Yesterday, Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser hung 51-star flags along Pennsylvania Avenue to advocate for the district’s ascension as the newest state in the Union.
“Ahead of Flag Day, I directed our team to hang 51-star flags along Pennsylvania Avenue as a reminder to Congress and the nation that the 700,000 tax-paying American citizens living in Washington, DC demand to be recognized,” she wrote in a statement.
“On Flag Day, we celebrate American ideals, American history, and American liberty. But the very foundation of those ideals, and the basis for our liberty, is representation,” she continued.
Bowser goes on to call the government’s reluctance to give statehood to the district “a stain on American democracy” and implores the Senate to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which the House has already done.
Using Old Glory to make such a political statement is probably a violation of the United States flag code passed in 1947 and amended in various years thereafter.
In addition to the thirteen alternating-red-and-white stripes that represent the original 13 colonies, the code stipulates that “the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field” and that “on the admission of a new State into the Union one star shall be added to the union of the flag.”
The code also lists certain prohibitions on what people can and cannot do with the flag. “The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature,” it reads.
No matter how much Bowser may want it to be true, D.C. is not currently a state and, therefore, not deserving of a new star on the flag.
The code contains no enforcement mechanisms for its provisions and is generally thought to be voluntary and advisory, as punishing people for mistreating the flag is dubious under the First Amendment.
Still, while Bowser should not be prosecuted for this stunt, Washingtonians and Americans in general have a right to demand that their elected officials respect symbols of our nation. Using them for political statements on days that are meant to celebrate them is unhelpful to the country.
There are certain symbols that we need to treat as forces of unity that are off-limits for political statements, and the flag should be one of them. Bowser is not the only politician to pull this type of stunt, but it feeds into the political polarization of the public when the flag and the ideas it represents become a battleground for debate.
We can discuss the merits and demerits of giving statehood to Washington, D.C. without disrespecting the Stars and Stripes. If Bowser’s side wins out, and the district becomes a state, then we can add a new star. Until then, 50 is a good number.