The American experiment is fraught with contradictions, hypocrisy, and difficult choices. On this Flag Day, June 14, our nation teeters without leadership on the precipice of four calamities:

• George Floyd, the latest unarmed African American to be murdered by corrupt police officers, was laid to rest earlier this week. His horrible death has sparked worldwide protests against police brutality and racial discrimination.
• An uncontained pandemic has sickened 2.1 million Americans and killed more Americans in 4 months than died in World War I (over 116,500), exposing extreme deficiencies and inequalities in our current profit-driven healthcare system.
• In a desperate attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus, lockdowns have shattered the economy, leaving over 20 million Americans unemployed and swelling the ranks of the uninsured. Despite so-called stimulus packages passed by Congress, tens of millions of Americans face food insecurity, joblessness, and eviction/foreclosure.
• While millions of Americans are literally fighting for our lives and livelihoods, the corrupt Trump administration is using the social, physical, and economic chaos to further tighten immigration rules, loosen environmental regulations, and line the pockets of their corporate cronies.

So, how should we celebrate this Flag Day? How should we honor the symbol of our nationhood?

I propose we join together, take a knee in memory of the fallen, and raise our fists in defiance of the forces that would divide us and break our determination to make our country a more perfect union. Then, let’s stand up, stand together, and get to work.

Progressive Democrats of America has been standing up, standing together with allies across the nation, and doing the work of supporting progressive candidates and policies since 2004. Please help us continue to work for a more perfect union with liberty and justice for all. Your monthly gift of $6.14 sustains our work…for all of us.