- Toni Smith plays basketball for Manhattanville College
located in Purchase, N.Y., about 30 miles from NYC. Its mission is "to
educate students to become ethically and socially responsible leaders for
the global community." Smith, a senior sociology major, apparently
has taken the mission to heart.
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- Before each game this season, she has purposefully turned
away from the U.S. flag as the national anthem has been played. Smith never
expected her quiet act to cause a commotion, and for most of the season,
it went almost unnoticed. But, during a Manhattanville home game, a Vietnam
veteran ran onto the court and held an American flag in front of Smith's
face.
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- "She disgraced herself and she disgraced the flag,"
he told the Associated Press after he was ejected from the arena.
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- It can't be easy for Smith, being singled out this way
for her beliefs, yet she has not wavered in her silent protest. Her detractors
think she's anti-American, a common reaction to any protest involving the
flag. Smith, a New York City native, has so far refused to speak publicly
about the reasons for her protest. But she released a written statement
last weekend.
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- "For some time now, the inequalities that are embedded
into the American system have bothered me," she wrote. "As they
are becoming progressively worse and it is clear that the government's
priorities are not on bettering the quality of life for all of its people,
but rather on expanding its own power, I cannot, in good conscience, salute
the flag." The statement also mentioned the government's impending
war against Iraq.
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- Turning one's back on the flag during the playing of
the national anthem can be a very effective form of anti-war protest. It
is also a protest against the corporations who presently shape our governments
domestic and foreign policies. The original design of the American flag
was actually taken from the *ensign of the East India Tea Company (a corporation),
whose cargo of tea was dumped in Boston Harbor. Yes, the Boston Tea Party!
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- *See- http://www.fotw.ca/flags/gb-eic.html
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- The story of Betsy Ross meeting with George Washington
in 1776 is in fact not true. Most scholars agree that it was not Betsy
Ross who made the first flag, though she was a flagmaker who, records show,
was paid in 1777 by the Pennsylvania State Navy Board for making "ship's
colours."
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- So, the next time you hear the national anthem and it's
time for you to stand up and salute the flag, keep in mind that you are
primarily saluting a corporate logo and the policies of war mongering for
the private interests and benefit of the corrupt Bush administration. 'Flag
turning' can be a valid expression of patriotism. There comes a time when
you must pledge allegiance to your conscience and turn away from the flag.
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