Protestors who equated the American flag with the Confederate standard only made themselves look ridiculous. (Advance file photo)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Well, the flag burners have had their moment of free speech.
Now allow us to have ours.
Equating the American flag with the Confederate flag is moronic.
Burning the American flag to protest racism and police brutality is idiotic.
A group calling itself Disarm NYPD held a flag-burning protest in Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park on Wednesday night.
Bravo for them. They have a First Amendment right to free speech, including the burning of any flag they like. Even in the days leading up to the Fourth of July. I'll defend that right to the death.
Thankfully for them, the Constitutional protection extends to instances of ridiculous free speech as well. Supporting the group's First Amendment right doesn't mean we have to agree with it, after all.
The group burned a Confederate flag as well as Old Glory.
The Confederate flag has been in the news quite a bit these last two weeks, following the shooting massacre that took the lives of nine people at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Anger and grief over the massacre morphed into a debate over the Confederate flag, which had flown on the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse.
The flag is seen by many as a symbol of racism. Others say it represents Southern heritage and culture.
It's impossible to cleanse the flag of its association with slavery and secession and treason. But wherever you stand on the issue, the Confederate flag is not the same as the American flag to which we pledge allegiance.
That flag is a symbol of national unity. Never more so than when we celebrate our independence from tyranny. It's the flag that our soldiers have marched under for more than 200 years while helping secure freedom for people around the world.
Our allies in Europe were mighty glad to see that flag coming down the road after the carnage of two world wars, for instance.
And it was that flag that we mourned around, and rallied around, in the days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, as we buried our dead and looked to bring the terrorists responsible to justice.
How can we forget those days, when the whole world was on our side? When we as Americans were all on one side, when we really did see that there is so much that unites us, despite our differences?
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