In March of 2017, American flags were conspicuous at the funeral of twenty-six year old Anthony Hill. There was a large one at the entrance to the cemetery; Another on a staff next to his grave, and there was the special one draped over his coffin, which was eventually ceremoniously folded and placed in his mother's lap.
Anthony Hill was an Air Force combat veteran who proudly served his country in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. He was killed outside his home in Georgia by an official agent of the government; A police officer, who was so frightened by Anthony that he shot him.
Anthony was a hero and a veteran who fought for the rights embodied in the US Constitution, rights that are represented by the American flag, including the right of any American to protest any actions of the government.
Anthony had no weapon. In fact, he held nothing and he hid nothing. He was stark naked as a result of an adverse mental reaction to the medication he took for his PTSD. The agent of the government had a taser, and other options available to deal with Anthony, but chose instead to shoot the Air Force veteran dead.
How can a constitutionally protected activity protesting the killing of this veteran, (and other innocent American citizens), and done in hope of preventing the killing of the next "Anthony" by an agent of the government, be construed as an anti-veteran act? An anti military act? An anti- American act? And what is the real difference between the unnecessary killing of Anthony and any other American?
Flags are often used as props. Were Trump's "good people" parading behind Nazi flags in Charlotte doing so in honor of Nazi veterans and the Nazi war dead? Of course not.
Did Donald Trump use the American flag as a prop and excuse to work the crowd at an Alabama political rally in support of a known pedophile, to divide Americans and to control another news cycle? Of course he did.
Every American should "take a knee" for Anthony Hill and support what veterans fought for; The RIGHTS that our flag actually represents, not what some politicians say it represents.
Using the flag as a prop to bash the Americans we don't agree with, is the real disrespect to all the great veterans who fought and died for what the American flag represents.