The Flags Are Flying High

PORT ORANGE, Fla.— There are a lot of American flags flying here. Looking at the demographics, I’m sure these flags symbolize a Donald Trump election win.

According to the 2024 American Community Survey, Port Orange, Fla., has a population of 67,045, and is 87.55 percent white. The city is 4.77 percent black or African American. So, there are many, many reasons for flag flying here.

My family members told me about the boisterous Election Day discussion a neighboring couple had in their yard, as they headed to the polls.

Apparently, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris split the household because at the end of their loud discussion, husband and wife each drove away in separate cars. When he returned, he raised the flag, and it’s been fluttering ever since.

Like many other self-appointed MAGA Republicans, I’m not sure he fully understands what he voted for. From my 70-plus years black female perspective, white have-nots are treated the same as blacks.

The median household income here in Port Orange is $65,026. While the average household may not depend on public assistance, this is definitely not considered high income.

So, while some of these have-nots are concentrating on their whiteness, the white powers-that-be have indelibly marked them as have-nots. And they will be treated as such.

The neighboring couple, like my family members, are both teachers. He teaches physical education; she teaches art. When the ultra right takes aim at education, both of them stand to lose their jobs. Physical education will most likely be the first to go because students “can play at recess.”

As with so many neighborhoods across the country, MAGA is all around here. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated another couple here because they attended the January 6 Insurrection.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was among the first to join the MAGA book-banning scheme. During the 2023 school year, my relative had more than 2,000 books in her classroom library. All the books had to be scanned, and after certain ones were removed — such as those that had to do with race and civil rights — the books were returned.

According to CBS News: “A 35-page list compiled by the Florida Department of Education outlines hundreds of books banned across the state's 73 school districts during the 2023-2024 academic year.

“The report lists the titles and authors of the books, and what grade levels the book was removed from, but does not detail why a book was discontinued. Under HB 1069, a 2023 law that bans Florida schools from having books that depict or describe "sexual conduct" or ‘is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used,’ library books can be removed in response to an objection raised by the parent of a student or a resident of the county where the district is located. Once a complaint is made, the books must be reviewed before they can be returned to the shelves or permanently removed.”

See the full list here: https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5574/urlt/2223ObjectionList.pdf

To date, major book publishers have sued the state of Florida over a law that allows schools to ban certain books from their student libraries, the British Broadcasting Company reported.

The lawsuit, filed August 29 by publishers including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, argues that Florida’s law violates First Amendment rights to free speech, the BBC reported:

“The suit names several books that have been removed from school libraries under the law, including works by renowned authors Maya Angelou and Ernest Hemingway.

“Florida officials responded to the lawsuit by calling it a ‘stunt,’ and have denied that the state has banned books.”

More information regarding this lawsuit can be see here: https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/press-releases/publishers-and-authors-guild-file-landmark-lawsuit-against-state-of-florida-for-unconstitutional-book-banning-provisions-with-house-bill-1069

The American Library Association maintains a website of Banned & Challenged Books. The site includes lists of banned books by authors year by year, and decade by decade. The lawsuit also includes the Authors Guild and several individual writers as plaintiffs. According to news and wire reports, the publishers say they:

·         Do not seek to prevent Florida school districts from ensuring that schools libraries do not contain obscene books.

·         Are not asking for the entire law to be overturned.

·         Argue that books that get removed from libraries as ‘pornographic’ while in practice, they ‘are not remotely obscene.

And if you are wondering why this should matter to Georgians or Alabamians, it’s because whenever something happens in one Republican-lead Southern state, during the next legislative session those same measures will be debated in similarly lead State Houses across the South.

But let’s get back to the flags waving in the breezes of Port Orange and other like-minded neighborhoods around the country. The flag-flyers “the Patriots” seem hellbent on displaying their love of country, that they have either forgotten, ignored or never known of the protocol associated with flying Old Glory.

I don’t fly the flag, but I come from a military family. I’m the widow of a U.S. Army retiree, but I have lived and witnessed the way “truth and justice” are dispensed in our country.

BUT I AM a patriot. And it ticks me off when I see those who wrap themselves in the flag or hoist it high as a sign of some personal victory, with no regard for the rules associated with the flying of the flag.

I Googled my information, so if you purchased a flag, you should be able to afford Internet. There are numerous rules regarding how to display the flag. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, so many of you apparently don’t have a clue.

Here’s something for starters:

·         The flag should not be subjected to weather damage, so it should not be displayed during rain, snow or windstorms unless it is an all-weather flag.

·         Dirty or damaged flags should not be displayed.

·         The flag should only be flown from sunrise to sunset, unless it is illuminated.