Certain patriotic symbols that garnered controversy during the Trump administration seem so far to have received a free-pass from the Woke Brigade in the context of President Joe Biden’s Inauguration.
As the media cooed over Lady Gaga's rendition of our National Anthem on Wednesday, many pointed out the fact that the song, which has been a source of contention and object of protest over the last four years, went on without much controversy to speak of at all.
"The Star-Spangled Banner's racist lyrics kept it from becoming the national anthem for a century," is a headline that appeared in the Washington Post just months ago, in October 2020 -- although the article is now titled "The ugly reason ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ didn’t become our national anthem for a century."
Although the article itself describes a relevant history of our nation's National Anthem, its framing and original title reveal it as part of a larger left-wing effort to demonize many of our most commonly-held symbols of country.
Similarly, the Betsy Ross flag has been repeatedly characterized by the media as some sort of symbol of hate, even as recently as days before Biden's inauguration. The flag, however, was hung proudly at the recent inauguration, with little to no backlash.
In a video titled "Decoding the historical flags co-opted by Capitol rioters" published less than a week before the inauguration, The Washington Post explained the supposedly problematic implication behind the flag.
"The rioters that took part in the Capitol siege on Jan. 6 weren’t just expressing support for President Trump. Their flags symbolize their support for far-right causes, white supremacy and anti-government militias,” the Post reported.
One of the flags featured in the video was the Betsy Ross Flag, which the Post explained "has been co-opted by some white supremacist groups to idolize a time when women and people of color had no power."
The controversy over the flag seen in recent years was catalyzed in 2019 after Nike pulled sneakers featuring the flag from shelves at the behest of activist and Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Collin Kaepernick. Kaepernick reportedly told the major sports retailer it shouldn't use the image because it represented a point in American history that included slavery.
In 2019 the New York Times warned that “...the flag has, at least in recent years, cropped up in association with racist ideologies. When the Ku Klux Klan tried to recruit new followers in upstate New York last year, its fliers featured a Klansman flanked by the Confederate flag and the Betsy Ross flag,” adding that, “Similar imagery was reportedly included in a letter sent by the Klan to a college newspaper in Washington in 2017.”
Since that time, left-leaning media and academics have echoed the narrative that the Betsy Ross flag is somehow a symbol of racism, up to and including when it was spotted near the capitol on Jan. 6.
On Jan 14, ABC news included the flag in an article titled "The symbols of hate and far-right extremism on display in pro-Trump Capitol siege."
The irony of its prominence at the capitol during Biden's inauguration ceremony just two weeks later was not lost on all.
"Remember when they said the Betsy Ross flag was racist?" tweeted Turning Point USA contributor Jordan Rachel. "Now all of a sudden it’s not racist because Biden uses it...? I mean you cannot make this crap up."
"Like turning water into wine, the Betsy Ross flag, a symbol of racist oppression just yesterday, is suddenly good again," wrote one twitter user.
Some even went so far as to venerate the flag in the context of the inauguration. "The flag still flies, torn. When it comes to repairing the civic goods represented by that tattered flag, we’re Betsy Ross," read a USA Today piece titled "The Trumpocalypse is over, now let's clean up the mess."
