wanted to discuss how the military was just a poverty trap (in that it just lies there, waiting to snatch up all the poor people it can find); this particular student has several veterans, as well as current servicemen and women, in his immediate family, and despite thinking it is trap, he still considers the military a viable escape route from his current socio-economic reality.
One student was adament that the decision to accompany the Pride and Black Lives Matter flags with the flag of the United States would make an even stronger statement than flying the two flags alone.
This particular student didn’t elucidate his reasons, but what I think he meant was that flying all three flags together would demonstrate that we, as a school, refuse to ignore our nation’s history. Flying these flags together would demonstrate our committment to understanding the nuance and complexity that takes “a people” from a place with enshrined racism to a place with unenshrined and yet still systemic racism; a history that sees the raising of statues to violent, outspoken racists who’d rather kill a black man than give him the right to exist as a free person, as well as the history that sees the mainstream call for and eventual successful removal of those statues from our public squares; a history that includes consistently violent attempts to reduce the spherical spectrum of gender and sexuality to two opposite and extreme points, as well as a history that includes the pride-filled rejoinder to one of those attempts at the Stonewall Inn, and the ensuing use of the American legal system, as well as the American entertainment system, to expand the franchise of American citizenship to members of the nation’s historically marginalized LGBTQ+ communities.
I agree with this last student, and I would add that many members of my school’s community (both within the school and without it) have great respect for the American flag and would like to see it flown, and ignoring their desires would be a disservice to the community. Opponents may disagree, but their reasoning for disagreement would be adequately represented by the critical placement of the other flags, both of which call attention to our community’s need for increased tolerance, acceptance, and love.
Regardless of how I feel, however, what makes me proud is that our students are debating the topic and channeling their (limited) knowledge and (teenage) passion in attempts to persuade their fellow community members. It’s everything I hoped for when I first brought the idea of a School Congress to my colleagues, and while it has sparked quite the controversy, it has also sparked a conversation about our school’s culture, and I couldn’t be happier.