"We had a Black Lives Matter rally in our town and there were a lot of people driving by with American flags on the back of their pickup trucks as a counter-protest," said Ben Eagleson, a car mechanic who lives in Olney, Ill. flag has been weaponized, deliberately redefined as a more conservative symbol owned by some Americans more than others. We heard a lot from people who shared this worry the U.S. "It was almost like, is it now like what the Confederate flag felt like for my parents? And I was like no, I'm not going to feel that way every time I see an American flag."
"It was like a pit in my stomach," she said.
"It was pretty disheartening for a little while, with the way our people we're being treated," he said, explaining their decision to pull down the flag.Ĭode Switch The Code Switch Podcast, Episode 7: You're A Grand Old Flagĭenise Lopez, an artist and designer, said for her the decision to reclaim the flag felt like part of that struggle. Kevin has Mexican and Irish heritage, his wife Denise is Black. This summer, Lopez said, events like George Floyd's death in police custody shook their family. "With all the protests and the Black Lives Matter stuff happening, we took the flag down for a little bit," said Kevin Lopez, who works for Microsoft in San Pedro, Calif.
They told us the American flag comes with baggage that can't be ignored. to an ideal is unfair."īut many of the roughly 1,800 people who responded to NPR's call out, especially people of color and those who lean more liberal, said it's not that simple. Like Hurley, she voiced impatience with people who see the flag as a symbol burdened by racism: "The United States is still pretty much the most equal place you could have for people of different backgrounds. flag down for a time but after a family discussion put it up again outside their home. Jerich’s lawyer, Robert Pasch, has not replied to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.Denise and Kevin Lopez took their U.S. “It will be interesting to see what the ultimate punishment is.” “I went in there prepared to be disappointed and I came out impressed,” Hoch said in an interview with the New York Times about the hearing. While these were not the outcomes that Hoch initially sought, he told reporters outside the courtroom that he was pleased to see the case being taken seriously and recognized the essay assignment as “a learning opportunity for the defendant.”
Trump following the dedication ceremony for the mural that summer, at which other participants called for its destruction.Īpparently searching for restorative rather than punitive solutions, Judge Suskauer suggested Jerich may visit and clean the site weekly, accompanied by his father, as a reminder of his actions. In addition to defacing the artwork, Jerich was identified at a birthday rally for former President Donald J. Hoch was pressing for a one-year jail sentence for Jerich and said his actions were “clearly a hate crime,” telling the judge that LGBTQ+ groups “don’t want the defendant anywhere near our organization or our missions.” He also asked that Jerich be banned for life from the Pride Intersection. But if Judge Suskauer was expecting a hostile or remorseless defendant, he found himself surprised.
Only three days later, after authorities traced Jerich’s license plate from cellphone footage, he turned himself in. Last year, Jerich admitted to vandalizing the “ Pride Intersection” mural, a giant Pride flag painted across an intersection in Delray Beach, by using his pickup truck to draw 15-food skid marks over the artwork. The essay will be due by Jerich’s final sentencing date in June. During a hearing last week, Judge Suskauer ordered him to write a 25-page essay about the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, in which a homicidally homophobic gunman killed 49 people at a gay club in Orlando. In a glimmer of hope for restorative justice, Judge Scott Suskauer of the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida issued an unconventional penalty in the case of 20-year-old Alexander Jerich, who pled guilty to defacing a beloved LGBTQ+ pride street mural in South Florida last year.
The “Pride Intersection” mural in Delray Beach, Florida (all images courtesy Rand Hoch)