1 00:00:18,184 --> 00:00:19,853 Beauty. Love. 2 00:00:19,936 --> 00:00:21,563 Unity. -Family. 3 00:00:21,646 --> 00:00:23,857 -Acceptance. Inclusion and freedom. 4 00:00:25,859 --> 00:00:27,569 This flag brings fear. 5 00:00:27,652 --> 00:00:28,987 -Hate. -Anger. 6 00:00:29,070 --> 00:00:29,904 Genocide. 7 00:00:29,988 --> 00:00:30,864 Barbarism. 8 00:00:30,947 --> 00:00:31,906 Propaganda. 9 00:00:33,533 --> 00:00:35,035 A sense of pride. 10 00:00:35,118 --> 00:00:37,078 Dream and pursuit of happiness. 11 00:00:37,162 --> 00:00:38,413 It makes me feel safe. 12 00:00:38,496 --> 00:00:40,373 -Division. -Oppression. 13 00:00:40,457 --> 00:00:43,334 At times, I feel confused and disappointed. 14 00:00:44,169 --> 00:00:46,796 Flags can terrorize and divide us, 15 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:48,548 but they can also unite us. 16 00:00:48,631 --> 00:00:52,469 They can articulate who we are and what we want. 17 00:00:52,552 --> 00:00:55,972 Flags can mean completely different things to different people, 18 00:00:56,056 --> 00:00:58,641 and they can be one of the most powerful, 19 00:00:58,725 --> 00:01:01,394 and sometimes dangerous, tools in the world. 20 00:01:01,895 --> 00:01:05,815 How can a piece of cloth both unify and divide us? 21 00:01:05,899 --> 00:01:08,276 And why does it hold so much power? 22 00:01:12,322 --> 00:01:14,574 I pledge allegiance to the flag. 23 00:01:14,657 --> 00:01:16,910 Displaying to the world his ideal, 24 00:01:16,993 --> 00:01:18,661 a symbol of his patriotism. 25 00:01:18,745 --> 00:01:21,956 Flags strike a warm response in every heart. 26 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:23,917 We fought for that flag. 27 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,337 If the flag could talk, it could write a book. 28 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:29,255 That flag has always represented hate to me. 29 00:01:31,049 --> 00:01:35,095 Changing the flag signals a change of attitude. 30 00:01:36,012 --> 00:01:39,599 Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 31 00:01:46,064 --> 00:01:49,400 One of our most basic human needs is to belong. 32 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,488 It's why we formed tribes, clans, and religions. 33 00:01:54,906 --> 00:01:58,618 And when our group succeeds, we experience that success as our own. 34 00:01:58,701 --> 00:02:00,411 When our team wins, we cheer. 35 00:02:00,495 --> 00:02:04,874 When our team loses, we personally feel a trauma 36 00:02:04,958 --> 00:02:07,836 that wasn't really our own experience to begin with. 37 00:02:08,920 --> 00:02:12,799 We merge our own personal identity into a larger whole. 38 00:02:12,882 --> 00:02:15,426 And that whole is represented by the flag. 39 00:02:16,010 --> 00:02:19,347 The flag is one of the strongest ideological markers 40 00:02:19,430 --> 00:02:21,182 in our cultural repertoire. 41 00:02:21,766 --> 00:02:24,519 But before that, flags were just tools. 42 00:02:24,602 --> 00:02:27,814 Early societies used them to signal across distances 43 00:02:27,897 --> 00:02:30,316 that a ruler was coming, or an invader. 44 00:02:31,025 --> 00:02:33,570 Ships used them to send messages back and forth. 45 00:02:34,195 --> 00:02:35,947 And they were critical in battle. 46 00:02:37,991 --> 00:02:41,661 You have to know where your friends are and where your enemies are. 47 00:02:41,744 --> 00:02:43,830 And this is signaled by the flag. 48 00:02:43,913 --> 00:02:47,375 Early flags were made of everything from animal hair to metal. 49 00:02:48,042 --> 00:02:50,086 But then, around 6,000 years ago, 50 00:02:50,170 --> 00:02:51,838 China invented silk. 51 00:02:51,921 --> 00:02:54,841 It spread rapidly along a network of trading routes 52 00:02:54,924 --> 00:02:56,551 known as the Silk Road. 53 00:02:56,634 --> 00:02:58,261 Silk was used 54 00:02:58,344 --> 00:03:00,346 to make the most prestigious flags, 55 00:03:00,430 --> 00:03:03,975 the flags of the monarchs and the flags of the heads of state. 56 00:03:04,058 --> 00:03:06,561 But then these kingdoms started to fall. 57 00:03:08,438 --> 00:03:11,357 In the 19th century, two revolutions happened. 58 00:03:11,441 --> 00:03:13,401 People, thanks to technology, 59 00:03:13,484 --> 00:03:16,613 became more aware of what was happening all around the country. 60 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,284 And at the same time, they took over power from the kings and the rulers. 61 00:03:21,367 --> 00:03:25,371 What emerged out of that was a new type of political entity 62 00:03:25,455 --> 00:03:27,874 called the nation state. 63 00:03:27,957 --> 00:03:31,878 Without a monarch, these nations needed a new identity to unite them. 64 00:03:31,961 --> 00:03:35,965 In order to foster a feeling of belonging together as a nation state, 65 00:03:36,049 --> 00:03:38,176 a bit of branding was a useful exercise. 66 00:03:38,259 --> 00:03:41,721 We needed a shared belief system, 67 00:03:41,804 --> 00:03:44,641 and the flag helped do that. 68 00:03:45,516 --> 00:03:48,186 As the legendary German writer Goethe said, 69 00:03:48,811 --> 00:03:51,940 "A country starts out from a name and a flag, 70 00:03:52,023 --> 00:03:53,942 and it then becomes them, 71 00:03:54,025 --> 00:03:56,527 just as a man fulfills his destiny." 72 00:03:57,820 --> 00:03:59,989 I have cherished the ideal 73 00:04:00,073 --> 00:04:02,617 of a democratic and free society. 74 00:04:03,243 --> 00:04:07,455 It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. 75 00:04:08,039 --> 00:04:10,250 When Nelson Mandela spoke those words, 76 00:04:10,333 --> 00:04:13,127 the South African flag was four flags in one. 77 00:04:14,254 --> 00:04:19,509 The Union Jack and two Dutch colony flags, all atop the former Dutch flag. 78 00:04:19,592 --> 00:04:21,761 They represented the country's colonizers. 79 00:04:21,844 --> 00:04:25,807 It was a unity at the expense of the Black people. 80 00:04:25,890 --> 00:04:30,186 I was forced by the law to attend schools 81 00:04:30,270 --> 00:04:32,814 specifically designed for Black people. 82 00:04:33,523 --> 00:04:37,568 I could not go into the town where white people live. 83 00:04:38,695 --> 00:04:42,991 I remember being given that flag as a young child. 84 00:04:43,574 --> 00:04:47,287 When I later understood that I was forced to wave 85 00:04:47,370 --> 00:04:50,289 a symbol of my own oppression, 86 00:04:50,373 --> 00:04:53,126 it was really something that was... 87 00:04:54,544 --> 00:04:55,837 repulsive. 88 00:04:55,920 --> 00:05:00,633 You start realizing that something has to change here. 89 00:05:01,217 --> 00:05:03,594 The African National Congress, or ANC, 90 00:05:03,678 --> 00:05:05,888 was fighting for that change. 91 00:05:05,972 --> 00:05:08,599 But at one protest in 1960, 92 00:05:08,683 --> 00:05:12,770 the police opened fire, killing 69 unarmed demonstrators, 93 00:05:12,854 --> 00:05:15,940 in what came to be known as the Sharpeville massacre. 94 00:05:16,816 --> 00:05:19,694 In the aftermath, the government banned the ANC. 95 00:05:20,695 --> 00:05:24,365 A few years later, they sentenced one of its leaders, Nelson Mandela, 96 00:05:24,449 --> 00:05:25,992 to life in prison. 97 00:05:27,201 --> 00:05:30,038 They also banned the ANC's flag. 98 00:05:30,121 --> 00:05:34,000 The design of that flag is a story that's traveled the world and back. 99 00:05:34,751 --> 00:05:38,671 Starting in Ethiopia, the only African country that was never colonized 100 00:05:38,755 --> 00:05:41,299 and the first to adopt a national flag. 101 00:05:41,966 --> 00:05:43,843 Over the years, their flag changed, 102 00:05:43,926 --> 00:05:46,888 as power shifted hands from one monarch to another, 103 00:05:48,264 --> 00:05:50,016 to communist rule, 104 00:05:50,099 --> 00:05:51,351 to a republic. 105 00:05:52,352 --> 00:05:56,105 But outside Ethiopia, the flag represented African liberation. 106 00:05:56,898 --> 00:05:59,567 As African countries broke free from colonialism 107 00:05:59,650 --> 00:06:01,444 and created their own flags, 108 00:06:01,527 --> 00:06:03,780 many of them looked to Ethiopia's. 109 00:06:04,364 --> 00:06:07,158 And Ethiopia inspired another flag, too. 110 00:06:08,242 --> 00:06:11,287 In the 1920s, on the other side of the world, 111 00:06:11,371 --> 00:06:12,789 this was a popular song. 112 00:06:12,872 --> 00:06:18,086 ♪ Every race has a flag but the coon ♪ 113 00:06:18,836 --> 00:06:21,547 When Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey heard it, 114 00:06:21,631 --> 00:06:23,633 enraged by the racist lyric, 115 00:06:23,716 --> 00:06:25,802 he decided to create a flag, 116 00:06:25,885 --> 00:06:28,388 and he turned to Ethiopia's for inspiration, 117 00:06:28,471 --> 00:06:32,016 swapping the yellow for black to represent the African people 118 00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:34,685 who the slave trade had displaced around the world. 119 00:06:35,353 --> 00:06:37,647 He called it the Pan-African flag. 120 00:06:38,314 --> 00:06:42,068 "Show me the race or the nation without a flag," he said, 121 00:06:42,151 --> 00:06:45,446 "and I will show you a race of people without any pride." 122 00:06:46,447 --> 00:06:49,784 A few years later, Garvey's flag inspired the ANC 123 00:06:49,867 --> 00:06:51,661 when they designed their own. 124 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:59,502 In 1990, Mandela was freed after 27 years in prison. 125 00:07:00,711 --> 00:07:03,214 Negotiations began to end apartheid, 126 00:07:03,297 --> 00:07:06,592 and the country held its first fair and free election. 127 00:07:07,385 --> 00:07:09,303 On the day of the election, 128 00:07:09,387 --> 00:07:12,181 I was able to cast a vote 129 00:07:12,265 --> 00:07:14,851 for the first time in my life. 130 00:07:16,602 --> 00:07:21,649 It was an emotional and near-magical experience. 131 00:07:23,693 --> 00:07:26,487 On the day that we were allowed to vote, 132 00:07:26,571 --> 00:07:28,823 this flag was also flown. 133 00:07:30,867 --> 00:07:34,787 The new South African flag was a combination of the old flag 134 00:07:34,871 --> 00:07:36,706 and the ANC flag. 135 00:07:36,789 --> 00:07:38,749 It was a symbol of unity. 136 00:07:38,833 --> 00:07:41,544 It gave me the opportunity 137 00:07:41,627 --> 00:07:44,005 to identify with my own country. 138 00:07:46,507 --> 00:07:49,677 Flags have a unique power to unify and stir loyalty, 139 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,555 and for governments, that's a powerful tool. 140 00:07:53,222 --> 00:07:56,267 There's a reason some countries mandate flags in schools. 141 00:07:56,350 --> 00:08:00,146 And in more than 60 countries, if you desecrate your national flag, 142 00:08:00,229 --> 00:08:02,899 you can face fines or even prison time. 143 00:08:04,358 --> 00:08:06,277 Many also have elaborate flag codes, 144 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,905 carefully detailing how the flag should be handled, 145 00:08:08,988 --> 00:08:13,034 treating them with a reverence usually reserved for religious sacraments. 146 00:08:16,204 --> 00:08:17,955 It's a type of propaganda, 147 00:08:18,039 --> 00:08:21,501 in that you're promoting a vision of something. 148 00:08:21,584 --> 00:08:25,213 And no one understood that better than Adolf Hitler. 149 00:08:25,838 --> 00:08:27,256 And the German Führer. 150 00:08:31,010 --> 00:08:35,306 Adolf Hitler recognized after the First World War 151 00:08:35,389 --> 00:08:38,309 and the disillusionment of the German people 152 00:08:38,392 --> 00:08:41,354 that a symbol could be used 153 00:08:41,437 --> 00:08:44,440 to get a group to coalesce around, 154 00:08:44,524 --> 00:08:47,235 that gave them a vision of a better future. 155 00:08:47,902 --> 00:08:50,655 Before coming to power, Hitler worked for the education 156 00:08:50,738 --> 00:08:52,907 and propaganda department of the military, 157 00:08:52,990 --> 00:08:55,785 where he learned the art of influencing the masses. 158 00:08:55,868 --> 00:08:58,037 In his autobiography Mein Kampf, 159 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,540 Hitler wrote that "A striking emblem 160 00:09:00,623 --> 00:09:03,834 may be the first cause of awakening interest in a movement." 161 00:09:04,377 --> 00:09:08,673 The Nazi flag had the power to inspire fear, 162 00:09:08,756 --> 00:09:13,052 but it also had the power to inspire exhilaration. 163 00:09:14,262 --> 00:09:16,847 Hitler even created a brand guide 164 00:09:16,931 --> 00:09:18,975 that ran over 500 pages. 165 00:09:19,058 --> 00:09:21,185 And one of his first decrees as Chancellor 166 00:09:21,269 --> 00:09:24,939 was banning the old flag and instituting the Nazi one. 167 00:09:25,022 --> 00:09:27,650 Then he banned Jews from flying it. 168 00:09:28,401 --> 00:09:30,486 While flags create an "us," 169 00:09:31,070 --> 00:09:32,530 they can also create a "them." 170 00:09:33,197 --> 00:09:35,574 And they've played that role throughout history. 171 00:09:36,284 --> 00:09:38,828 As the saying goes, the states made war, 172 00:09:38,911 --> 00:09:40,788 and war made the state. 173 00:09:40,871 --> 00:09:44,750 Flags were used to rally citizens to enlist around the world. 174 00:09:44,834 --> 00:09:46,627 And they became a solemn emblem 175 00:09:46,711 --> 00:09:48,546 of the soldier's sacrifice. 176 00:09:48,629 --> 00:09:51,257 And that's certainly true of the American flag. 177 00:09:52,508 --> 00:09:56,929 The cult of the American flag arose in the 19th century 178 00:09:57,013 --> 00:10:00,600 to encourage a culture of patriotism. 179 00:10:00,683 --> 00:10:03,311 It was the first country to have 180 00:10:03,394 --> 00:10:04,854 a pledge to the flag, 181 00:10:04,937 --> 00:10:06,981 a flag day, a flag week. 182 00:10:09,275 --> 00:10:12,111 But the Vietnam war marked a turning point. 183 00:10:14,572 --> 00:10:17,825 As the anti-war movement grew, the flag became politicized, 184 00:10:17,908 --> 00:10:20,828 representing two different visions of America. 185 00:10:20,911 --> 00:10:22,622 And each side wore it differently. 186 00:10:23,831 --> 00:10:27,376 The anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman wore an American flag shirt 187 00:10:28,586 --> 00:10:32,923 and was charged with desecration under a new flag protection law. 188 00:10:33,007 --> 00:10:35,676 While President Nixon, who prolonged the Vietnam war, 189 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:37,261 also started wearing the flag. 190 00:10:38,137 --> 00:10:39,055 As a pin. 191 00:10:39,597 --> 00:10:42,767 And though that law was struck down, the divide stayed 192 00:10:42,850 --> 00:10:45,186 as America turned to new threats. 193 00:10:45,269 --> 00:10:48,939 Fidel Castro is exporting revolutions in our own backyard. 194 00:10:49,023 --> 00:10:51,525 An informed patriotism is what we want. 195 00:10:52,109 --> 00:10:54,153 Let's start with some basics. 196 00:10:54,236 --> 00:10:56,489 More attention to American history 197 00:10:56,572 --> 00:10:59,367 and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. 198 00:10:59,450 --> 00:11:02,745 Suddenly, with Reagan saying everybody had to be patriotic 199 00:11:02,828 --> 00:11:07,375 and pro-American, be enthusiastic about the wars it was going to fight, 200 00:11:07,458 --> 00:11:10,795 you either got with that or you didn't. And I didn't. 201 00:11:10,878 --> 00:11:14,423 I grew up a middle-class Black kid on the South Side of Chicago. 202 00:11:14,507 --> 00:11:16,801 Chicago's a very segregated city. 203 00:11:16,884 --> 00:11:20,513 From your earliest age, when the country is telling you you do not belong here, 204 00:11:20,596 --> 00:11:24,725 the founding fathers never thought of you as being a citizen of this country, 205 00:11:24,809 --> 00:11:28,104 you don't feel like you're part of it, and so I never did. 206 00:11:28,813 --> 00:11:30,940 In 1988, I made the installation 207 00:11:31,023 --> 00:11:33,192 What Is the Proper Way To Display a US Flag? 208 00:11:33,776 --> 00:11:36,904 There's a three-by-five-foot flag on the ground. 209 00:11:36,987 --> 00:11:41,033 And above the flag was a notebook, where visitors could leave comments. 210 00:11:41,659 --> 00:11:44,036 You could stand either next to it or on it. 211 00:11:48,416 --> 00:11:51,544 "You're disgracing everyone in America by placing the flag on the floor." 212 00:11:52,169 --> 00:11:54,171 "This is the ultimate form of patriotism." 213 00:11:54,797 --> 00:11:56,757 "You should be executed for high treason." 214 00:11:56,841 --> 00:11:58,551 There are a couple others. 215 00:11:58,634 --> 00:12:02,346 "I'm a German girl. If we Germans would admire our flag as you all do, 216 00:12:02,430 --> 00:12:04,432 we would be called Nazis again. 217 00:12:04,515 --> 00:12:07,184 I think you do have too much trouble about this flag." 218 00:12:07,935 --> 00:12:10,646 Thousands protested in front of Scott's exhibit. 219 00:12:11,188 --> 00:12:12,857 The Senate responded too, 220 00:12:12,940 --> 00:12:15,651 voting to ban the display of the flag on the ground. 221 00:12:15,735 --> 00:12:19,113 Later that year, Congress passed a new Flag Protection Act, 222 00:12:19,196 --> 00:12:22,908 making the desecration of the flag a crime in America once again. 223 00:12:22,992 --> 00:12:26,245 Support for the First Amendment need not extend 224 00:12:26,328 --> 00:12:28,289 to desecration of the American flag. 225 00:12:28,372 --> 00:12:32,209 That is a national symbol of unity. 226 00:12:32,293 --> 00:12:36,714 We need unity in this country. 227 00:12:36,797 --> 00:12:39,133 Symbols are important. 228 00:12:39,884 --> 00:12:42,720 Americans who want to burn the American flag 229 00:12:42,803 --> 00:12:46,307 should consider moving to Iran, China, or Cuba, 230 00:12:46,390 --> 00:12:50,770 where burning the American flag is not only legal, but encouraged. 231 00:12:50,853 --> 00:12:54,148 We felt that here was this sort of dying empire 232 00:12:54,231 --> 00:12:56,817 that was desperately clutching at its symbols, 233 00:12:56,901 --> 00:12:59,028 trying to suppress free speech and dissent. 234 00:12:59,612 --> 00:13:01,697 The Monday after the law went into effect, 235 00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:05,493 Dread and three friends went to the steps of the US Capitol, 236 00:13:05,576 --> 00:13:08,454 took out flags and set them on fire. 237 00:13:09,121 --> 00:13:12,541 We were instantly arrested, and then it went to the Supreme Court. 238 00:13:12,625 --> 00:13:14,335 The potential is for causing a riot. 239 00:13:14,418 --> 00:13:17,880 Whenever somebody does something like this to the flag, people get mad. 240 00:13:17,963 --> 00:13:22,301 Justice Scalia, once people are compelled to respect a political symbol, 241 00:13:22,384 --> 00:13:26,055 their respect for the flag is quite meaningless. 242 00:13:26,138 --> 00:13:28,057 It was a landmark decision. 243 00:13:28,140 --> 00:13:30,976 Today, the US Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag... 244 00:13:31,060 --> 00:13:33,687 ...is a right protected by the First Amendment. 245 00:13:33,771 --> 00:13:37,191 ...constitutional right to free speech. The ruling was five to four. 246 00:13:37,274 --> 00:13:39,360 Flag burning is effective, 247 00:13:39,443 --> 00:13:42,321 in part because, regardless of what language people speak, 248 00:13:42,404 --> 00:13:45,115 whether they're in South Korea, whether they're in China, 249 00:13:45,199 --> 00:13:47,993 they can understand that this is political dissent. 250 00:13:50,037 --> 00:13:51,789 Since that law was overturned, 251 00:13:51,872 --> 00:13:55,793 the US flag has only become more omnipresent. 252 00:13:55,876 --> 00:13:58,921 In one survey, six in ten Americans said 253 00:13:59,004 --> 00:14:02,049 they displayed the flag either at home, at their office, 254 00:14:02,132 --> 00:14:03,884 or on their car. 255 00:14:03,968 --> 00:14:06,053 A culture of patriotism 256 00:14:06,136 --> 00:14:08,973 can be a shield of protection 257 00:14:09,056 --> 00:14:12,852 against a perceived or very real enemy. 258 00:14:22,403 --> 00:14:24,905 After 9/11, three things happened. 259 00:14:25,573 --> 00:14:26,991 People went to church, 260 00:14:27,658 --> 00:14:29,034 they gave blood, 261 00:14:29,118 --> 00:14:30,411 and they bought a flag. 262 00:14:31,036 --> 00:14:35,875 Walmart reportedly sold 116,000 flags on September 11th 263 00:14:35,958 --> 00:14:38,627 and 250,000 the next day, 264 00:14:38,711 --> 00:14:42,339 more than 20 times the amount sold on those days the year before. 265 00:14:42,965 --> 00:14:46,886 And George W. Bush and his aides donned flag pins. 266 00:14:46,969 --> 00:14:50,431 While our flag waving goes up after 9/11, 267 00:14:50,514 --> 00:14:52,725 the country might have taken actions 268 00:14:52,808 --> 00:14:55,686 that were contrary to the perceived values 269 00:14:55,769 --> 00:14:57,771 of what the flag represented. 270 00:14:58,689 --> 00:15:02,067 Hate crimes against Muslims spiked in 2001, 271 00:15:02,151 --> 00:15:04,570 16 times what it had been the year before. 272 00:15:05,154 --> 00:15:07,990 And a New Yorker cover from November of that year 273 00:15:08,073 --> 00:15:11,994 depicted a multitude of flags, as a kind of shield for minorities 274 00:15:12,077 --> 00:15:14,705 in a country that questioned their patriotism. 275 00:15:16,081 --> 00:15:19,335 Six years later, a junior senator from Illinois 276 00:15:19,418 --> 00:15:21,920 announced he was running for president. 277 00:15:22,004 --> 00:15:24,465 I stand before you today to announce 278 00:15:25,132 --> 00:15:28,177 -my candidacy for president... 279 00:15:28,260 --> 00:15:30,471 And he chose not to wear a flag pin. 280 00:15:30,554 --> 00:15:34,934 I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. 281 00:15:35,017 --> 00:15:37,478 Instead, I'm gonna try to tell the American people 282 00:15:37,561 --> 00:15:39,772 what I believe will make this country great. 283 00:15:39,855 --> 00:15:42,566 Hopefully, that will be a testimony to my patriotism. 284 00:15:42,650 --> 00:15:43,943 It didn't go over well. 285 00:15:44,026 --> 00:15:46,862 ...case in point, something of a controversy that has erupted 286 00:15:46,945 --> 00:15:48,864 involving Democratic Senator Barack Obama. 287 00:15:48,948 --> 00:15:53,410 Everybody wears them, from a mayor, to members of Congress, to the president. 288 00:15:53,494 --> 00:15:56,330 It's curious that there's a guy that doesn't want to do it. 289 00:15:56,413 --> 00:15:59,667 I don’t understand liberal logic. They just hate the flag. 290 00:16:00,334 --> 00:16:03,671 After the backlash, Obama started wearing a flag pin. 291 00:16:05,047 --> 00:16:09,134 And then America elected a president who had no issue embracing the flag. 292 00:16:09,885 --> 00:16:11,679 -Do we love our American flag? 293 00:16:11,762 --> 00:16:14,390 We believe that children should be taught 294 00:16:14,473 --> 00:16:18,811 to always respect our great American flag. 295 00:16:18,894 --> 00:16:21,021 If you burn the American flag, 296 00:16:21,105 --> 00:16:23,399 you go to jail for one year. 297 00:16:23,482 --> 00:16:24,608 One year. 298 00:16:25,901 --> 00:16:29,905 Trump rallied millions around a vision of America that was under attack. 299 00:16:29,988 --> 00:16:31,115 From the outside... 300 00:16:31,198 --> 00:16:32,199 Build that wall! 301 00:16:32,282 --> 00:16:33,367 ...and within. 302 00:16:33,450 --> 00:16:35,911 Our nation has been gripped 303 00:16:35,995 --> 00:16:37,913 by professional anarchists, 304 00:16:37,997 --> 00:16:41,583 arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, Antifa. 305 00:16:41,667 --> 00:16:44,878 Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! 306 00:16:44,962 --> 00:16:48,007 Which inspired some of them to wave other flags. 307 00:16:49,591 --> 00:16:51,802 In January 2021, 308 00:16:51,885 --> 00:16:54,388 rioters stormed the US Capitol, 309 00:16:54,471 --> 00:16:56,515 and flags were everywhere. 310 00:16:57,099 --> 00:17:01,103 There were a lot of Trump flags and right-wing militia flags. 311 00:17:01,186 --> 00:17:02,730 The flag of Kekistan, 312 00:17:02,813 --> 00:17:05,983 a made-up alt-right country based on a Nazi war flag. 313 00:17:06,567 --> 00:17:10,738 And these yellow flags that were a protest symbol from the American Revolution. 314 00:17:11,321 --> 00:17:14,366 And Confederate flags, which represent the southern slave states 315 00:17:14,450 --> 00:17:16,577 that tried to secede in the Civil War. 316 00:17:17,619 --> 00:17:20,497 But this actually wasn't the flag of the Confederacy. 317 00:17:21,123 --> 00:17:22,040 This was. 318 00:17:22,708 --> 00:17:25,461 This was just the battle flag of the North Virginia Army, 319 00:17:26,003 --> 00:17:27,963 but it emerged as a prominent symbol 320 00:17:28,047 --> 00:17:32,009 during the civil rights movement by segregationists, the KKK, 321 00:17:32,092 --> 00:17:35,721 and even some states, which claimed it represented southern heritage. 322 00:17:36,805 --> 00:17:39,683 But its continued use by white supremacists 323 00:17:39,767 --> 00:17:43,520 has prompted organizations to ban them and states to take them down. 324 00:17:47,941 --> 00:17:51,945 Then there were rioters that waved another, newer flag. 325 00:17:52,029 --> 00:17:54,615 The symbol of a thin blue line 326 00:17:54,698 --> 00:17:57,659 traces back to the Crimean War in the 19th century. 327 00:17:58,243 --> 00:18:02,956 It started with the red line of British soldiers 328 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,125 going out to fight the enemy. 329 00:18:05,209 --> 00:18:07,961 By the 1920s, police forces in America 330 00:18:08,045 --> 00:18:11,131 had adapted the phrase to the color of their uniforms 331 00:18:11,215 --> 00:18:12,966 and they eventually made it an emblem. 332 00:18:14,092 --> 00:18:16,845 The blue line that's separating the black halves. 333 00:18:17,429 --> 00:18:20,390 The significance is it's supposed to protect people. 334 00:18:20,474 --> 00:18:24,019 If you took those officers off the front line, there'd be complete chaos. 335 00:18:24,686 --> 00:18:27,564 But outside police forces, this emblem wasn't well-known. 336 00:18:27,648 --> 00:18:30,567 Our streets! Our streets! 337 00:18:30,651 --> 00:18:32,653 -What do we want? -Justice! 338 00:18:33,278 --> 00:18:36,448 In 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement began. 339 00:18:36,990 --> 00:18:40,494 We had the incident with Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, 340 00:18:40,577 --> 00:18:43,080 Eric Garner. Just one after the other. 341 00:18:43,163 --> 00:18:45,332 Let's have a moment of silence... 342 00:18:45,415 --> 00:18:47,459 I think officers were sick and tired 343 00:18:47,543 --> 00:18:50,045 of every day being on the front page of the paper or the news, 344 00:18:50,129 --> 00:18:52,548 being told that they were the worst things ever. 345 00:18:53,132 --> 00:18:56,510 And in 2014, officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were killed. 346 00:18:57,219 --> 00:19:01,890 That is the motivation of why we created Blue Lives Matter NYC. 347 00:19:01,974 --> 00:19:03,892 And a new symbol emerged. 348 00:19:03,976 --> 00:19:07,563 The thin blue line combined with an American flag. 349 00:19:07,646 --> 00:19:09,731 To me, the blue line American flag 350 00:19:09,815 --> 00:19:13,402 gives you a reason to remember why you put that uniform on every day. 351 00:19:14,444 --> 00:19:17,739 But some people embrace that flag for different reasons. 352 00:19:18,407 --> 00:19:22,119 In 2017, far-right extremists were planning a rally 353 00:19:22,828 --> 00:19:25,747 and they had a chat room dedicated to what flags they would wave. 354 00:19:26,540 --> 00:19:29,251 One person proposed the thin blue line flag, 355 00:19:29,334 --> 00:19:31,128 and another agreed. 356 00:19:31,211 --> 00:19:34,214 "No one can claim they're unpatriotic," he wrote. 357 00:19:34,298 --> 00:19:37,342 "Not to mention I can put one outside my house or on my bumper 358 00:19:37,426 --> 00:19:39,678 without being investigated for a hate crime." 359 00:19:40,888 --> 00:19:44,057 That August, when they took to the streets in Charlottesville, 360 00:19:44,141 --> 00:19:45,934 the images shocked the country. 361 00:19:46,018 --> 00:19:48,687 Jews will not replace us! 362 00:19:48,770 --> 00:19:51,440 To see white supremacists using a blue line flag 363 00:19:51,523 --> 00:19:53,150 is a complete misuse, a disgrace. 364 00:19:53,233 --> 00:19:56,945 It's meant to be something that reminds you of someone that was killed, 365 00:19:57,029 --> 00:20:00,616 not something's that gonna go out there and cause people harm or damage. 366 00:20:00,699 --> 00:20:02,951 It is the furthest thing from being racist. 367 00:20:04,453 --> 00:20:06,496 But that's not how everyone saw it. 368 00:20:07,372 --> 00:20:10,042 I'm one of the only kids of color at my school. 369 00:20:10,834 --> 00:20:13,587 The flag being at my school represented, to me, at least, 370 00:20:13,670 --> 00:20:17,633 that people didn't care about the lives lost at the hands of police. 371 00:20:18,216 --> 00:20:20,385 That made me feel just scared. 372 00:20:20,469 --> 00:20:22,846 It made me feel uncomfortable. 373 00:20:22,930 --> 00:20:24,890 I didn't want to go to school. 374 00:20:25,515 --> 00:20:28,602 Schools across the country have banned the thin blue line flag, 375 00:20:28,685 --> 00:20:31,313 including Maxwell's school in Upstate New York. 376 00:20:31,396 --> 00:20:33,607 Students are seeing the symbol as, quote, 377 00:20:33,690 --> 00:20:35,025 "threatening by nature." 378 00:20:35,525 --> 00:20:38,904 The superintendent believes the thin blue line is political. 379 00:20:38,987 --> 00:20:41,823 What happened afterwards was that the community 380 00:20:41,907 --> 00:20:45,786 just overnight started putting up Blue Lives Matter flags. 381 00:20:45,869 --> 00:20:49,331 They were putting it on their lawns, in their store windows. 382 00:20:49,414 --> 00:20:50,832 It was shocking. 383 00:20:50,916 --> 00:20:53,001 It was right next to the store. 384 00:20:53,085 --> 00:20:57,047 I just thought I wouldn't go to that place anymore. I'd... 385 00:20:58,465 --> 00:20:59,675 I'm sorry. 386 00:21:00,842 --> 00:21:02,844 This is heartbreaking for me. 387 00:21:03,595 --> 00:21:04,930 It really is. 388 00:21:06,056 --> 00:21:09,351 We support fallen officers, we support our police. 389 00:21:09,434 --> 00:21:12,688 But I have heard this my entire life. 390 00:21:12,771 --> 00:21:14,856 "Oh, the Confederate flag doesn't mean that." 391 00:21:14,940 --> 00:21:17,234 "Oh, separate schools are okay." 392 00:21:17,734 --> 00:21:19,152 Racism isn't dying out. 393 00:21:19,236 --> 00:21:21,571 It's just adapting in the current day. 394 00:21:21,655 --> 00:21:23,907 With something like a flag, 395 00:21:23,991 --> 00:21:26,994 people don't think about multilevel meaning. 396 00:21:27,077 --> 00:21:29,663 They say, "It means what I think it means." 397 00:21:29,746 --> 00:21:31,957 We should think about flags 398 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,876 for how they trigger reactions in people. 399 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:39,881 Flags are a barometer of where we are as a society. 400 00:21:40,465 --> 00:21:45,303 When our nation's fundamentals of democracy are being attacked, 401 00:21:45,387 --> 00:21:48,098 people do stand behind their symbols. 402 00:21:49,016 --> 00:21:51,059 What's surprising is finding out 403 00:21:51,143 --> 00:21:54,104 which symbols exactly people are standing behind. 404 00:21:54,855 --> 00:21:58,150 In South Africa, many might say the same thing. 405 00:21:58,692 --> 00:22:01,028 There was a demonstration 406 00:22:01,111 --> 00:22:04,990 by predominantly white right-wing movements 407 00:22:05,073 --> 00:22:08,327 where the old flag was shown. 408 00:22:08,410 --> 00:22:13,165 Sparking a national debate and, in 2019, a historic court case. 409 00:22:13,248 --> 00:22:16,877 The Nelson Mandela Foundation has asked a court to ban it, 410 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:20,005 saying it represents hate and racial discrimination. 411 00:22:20,088 --> 00:22:21,798 It's too much of a stretch to argue 412 00:22:21,882 --> 00:22:24,301 that it amounts to hate speech to display the flag. 413 00:22:24,384 --> 00:22:25,802 But ultimately, 414 00:22:25,886 --> 00:22:28,221 Judge Mojapelo’s decision was clear. 415 00:22:28,305 --> 00:22:33,685 Any display of the old flag constitutes hate speech 416 00:22:33,769 --> 00:22:38,065 in terms of section 10 of the Equality Act. 417 00:22:38,148 --> 00:22:43,236 Our children can sit in the museum, they can study, they can look at it. 418 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,907 But it does not have to be flown in the face 419 00:22:46,990 --> 00:22:49,368 of those to whom it is hurtful. 420 00:22:52,287 --> 00:22:55,707 Flags are not cloths which are silent. 421 00:22:55,791 --> 00:22:58,335 It reflects our values. 422 00:22:58,418 --> 00:23:01,505 It reflects our aspirations. 423 00:23:01,588 --> 00:23:06,468 Back in 1995, South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup. 424 00:23:06,551 --> 00:23:08,470 It was the first major sporting event 425 00:23:08,553 --> 00:23:11,264 held in the country since the end of apartheid. 426 00:23:12,432 --> 00:23:15,811 And in a stunning turn, South Africa won. 427 00:23:18,021 --> 00:23:21,566 Even the commentators recognized it was more than a game. 428 00:23:21,650 --> 00:23:24,945 A wonderful moment for the whole of South Africa. 429 00:23:25,779 --> 00:23:28,782 Nelson Mandela is cheering along. 430 00:23:29,658 --> 00:23:31,034 A sea of flags. 431 00:23:31,118 --> 00:23:35,288 Embracing a predominantly white team, 432 00:23:35,372 --> 00:23:40,502 Nelson Mandela walked onto that pitch to say under this flag, 433 00:23:40,585 --> 00:23:42,462 we can all feel united. 434 00:23:43,213 --> 00:23:48,343 And be as inclusive as the flag calls upon us to be. 435 00:23:50,679 --> 00:23:53,056 The flag is a blank projecting screen, 436 00:23:53,140 --> 00:23:55,308 onto which everybody can project 437 00:23:55,392 --> 00:23:58,437 their own ideals, their hopes, and their fears. 438 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,397 Who owns patriotism? 439 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,983 Who speaks for the nation? 440 00:24:03,066 --> 00:24:08,280 Who defines our identity and what do we identify with? 441 00:24:08,363 --> 00:24:10,073 Whose streets? Our streets! 442 00:24:10,157 --> 00:24:14,536 We did not overnight become an equal society. 443 00:24:15,579 --> 00:24:19,457 We developed to what the flags represent.