Will the truth set us free? 

I am not spellbound by the fabrication of american flags. In fact, I’m suspicious of american flags and if you are traveling along Highway 285, when you reach Chaffee County you will see hundreds of red-white-and-blue flags, stretching for miles between Nathrop and Poncha Springs. For a few years now during my various drives to Denver, this scene has puzzled and fascinated my skeptic sight. I don’t know if it’s due to being more alert to these displays of nationalism, but this year it seems as if more flags have been posted along the road. It’s been weeks since my last drive through the area, and I’m still thinking about that scene: a relentless succession of flags, flailing in the air on a windy afternoon. There were patches of land where the flags were absent, but then just around the corner, they reappeared for another stretch of the drive. The next time I pass through the county, will this invasion of flags continue to grow? 

The display of flags in Chaffee County started in 2020 on a small portion of land, spearheaded and self-financed by a local family. The next year, a group called the Chaffee County Patriots expanded the project and has continued doing so into the present. In a time where the current administration is hollowing out public services while allowing vigilante immigration officers to brutalize and detain citizens, rolling out more patriotic flags along Highway 285 is quite a choice. As best I can tell, all explanations for the roadside flag project come down to promoting patriotism and expressing a love for country. But I won’t let words deceive us here. There’s always more at work behind the proselytizing of patriotism and it’s always unspoken, which is why I say I’m suspicious of american flags. I can’t help but wonder whose power those fabrications serve. 

I mean, there’s something about the american flag’s symbolism and its way of vaporizing critical thinking. To put it another way, the american flag has a way of razing the truth. No amount of flags can erase the historical reality of settlers violently stealing Indigenous land. But sometimes I wonder: if these historical injustices can be presented publicly and if all documented abuses of power today can be laid bare, will that change anything? I mean, will the truth really set us free? Or will it be buried beneath more american flags? 

Look, when I’m on that portion of Highway 285 and I see some of those flags getting mangled by the weather, I call it an act of god. The idea of holding allegiance to a nation-state is unreal to me. The rhetoric involved with flag-waving usually centers on statements about “defending your country,” which translates to upholding a system with genocide as its engine. More than before, the use of force involved in defending this system/broken country/unwell way of life means imposing violence and destruction on many communities. So I’m weary of those who love systems more than people. 

I’m sorry, but loyalty to a nation-state is too lifeless for my imagination. But I value what it means to love and belong to a place, and to protect the people who live in that part of the world closest to my heart. If you are like me and you can draw a heart around the southwest, then we must also name our enemies. Anyone who comes here to rip apart families and detain children in the name of upholding a failed system is my enemy, and I’m not sorry about that. 

Those flags will keep waving and perhaps the numbers will keep growing and I’ll always look into the rearview mirror wondering, how long will any of this last? And god if you’re nearby, just to let you know, I’m heading toward sunsets we don’t deserve and I’m still waiting for the truth to set us free, or is that just a child’s proverb we must outgrow? These days I find myself living in the question mark but I do need something to believe in because I’m only human. Before we part ways here, I should say that on my last drive through that region of 285, the wind turned one flag upside down and for a moment that act of god gave me something to believe in.