“However ought to outdated acquaintance be forgot, preserve your eye on the grand outdated flag.” George M. Cohan’s well-known verse reminds us {that a} flag can name a nation again to its core values in instances of misery. However, in a nation of immigrants, which flag and what values?
The vivid photos of protesters in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles brandishing the Mexican tricolor as an alternative of the Stars and Stripes have dominated information protection and commentary.
Critics have steered that the Mexican flag on this context reveals loyalty to a international nation reasonably than america. President Donald Trump and his allies have pounced on the chance to invoke the usage of the Mexican flag to malign the protests as un-American or outright hostile to this nation. Calling consideration to the flags, Vice President JD Vance insinuated that L.A. confronted an “invasion.” High White Home adviser Stephen Miller known as it an “occupation.”
Supporters of the protest motion’s objectives are divided over the symbolism of the Mexican flag. To some, displaying it’s an expression of ethnic satisfaction that’s absolutely suitable with Americanism and bonafide protest. To others, it belies the robust American identification and fast assimilation of the very immigrants the protests are supposed to defend and it casts an unpatriotic pall over the motion that harms the recognition of the protests and immigration.
Does the selection of flag at an immigration protest really carry any weight? Do photos of the Mexican flag provoke the backlash amongst atypical residents that we see amongst some conservative commentators? Would the Stars and Stripes put the protests in a extra “American” gentle and assist win public sympathy and assist?
Though voters are sometimes alleged to be dug in on immigration, the seemingly reply to all these questions is a powerful sure.
A long time of analysis present that the U.S. flag virtually universally elicits strongly optimistic emotions in Individuals from all backgrounds. Furthermore, the flag can sign immigrants’ want to turn out to be American and love of their adopted nation. American patriotism is pervasive amongst immigrants and their kids, and the overwhelming majority of Individuals imagine that love of nation is a crucial criterion for being “actually American.”
In 2010, we printed a examine that straight explored how the imagery of U.S. and international flags impacts public reactions to immigration protests. We have been motivated by immigrants’ rights protests that occurred all through April 2006, centered on Los Angeles however spreading to 102 U.S. cities. These additionally noticed their share of commentators who argued that protesters’ shows of Mexican flags would foster backlash and in the end do extra hurt than good.
To check this notion, we surveyed a consultant group of American adults and confirmed one random half protest imagery that highlighted Mexican flags and the opposite half footage of protesters waving the Stars and Stripes.
The outcomes have been robust and unambiguous: Most notably, a majority of respondents within the “Mexican flag” group (55%) have been “Bothered so much” by the protest, whereas solely 45% of these proven the U.S.-flag-dominated photos have been equally bothered. In brief, altering the symbolic affiliation from “international” to American can contribute considerably to turning a hostile public right into a supportive one.
A newer examine we carried out in 2018, throughout Trump’s first time period, underscores that regardless of all of the polarization of the previous decade, symbols of patriotism stay pivotal. We discovered that telling individuals a hypothetical immigrant had a U.S. flag, versus one from their nation of origin, in his residence elicited substantial emotions of shared identification and neighborhood. Notably, this impact was comparable no matter immigrants’ authorized standing. Immigrants who fly Previous Glory usually tend to be accepted by atypical residents as “considered one of us.”
Overseas flags absolutely have an necessary place in a nation of immigrants the place our distinct origins and traditions are celebrated. Most Individuals have respect for such pluralism and honor others’ distinct customs and backgrounds. However most additionally imagine that the value of immigration on this nation is to be judged basically by what individuals wish to turn out to be reasonably than the place they got here from. Protesters who intention to persuade most people to rally to immigrants’ protection ought to search to amplify this aspiration as an alternative of obscuring it. An image is price a thousand phrases.
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