What Would Abbie Hoffman Have Thought Of The Flag Lapel Pin Debate?

Tag : Embroidered Napkin

I'd like to address, in as patriotic spirit as can be mustered, thewearing of United States flag lapel pins, and the inherentsilliness this debate represents. Flag lapel pins are all the ragethese days, but the battle over wearing the flag is older than youmay have thought. Older than the battles in Congress overflag-desecration amendments to the Constitution.
In 1968, in the fading years of one of the most un-Americanchapters in our entire history, the "House Un-American ActivitiesCommittee" still existed. This committee wasset up to root out "un-American"activities ... which started out as "communism" but soon morphedinto "anything the right wing didn't approve of." It was in thislater incarnation that, in 1968, it was holding hearings on thoseunruly and upstart youngsters, the hippies.
These were not patchouli-reeking slackers (OK, well, maybe some ofthem were), these were the youth of America who were organized,seriously annoyed with the direction of a very unpopular war, andwanted to influence the political debate of the day. They formedtheir own "political party" in Chicago (at the Democratic NationalConvention), which they called the Youth International Party -- or,the "Yippies." At the forefront of this movement was the radicalleader Abbie Hoffman. And in 1968, he was called before HUAAC totestify on his activities. His testimony followed fellow YippieJerry Ruben, who had appeared in front of the committee dressed in(as Hoffman later described it): "Beret by IRA. Black pajamabottoms by Viet Cong. Bandoleers borrowed from the mountains ofMexico were crisscrossed across the bare sexy chest of a yippiewarrior -- his body slashed with lavish swatches of red paint."
Needless to say, political theater was very big, back in the day.Why don't we have committee hearings this entertaining today, onewonders ...
But the question remained, how could Abbie possibly top thisopening act? Again, in his own first-person account.
"In exactly two hours I'd do more for the flag than anyone sinceBetsy Ross. As our star-spangled retinue approached the hallowedhalls of Congress, a detachment of police summoned to the scenequickly encircled us. 'You are under arrest for the desecration ofthe flag. Come with us.' ... Instantly the steps became a swarm ofcameramen, cops, and screaming yippies. ... I fought for life andshirt, swinging wildly. Rrrrrrrrrip! 'You pigs, you ripped myfuckin' shirt,' I screamed ... The next day I stood before thejudge, bare to the waist. The tattered shirt lay on theprosecutor's table in a box marked Exhibit A. 'You owe me fourteenninety-five for that shirt,' I mentioned. Bail was set at threethousand dollars. 'Get out of here with that Viet Cong flag. Howdare you?' the judge intoned. 'Cuban, your honor,' I corrected[Hoffman had painted a Cuban flag on his body]. A few months laterthis same judge started letting his hair grow long, called for thelegalization of marijuana, and began speaking out against the war."
When the trial was held, under a brand-new section of U.S. law(Abbie claims he was the first person tried under the statute,which carried a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000fine), the judge, whom Abbie reports "deemed it his duty to find meguilty," allowed him to make a statement. Big mistake, for anyonewho knows Abbie Hoffman. Hoffman's response was: "Your honor, Iregret that I have but one shirt to give for my country."
The case, of course, was later overturned on appeal (since it wasblatantly unconstitutional to begin with), and Abbie never had toserve the month-long sentence handed down. Abbie reports further:"By the time we had [won the appeal], over three dozen people hadalready been arrested for similar offenses. A vest in Virginia. Abedspread in Iowa. All with the familiar flag motif. In arguing forthe government in defense of the law, Nixon's prosecutor stated,'The importance of a flag in developing a sense of loyalty to anational entity has been the subject of numerous essays.' The firstessay the U.S. government quoted was a lengthy passage from Mein Kampf , by history's most famous housepainter, Adolf Hitler."