Old Sign of the Cross

Had I been alone, I likely would have walked over to have a little chat about what that flag really represents—and no, it's not heritage. It's hate. And if you don't get that after the killings at the church in Charleston, you likely never will. But my wife has forbidden me from confronting assholes while I'm with the kids. So I fumed silently and got in the car. Then I saw you and your Silverado truck coming from the opposite way, with the median safely separating us. So I did what anyone would do: I rolled down the window and flipped you off with a hearty “Fuck you!”

“Dada! Why did you say that?” my son asked, recognizing the forbidden word. So we talked about what it would feel like to be owned because we're different, how Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. and many, many brave people fought and died to fix that. Except people still fly flags of hate wishing this hadn't happened. Just as I was finishing my impromptu history lesson, we passed a real-estate sign emblazoned with the red, white and blue. “That's our flag, right, Dada?” Yes, that's the one, son, and thanks, OC redneck, for helping me explain to the boy why you're a coward, traitor and asshole for flying that other hateful rag.

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