Why I won't be flying an American, or English flag in 2022

I enjoy history, and I know my own genealogy, and recently I added two flags to the back of my trike, one for Scotland, and one for Italy. Of course I'm a proud American, and genealogically I'm more English than anything else, but I won't be flying those flags right now. I'll see if I can explain. 

First of all, it's March of 2022, I'm in Arizona, and flying the American flag for the past few years has become associated with people who are on the extreme right. I'm at neither extreme, and I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I was (yes, I care what people think, imagine that!). I'm not in a category of people that the right wing hate, such as foreigners, alternate lifestyle people (if you know what I mean, and I think you do), people of color, etc., but I still support them, and I would never want these people to think for an instant that I don't. Mine is a world of inclusion, and all are welcome.

As for the English flag, that gets a bit more complicated. At first I was going to fly a Union Jack, but since I'm displaying my heritage, and it includes the flag of Ireland (along with Scotland, which I already had) I did some research on the English flag, which is simply a red cross on a white background. And, if you know your history, you know that for hundreds of years that flag has been a symbol of oppression to the people of Ireland. I'm just decorating the trike, and showing my heritage, I have no intention of waving it in the face of people that England has been cruel to. I have Irish friends!

So I'm sticking with Scotland (my family were lowlanders), Italy (my family were from Southern Italy), and the logo for the Phoenix Rising football club (I'm not a soccer fan but I like the logo, and my dog is named Phoenix).

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