While I’ve cringed at what sorts of maudlin or jingoistic claptrap the media and the government will be planning for the 11 September remembrances, the trogs over in Berserkley have been making their own memorial plans.
The “Star Spangled Banner” is too patriotic, divisive and political, so organizers of UC Berkeley’s day-long tribute to the victims and heroes of 9-11 are excluding it. “God Bless America” is doubly excluded. Not only is it patriotic, but it also mentions God, something else that is taboo next Wednesday.
The Sept. 11 Day of Remembrance, sponsored by the Chancellor’s office, the student body government and the Graduate Assembly, will also feature student leaders distributing white ribbons, instead of the red, white and blue ones they had originally planned.
“We thought that may be just too political, too patriotic,” said Hazel Wong, chief organizer for the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC). “We didn’t want anything too centered on nationalism-anything that is ‘Go U.S.A.'”
Yeah, why am I surprised about that?
The problem, suggests one activist, is that 11 September memorials quickly turn into political pep rallies for George W. Bush. That would isolate those who disagree with Administration policies, and so must be avoided. Never mind how the exclusion (if not condemnation) of any degree of patriotism isolates people, too. Those people, no doubt, deserve isolation.
Quindel, a self avowed hater of the American Flag, the federal government, and the “Star Spangled Banner,” said she is still patriotic. “It depends on your definition of patriotism. Everyone has a different definition,” she said.
Patriotic songs may exclude and offend people, Quindel said, “because there are so many people who don’t agree with the songs.” “God Bless America” is “very exclusive” because it mentions God, she said. Though plans call for four university music and song groups to perform at an evening vigil, not a single patriotic song will be sung, at the behest of organizers. Instead, songs of remembrance will be offered up.
Also, to prevent the exclusion of those who don’t believe in the American Flag, there will be no tribute to the flag. “The flag has become a symbol of U.S. aggression towards other countries. It seems hostile,” Quindel said.
(Dave wanders off, shaking head sadly, before he hits someone.)
Isn’t the quasi banning of the US flag a violation of the 1st Amendment. Would the organizers try to remove me if I carried a flag to their remembrance? I’d love to give it a try.
Good question. I suspect that they cannot stop someone from carrying an American flag (though I suspect as well that there are those in the audience who would be more than willing to act as private citizens and take it from you to burn it), but can they exclude it from the official, publicly sponsored (through the University) event? Well, they can simply not include it, which amounts to much the same thing.