Opinion | From the American flag to Martha-Ann Alito, what flags say about us

Regarding The Post’s June 10 online article “Justice Alito talked about political divide on purported secret recordings”:

Although I have not been a Catholic or a theist of any kind for two decades, I still find the imagery of the church compelling in its richness and even its grotesqueness. And when I read about Martha-Ann Alito’s desire to fly a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag emblazoned with the word “vergogna” (Italian for “shame”) as a rebuke to Pride flags, it struck a personal note for me.

I am an Italian American gay man who grew up with this image in my home and my childhood church, the Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and St. Stephen in Brooklyn. I have long been fascinated by the image of the wounded and flaming heart meant to symbolize Jesus’ love, and by the story of how it was popularized. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th-century nun who signed her profession of faith in her own blood, claimed to have divine visions, including one in which Jesus instructed her to urge King Louis XIV to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart. She said that by doing so, France would gain the power to trounce the church’s enemies. The tension between divine love and bellicosity in Sister Mary Margaret’s vision are still with us today.

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I’m a painter, so to me, the best response was through my art. In designing a flag that riffed on Ms. Alito’s ambitions, I wanted to appropriate the image of the Sacred Heart and possibly extend its incongruities. I started with the simple imposition of the colors of the traditional Pride flag over a stylized version of the Sacred Heart as it appears on an old French prayer card that included a legend that translates to: “Here is the heart that has loved men so much; it is all love and mercy.”

I preserved the symbols that originally appeared on that prayer card, given how apt they are in this shifted context: the spear of persecution, which also carries a sexual connotation of penetration; the crown of thorns, with its ironic indication of kingship (or queenship); the flames, with their dual senses of consuming sacrifice and passion. Instead of divine love pouring forth even to sinners who defy the divine, my design offers the resilience and defiance of pride in the face of persecution.

The legend “senza vergogna” (without shame) is implied. None of this is to say that I know or care what Jesus would have to say about any of this. But I suspect that Ms. Alito’s plan to use the sacred heart to counter and shame people who celebrate LGBTQ+ identity is further removed from the love and mercy that image symbolizes than my use of the sacred heart in this design is.

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Joe de Feo, Washington

As our town’s keeper of the flag for 25 years, I feel I have standing to weigh in on the Alito flag controversy. I raise the American flag each day at the spot in Carlisle, Mass., where the Minutemen gathered on April 19, 1775, as they prepared to march to the North Bridge.

One day, while I struggled with the flag in high winds, an older gentleman, a Vietnam veteran, stopped to help. He was deeply concerned that the flag might touch the ground. His emotion and pride in our banner were palpable. He saluted as the flag was raised, thanked me and left. This moment highlights the reverence many hold for our flag.

In contrast, Martha-Ann Alito’s actions demonstrate a disturbing disregard for this symbol. Whether she intends to express disdain for our democracy or her neighbors, she is wrong. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s response is equally troubling. His claim that this is a domestic issue unworthy of his intervention raises questions about his objectivity and honesty. His arrogance on the bench is reflected in his failure to address this simple act.

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As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Concord and Lexington, I will continue to raise the flag with the reverence it deserves.

Tom Ratcliffe, Carlisle, Mass.

My wife and I have decided to follow Martha-Ann Alito’s lead and fly our own flags: “Make America Tolerant Again,” “Make America Informed Again” and “Make America a Secular Democracy Again.”

What happened to “love thy neighbor”?

Raymond Coleman, Potomac

I have family, friends and neighbors who fly flags and banners. They are usually related to a holiday, or carry sentiments such as “Welcome to our Home,” and even “We love our dog.” I’ve yet to see a distress signal as a choice when thinking about what to fly.

Another explanation was that Martha-Ann Alito was upset about a yard sign in the neighborhood that contained a vulgarity. I live in a very conservative state. If I decided to fly a signal of distress every time I saw a sign using that particular vulgarity in reference to President Biden, my yard would be full of upside-down flags!

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Chloe Watson, Independence, W.Va.

It’s our grand old flag, too

At first, I chuckled at Rick Reilly’s June 14 Friday Opinion column, “Since when does Trump own the American flag?,” about being mistaken for a Donald Trump fan because he flew the American flag. I have made the same error in reverse. After Joe Biden was elected in 2020, we were celebrating with friends on our front porch when we saw a pickup with big American flags flying off the back approach. We inwardly winced, expecting anti-Biden Trump fans in our oh-so-very Republican county. What a great surprise to see the Biden sign prominent on their truck as they neared! We cheered and raised our glasses in salute, and they circled the block to join in.

We’re pretty old-school in our flag etiquette, having been raised in families with dads who served in World War II. We reserve our flag-flying for the appropriate holidays. We light our flag. We never let it touch the ground. We only fly flags in good repair. Flags that near fraying or fading are appropriately retired with the help of our local American Legion post. It’s a symbol of our loyalty to American democracy and honoring the sacrifices of our servicemen and -women. It’s hard to watch when our Trump-supporting neighbors let their flags fade and rot to the ground, treating them as a symbol of political leanings, not of our country.

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No, Trump doesn’t own the flag: Americans do.

Jan Selbo, Warrenton, Va.

I’m a vexillologist — a professional flag nerd ― and every year, I get contacted about the American flag and all of the rules around using it. It says a lot about Americans’ attitudes toward the flag that we have a formal set of rules that govern how to treat our national standard with respect, but almost no one knows about them, much less follows them.

The U.S. Flag Code is broken every single day, usually while patriotic Americans watch and cover their hearts with pride. At the next “military appreciation game” at any local sporting event, watch as a large flag is carried out across the field. This breaks point (c) in the “Respect for Flag” section that reads: “The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.” As the teams remove their hats and sing the anthem, they might have a special team logo that is filled with an American flag rather than their team colors. That breaks the code multiple times over.

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It’s fascinating to me how there’s no public discussion or outrage about these violations, but someone kneeling during the anthem is a month-long news cycle. Earlier this year, I stopped counting all of the Memorial Day sales that used the flag for advertising (also a Flag Code no-no). Did you see anyone protesting used-car dealerships for co-opting the flag and the memorialization of fallen soldiers to market a sale? Neither did I.

In 1990, the Supreme Court struck down the Flag Protection Act, and in turn, the enforcement of the Flag Code. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the symbolic importance of the flag does not overrule someone’s First Amendment rights, rendering the Flag Code to just a set of societal norms and traditions. At least for civil use. So why is it still used to scold anyone who lets the flag touch the ground?

What I’ve found is that the Flag Code is usually whipped out only when it supports someone’s idea of patriotism, and they want to use it as a weapon against someone with a different view.

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Michael Green, Indianapolis

The writer is the founder of Flags For Good.

Reading Rick Reilly’s Flag Day op-ed reminded me of a comment I heard from a comedian decades ago. Unfortunately, I only remember the joke, not the person who told it, but here’s a paraphrase: “American flags should be required to be made out of asbestos. Then they couldn’t be burned and it would be uncomfortable for politicians to wrap themselves up in them!”

Paul Whittemore, Spotsylvania, Va.

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