Barbara Kingsolver wrote many essays in response to the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. This particular
essay deals with Kingsolver’s feelings about the American flag.
Kingsolver feels that the American flag as a symbol is being misused to exclude people who do not want our country to be fighting in wars halfway across the globe. As a peace-loving liberal, the American flag belongs just as much to her as anyone else. The flag should be a symbol of freedom, and to some that means the flag is a symbol of wars we fight in the name of spreading freedom to those living under oppressive governments. To Kingsolver, the freedoms that the flag symbolizes are First Amendment rights. Under our symbolic flag, Kingsolver has the right to speak out against the war and to respect
peaceful Muslims. Kingsolver feels that those who advocate for war are taking the symbol of the flag away from those who would rather find peaceful
solutions.
Kingsolver cannot see the logic in the war against Afghanistan, nor could she see the logic behind the first Gulf War. If we are so willing to fight for Kuwaiti and Afghani freedom, why have we also fought to overthrow democratic Latin American governments? Furthermore, why do we pick and choose whose freedom we fight for? Why have we not overthrown the Saudi government, famous for brutally oppressing women? Although we truly have fought wars for liberty such as the Civil War and World War II, she is skeptical that the current war in Afghanistan is really being waged in the name of freedom. To her, those that use the American flag as a symbol of these wars might as well use the American flag as the symbol of oil companies.
Because our flag is also the symbol of the American Revolution, the flag’s mythology is wrapped up in war. Even our national anthem praises the flag that flew through a raging battle scene. Why is the flag not considered the emblem of peaceful solutions like Dr. King’s nonviolence movement or Vietnam protests, too? Under the Constitution, these peaceful solutions to problems all embody American values and freedoms.
As an American who loves the flag and the freedom it stands for, Kingsolver feels it is her duty to protest its hijacking by the right-wing. In the name of famous liberal reformers, she boldly reclaims her share of the flag.