They say symbols are only as powerful as the meaning we give them. And if that’s true, then I’m heartbroken by what’s happened to the American flag.

I still get a lump in my throat when I see it waving in the breeze. Whether it’s on the front porch of a small-town house, raised high above a fire station, or folded with reverence into the hands of a grieving family, the American flag used to stand for all of us. Not some of us. Not just one side or another. But all of us. These days, though, “Old Glory” doesn’t feel so glorious to everyone. In fact, it’s become a litmus test for division, a battleground in a culture war that never seems to end.

Some see a banner of hope. Others see a symbol of oppression. Some wrap themselves in it to declare their version of patriotism. Others recoil from it, believing it’s been hijacked. And what hurts most is how often I hear younger folks, good-hearted, justice-minded people say they no longer feel like that flag represents them. That it’s been Politicized, Polarized, Weaponized.

And that’s a damn shame.

Because the truth is: the flag is ours. All of ours.

I’m proud to be an American. Let me say that again: I’m proud to be an American. But no, I’m not proud of many of our policies. I’m not proud of how we treat one another these days. I’m not proud of the way we pit neighbor against neighbor, how we’ve twisted empathy into weakness and turned disagreement into hatred. But that flag? It’s not to blame. It didn’t create the mess. We did.

I remember growing up, the Fourth of July meant something different. It wasn’t about red states or blue states. It was about sparklers and barbecue smoke, neighborhood parades, and an unspoken unity that we were all part of something big and messy and beautiful. We didn’t need to agree on everything. Hell, that’s the American way, disagreeing loudly and often. But back then, when we saw the flag, it reminded us we were still family.

Now? We’re estranged cousins at a funeral, fighting over the will.

What changed?

It’s not the fabric. It’s not the stars and stripes. It’s us. We’ve allowed our frustrations, some of them absolutely justified, to become excuses for division. We’ve allowed cable news, algorithm driven social media feeds, and toxic pundits to distort our symbols into slogans. We forgot that the flag is meant to unite, not divide.

It stands for ideals not perfection. It was never a claim that America had everything right. It was a promise that we were striving toward something better.

Frederick Douglass knew that. His 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” wasn’t a rejection of American ideals. It was a righteous call to live up to them. He called the Declaration of Independence a “glorious liberty document,” even as he condemned the hypocrisy of a slaveholding nation celebrating freedom. He wasn’t burning the flag, he was holding it up and saying, “Make this real.”

I understand the pain some associate with the flag. That pain is real. From slavery to segregation to surveillance, there are pages in our national story soaked in injustice. But I also believe we dishonor the work of those who fought to make this country better, from abolitionists and civil rights leaders to veterans and everyday Americans, when we throw away the very symbols they tried to redeem.

The late Senator John McCain said it best: “We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil.” The flag stands for those ideals. And while some may see it now as a symbol of nationalism or exclusion, I still see it as a symbol of possibility. The same flag that flew over Japanese internment camps also flew above the March on Washington. The same stars and stripes worn by Confederate descendants were also stitched onto the jackets of Black and Latino soldiers in every American war. The same flag that watched us fail also stood when we tried again.

Let me be clear: I don’t support burning the flag. Not because I want to silence anyone’s protest, but because to me, it’s like burning a love letter from someone who hurt you. Yes, the pain is there, but so is the possibility of reconciliation. In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning was protected speech. I support that right. But I also believe that defacing the flag doesn’t heal wounds, it deepens them.

In a 2023 Gallup poll, only 39% of Americans said they were “extremely proud” to be American, down from over 70% in the early 2000s. Among young adults, the number was even lower (Gallup, 2023). That doesn’t mean patriotism is dead. It means people are hungry for a version of America they can believe in again.

We won’t get there by shouting across party lines or treating one another like enemies. We won’t get there by letting politicians use our symbols like props or letting our outrage blind us to nuance. And we sure as hell won’t get there by deciding the flag is no longer worth fighting for.

Because when we give up on our symbols, we give up on the story. And the American story, while deeply flawed, isn’t finished.

So this Fourth of July, I’ll still be flying the flag. Not because I think everything is fine. Not because I’ve ignored injustice, pain or division, I write about them all the time. But because I still believe in the power of hope. I still believe that we can be better. I still believe that “we the people” means all of us.

And I believe that Old Glory, metaphorically frayed and battered though she may be, is still worth fighting for. Still worth standing under. Still capable of pulling us together, if we let her.

So here’s my challenge: let’s take the flag back from the noise. Let’s reclaim it from the rage and the slogans. Let’s make it a symbol not of who’s “right,” but of who matters, which is ALL of us. Rich or poor, rural or urban, Democrat or Republican, black or white or brown or anything in between.

Because at the end of the day, the flag isn’t about the government. It’s about the people. And if we remember that, really remember that, we just might find our way back to each other.

References :

• Gallup. (2023). American Pride Stays Flat but Divided by Party and Age.
• Pew Research Center. (2020). Americans See Broad Agreement on Democratic Principles, Divides on Policy.
• U.S. Supreme Court. (1989). Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397.
• McCain, John. (2018). Farewell Letter.
• Douglass, Frederick. (1852). What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
• U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). Demographic Profile Highlights.
• Library of Congress. (n.d.). History of the American Flag.