June 11, 2012

By Kirk A. Bowers and Evan M. Knappenberger

(a previous version of this editorial appeared at the DailyProgress.com)

The red portion of the “old Stars and Stripes” stands, we are told, for blood sacrificed to make this country what it is. On June 14, we will be celebrating Flag Day, a holiday marked by patriotic bluster, political speeches and lip service to those who have served this country.

Several days every year (in May, June and November) we set aside time to remember the men and women who served or died in service to the U.S. But what we are taught in school --what we tend to focus on-- is an extremely limited view of service and of sacrifice. The ugly truth that is war — the truth veterans live with every moment of every day — is willingly unspoken when it comes time to remember.

Eighteen veterans kill themselves every day in this country. According to Defense Department data, only one in five veterans uses the GI Bill college benefit; of those veterans who make it to college, half are suicidal at any given point, according to the American Psychological Association. Only one in 20 veterans graduates college.

So what are the rest of the nearly three million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan doing, if not going to college? The same thing that Vietnam generation did: living on the streets. The day a soldier is discharged, he or she has a 50-50 chance of spending two of the next five years homeless. The Veterans Administration system is full of men and women broken in service to this country.

One third of post-9/11 veterans are diagnosed with some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. While some would blame these numbers on better care or weaker soldiers, the reality is made clear by a 2007 U.S. Army study: Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen more days of combat than in any war since the Civil War. PTSD is not something this generation of soldiers just made up — it is a reality that lands many veterans in jail, the hospital, homeless or dead. And yet, only 0.5 percent of Americans have served in the wars since 9/11, and only one in 20 families has someone in the service. Mainstream America exists cut off from the reality of most veterans.

The reality of Flag Day is not something to be glossed over with a patriotic speech or a Sousa march. The blood represented by the red stripes on the flag is certainly that of soldiers and sailors, but it could also be the blood of the Native Americans who died in Andrew Jackson’s ethnic-cleansing campaigns; it could just as well represent the blood of the nearly one million Iraqi people estimated to have died violently in Iraq by the medical journalLancet. Or, it could be the blood of African-American slaves or indentured Chinese who died building railroads. The truth is, our country is steeped in the blood of workers, the poor and outsiders of all kinds, not just the blood of soldiers.

Let us not forget also the fact that, at least in the lower half of the country, the US flag was a symbol of scorn and oppression forced upon an unwilling population a mere 150 years ago. Back then waving the other flag was a hanging offense.

We are not suggesting that "Old Glory" be denigrated or ignored. We wish merely to bring to light the dark and ugly side of American exceptionalism, imperialism and domestic oppression, in the hope that by re-imagining the flag and our history, we can move beyond blind patriotism to a fuller and more-farsighted love of land and people. As members of Veterans For Peace, we proudly continue to serve the best interest of all human beings at home and abroad by working for a world free of nuclear weapons, war and oppression.

There is no reason why the U.S. flag has to be a symbol of fear and disgust around the world. (Following every drone strike in Pakistan, American flags inevitably get burned.) There is no ontological or metaphysical reason for the world’s scorning of the stars and stripes: only ideological reasons.

This Flag Day, Veterans for Peace urges you not just to remember the reasons this country exists, but challenges you to imagine a world where America is a leader in justice and non-violence. We are reclaiming the flag as a symbol of good will and equity, just as it should be.

Kirk A. Bowers is a Vietnam veteran (14th Engineer Battalion CC) and a board member of the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice. Evan Knappenberger is a disabled Iraq War veteran, and acting president of Veterans For Peace Charlottesville Chapter 962. For a list of his writings, visit EvanKnappenberger.net