From King to Now: Non-Violence and the American Flag

Civil rights protesters march with the American flag from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

It's been a horrendous week. Our nation is on edge, and the president's recent comment that he "couldn't care less" about uniting America is deeply troubling.

America needs a peaceful path forward as we debate democracy’s future, and history shows us this is possible. In the 1960s, civil rights activists inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. chose non-violence, a tactic that one won significant society changing victories. A lesser-known part of their strategy was embracing the American flag—a powerful act that sometimes, paradoxically, led to its rejection by others.

As the Smithsonian notes, during that deeply divided decade, “the flag became a contested symbol of pride and protest in struggles over civil rights, foreign policy, and cultural values." Civil rights activists displayed the flag to pressure the nation to live up to its ideals, while segregationists responded by hoisting Confederate flags. Both sides of the Vietnam War debate also used the flag to express their views. The tumult of the 1960s shows just how many different ways Americans viewed the flag.

Today, America’s political center and left are ambivalent about the flag as a symbol of their values. Many avoid attachment to it, but like the civil rights leaders of the 1960s, we should now reclaim the flag and re-establish it as a symbol of our righteous causes —a symbol for those seeking to build a more just and equitable future. If we don't, the flag will remain a symbol defined by those now in power —those with less noble intentions."

We are fighting a war for hearts and minds and, ultimately, for the soul of our nation. Martin Luther King showed us that sometimes, symbols speak louder than words.