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Posted on 11/05/2001 1:22:01 PM PST by CometBaby
THE FLAG
Boulder library's 'neutrality' foolish Once again, Boulder has the opportunity to become the laughingstock of the country, only this time, it's not about something as mundane as prairie dogs or pet guardians. Marcellee Gralapp, art director at our public library, has determined that flying the American flag is a political statement and hence she will not allow the flag to be displayed in the library entrance.
With the exception of the outermost fringes of our political spectrum, the flag does not represent a political statement. Rather it shows love, honor and respect for our country — a country that, in case Ms. Gralapp hasn't noticed, is at war because thousands of our citizens, and those of other countries, were murdered and incinerated by evil people. If Ms. Gralapp is afraid of offending these evil people, too bad. She wants people to feel welcome when they come into the library. Since when has a flag made people feel unwelcome? Hey Marcellee, ever hear of Ellis Island? Do you think we should not have flown the flag there?
I urge our city government to reverse this ridiculous edict and allow the flag to be displayed. If Ms. Gralapp can not find a flag, I will donate the one that draped my father's coffin. I doubt he thought of the flag as a political statement as he was fighting to keep our country free. --LARKIN HOSMER, Boulder
Is flag display really 'political'?
It was heartwarming to read that our art director at the Boulder Public Library, Marcellee Gralapp, has turned down employee requests to hang a large flag from the glass entrance of the main branch (Local News, Oct. 28).
After all, we know that many of the terrorists have been using our library Internet system to plot their attacks, and we would not want to make them feel uncomfortable by making a bold political statement at the entry of our public libraries. As Gralapp astutely points out, a library's objectivity should not be compromised, and displaying the flag might suggest a bias for pride and respect for our country, rather than an objective openness to those who wish to destroy us.
PAIGE S. RODRIGUEZ, Louisville
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These letters raised some "issues" as shown in the November 3 article Further flurries in flap over flag
By Matt Sebastian, Camera Staff Writer. A flap over not flying flags at the Boulder Public Library reached a muted crescendo Friday as a group of self-proclaimed patriots draped the Stars and Stripes across the front entrance to the city building.
Inside, though, library officials — who recently nixed an American flag display as discomforting for some — were seemingly unaware of the small protest outside their glass and stone walls. Randy Smith, the library's assistant director, said he didn't know nine flags were taped up on the building's south entrance Friday afternoon. Nevertheless, Smith said he didn't object to Old Glory's presence.
"The wind will probably blow them away," he said. "I don't think I'll probably do anything." The brouhaha began last weekend when Marcellee Gralapp, the library's director, was quoted in a Daily Camera article saying she had rejected her employees' request to hang a large American flag in the building's glass entryway because it would "compromise our objectivity." "We have people of every faith and culture walking into this building, and we want everybody to feel welcome," Gralapp told the newspaper.
Her comments offended many people, some of whom called the Camera, while others phoned the library. The controversy was the topic of a heated discussion Friday on Mike Rosen's talk show on KOA (850 AM). But it was two letters to the editor in Friday's Camera that spurred Jonathan Sawyer and his co-workers at Boulder's Free Wave Technologies Inc. to take action. Sawyer said he was unaware of the flag clamor before he read the letters, which lampooned Gralapp for her position. After reading the paper, Sawyer and a half-dozen co-workers drove to McGuckin Hardware and purchased flags and tape.
"This is a government building and this is our country's flag," said Sawyer, the firm's chief technology officer. "For them to say this flag could be considered offensive, well, that's just beyond the pale." Besides, Sawyer added, "We paid Boulder sales tax when we bought these flags, and that supports the library."
Library employee Smith pointed out that there are flags at the facility — nine flags outside, between the library and the Boulder Municipal Building, and quite a few inside. "We think it's appropriate to have flags at a government building, and we always have," Smith said.
But a quick survey inside the library revealed no American flags on display, although a few were seen inside staff offices.
Outside, patrons paused before the flags, many asking why the banners were taped to the building. Most were supportive, although one couple engaged Sawyer in a spirited discussion about U.S. foreign policy and how they thought it sparked the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
"Hey, I think this is great," Dale Clinker said after emerging from the library. "I've even got a couple flag stickers in my pocket here." One library employee ventured outside to see what all the commotion was about. "I'm not offended by the American flag," he said.
Contact Matt Sebastian at (303) 473-1498 or sebastianm@thedailycamera.com.
General Boulder library e-mail: feedback@boulder.lib.co.us
Also
Anyone who lives here is not surprised by the lack of patriotism from this community. They are too busy hugging trees, spending their trust money, and minding other people's business to care about freedom and liberty!
Flag graffiti...works for me. Maybe we should start throwing harmless red, white, and blue confection at the anti-American types, like they throw paint at fur owners.
I wonder if it compromises her damn objectivity when she cashes her state/city payroll check?????????????? B@#ch! Go to Afghanistan lady - see how much objectivity you'll find there!
O say, can you see...
What is a flag? According to one well-known reference work, it's "a piece of cloth, usually with a picture or design on it, that stands for something."
Even that bloodless definition hints at the emotional heart of the matter: A flag, any flag, stands for something. If it's a national flag, it represents much more than the policies of the moment; to quote the same reference work, it stands for "the country's land, its people, its government and its ideals." If it's the American flag, it stands for everything that makes this country distinctive in the world, from its Constitution and Bill of Rights to its mountains and lakes.
If it's your country's flag — and if your country was attacked less than two months ago by terrorists hostile to its ideals and its way of life — the American flag may become, as it has for millions, a symbol of rediscovered national pride and loyalty. You fly the flag to proclaim allegiance to the nation's ideals, express solidarity with your fellow citizens and mourn the victims of terror.
Or you don't. This is a free country, where citizens have the right to express themselves by flying or declining to fly the American flag. But no one should make that decision based on false ideas about what the flag symbolizes, or under the illusion that displaying the flag is for most Americans a belligerent and provocative gesture.
Katha Pollitt, a columnist for The Nation magazine, provided a celebrated example in September. Her daughter — whose high school is only blocks from the World Trade Center — wanted to fly the flag out their window. Pollitt's response, as described in her column: "Definitely not, I say: The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance and war. She tells me I'm wrong — the flag means standing together and honoring the dead and saying No to terrorism."
Pollitt may or may not have been aware that she was losing an argument with her own daughter, but she acknowledged that "in a way, we're both right," and that the flag conveys "a wide range of meanings." She then reached a compromise. "I tell her she can buy a flag with her own money and fly it out her bedroom window, because that's hers, but the living room is off-limits." The exchange revealed more about the columnist than it did about the American flag.
It's hard to say whether Marcelee Gralapp, long-time director of the Boulder Public Library, shares the same misguided impressions about the flag. If she doesn't, her actions showed an excess of sensitivity to those who do. Gralapp turned down requests from employees to hang a large flag from the glass entrance of the main library branch, on the mystifying ground that "it could compromise our objectivity." Library employees were permitted to wear flag pins and ribbons, but the director advised them to do so "thoughtfully."
Gralapp's goal as she described it was to make the environment politically neutral to everyone who entered the building. Neutral about what? The democratic values most Americans see in the flag? The warlike values a few individuals read into the flag? The conflict between the United States and terrorism? Whatever she intended to convey, the decision not to display the flag was itself a political statement — a more ambiguous and questionable statement than the flag itself would have made.
A public library is both an institution and a symbol of free inquiry. For all its flaws, the United States embodies the spirit of freedom more thoroughly than any other nation on Earth. Displaying the American flag would have implied no endorsement of war and no criticism of any other culture; the flag would have expressed a love for this country and the values for which it stands. Surely the library is not neutral on those subjects. Nor should it be.
November 5, 2001
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Letters to the Editor
THE FLAG
Who's funding the library, anyway?
Boulder City Library Director Marcelee Gralapp has turned down employee requests to display an American flag inside the main library (Oct. 28). She said, "The idea is to make the environment of the library politically neutral." Whose idea is it that the library be politically neutral? The library is located in the United States. It is funded by local government and, in part, by the United States government. Even before Sept. 11, I would have expected to see a U.S. flag in the library.
Ms. Gralapp also advises, "We have people of every faith and culture walking into the building, and we want everybody to feel welcome." Funny, I've been in libraries, art galleries, and public buildings in many European countries and vividly recall their prominent flag displays. Never did I feel unwelcome. In fact I admired those beautiful displays. I get the feeling that it's Ms. Gralapp who feels uncomfortable about being near our flag, not the patrons.
Gralapp does allow employees to wear lapel flag pins and ribbons, if done so "thoughtfully." Well I "thoughtfully" thank her for that crumb. Ms.Gralapp also stated, "It (displaying our flag) could compromise our objectivity." Try this for a lesson in objectivity. Objectively and factually more than 5,000 Americans were killed recently in the single-largest loss of American lives in a single event in our history. Tens of millions of Americans want to honor those lost Americans by flying the flag. What is your problem with that?
City Manager Secrist and Council members, can this error in judgment please be corrected? ROGER SCHAEFER
I have HAD IT with "political neutrality"!!!! Where does this woman think we live...? On the Moon? Mars perhaps? Sheesh! Get a REAL opinion, lady!
Of course, as has been said, this is Boulder, Colorado...the place where I saw a guy last fall walking to class with nothing on but a blanket and his backpack...and NO ONE seemed a bit disturbed by the sight. (And no, there really wasn't anything of substance to look at.)
No, its Boulder, Colorado all right. Mostly they're just trying to get attention. Remember, it hasn't been about them since 9/11, and they must have been turning blue by now.
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