Today, June 14, is Flag Day. Generally, I know the meaning of Flag Day, but I looked it up anyway and found more detailed information on the Almanac.com. Here are a couple of interesting tidbits:
- On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States of America.
- As a child, I learned Betsy Ross sewed the first flag. According to Almanac.com, there is “no true proof of this,” although she did sew pennants for the Philadelphia Navy, and some of those designs may have been incorporated.
- Now that I’m an Ohio resident, I found this the most interesting:
The current American flag was designed by a high school student from Lancaster, Ohio, named Bob G. Heft! Even though Bob’s history teacher gave him a “B-” for not knowing how many states the Union had, Bob submitted his design to the White House (unprompted) in anticipation of Hawaii and Alaska joining the Union. To his surprise, President Eisenhower called him! Today, it’s Bob Heft’s 1958 design—showing 50 stars in a field that included five rows of six stars and four rows of five stars—which is now our 50-star American flag (and his history teacher changed his grade to an “A”!)
As I mentioned in Part 1, listening to my granddaughter recite the Pledge made me think of all the times I’ve recited the words with little thought as to their meaning.
In this post, I’ll focus on what the words, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. . .”
Dictionary.com defines “allegiance” as:
Allegiance became provocative to me, following my research for The Red Kimono. Whereas I used to recite the word with little thought, now, I wonder about allegiance being a two-way street.
Have you heard of the Loyalty Questionnaire, a document Japanese Americans over the age of 17 were required to complete? (Most of these internees were American citizens.)
One particular question, #28, included the word “allegiance:”
This question was required to be answered by Japanese Americans, again, most of them citizens, who were already interned (imprisoned) as possible enemy aliens by their own country.
The Issei (first generation immigrants), were not allowed to become citizens due to provisions of the Naturalization Act of 1790, which restricted citizenship eligibility to “free white persons . . . of good character.” Yet, the Issei were being asked to “swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America,” and to “forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor . . .” Answering “Yes” to this question would leave the Issei without a country.
Shouldn’t true allegiance be reciprocal? Historically, allegiance only works when both sides uphold their part. Yet, there have been many instances throughout our history where allegiance has not been a two-way street. The internment of Japanese Americans is only one. A simple Google or AI search will provide you a list of many others.
I honor the flag and the country for which it stands. For me, part of honoring them both is remembering the the stain of our history as well as the glory. And it’s considering the meaning of each word of the Pledge of Allegiance.
