In early August I wrote about an experience on the road between Boston and Rhode Island, an experience that I described to people as being in the midst of a Klu Klux Klan rally where no one wore a hood. You can read that post here if you like. And though I wrote that post about my experience, my feelings in that moment, I also thought about what were the children in the neighboring cars experiencing, children of any race, what questions were they asking their parents and how were their parents responding. I especially thought that when I saw a little brown boy staring at the pickup truck in the lane next to him flying its huge confederate flags.
the full moon obscured by a screen
I was surprised later to find so little commentary on local news and on the internet about that procession of thirty-plus vehicles in New England with their giant flags driving en masse along I-95. But I guess I was using the wrong search terms. I did not think to use the words: Make American Great Again Convoy, an event that took place July 30 and 31 in Foxboro, MA.
I remember writing that I chose not to photograph anything around me that day on the road. But I do realize that it is important to capture the words and images of such events so that they can be documented and remembered. Since I wrote my original post a video has surfaced. When I first saw the still shots and read the transcripts of what people were saying that day on their CBs, I almost shrugged. I wasn’t surprised and my feelings were justified.
Then I watched the video, listened to the words, and it made me want to cry. Not out of fear but out of sadness at what darkness remains in this world. As young white men laugh about lynching niggers from the nearby trees, using blacks as pinatas, I remembered the little brown boy staring into their trucks. And I thought of a young brown cousin who I’ve been told likes to chase Monarchs at his home in New York, and I thought of my young brown nephew who likes to plant gardens in his home in Virginia. They are too young to fear what has been because they don’t know that part of American history … yet. I thought of what these people must be teaching their children and I hoped that their children somehow would one day hold hands with children of all shades and know that they were the same.
It is almost too easy to blame Trump and yet I do not want to let him and his brethren off the hook for what they have allowed to re-surface, unchecked, in this country. He was the spark for their tinder. The video is 4minutes and 45 seconds. It’s hard to listen to, and in no way kid friendly but it should be reflected upon because the sentiments expressed in the video and in similar gatherings online and in person across this country are not going to disappear overnight or anytime soon. Maybe never.
However, somehow, there is always hope for better.
In 1880, Phillips Brooks, then the Rector of Trinity Church in Boston, delivered a sermon at Westminster Abbey in England. The sermon was titled The Candle of the Lord. It was July 4th that he spoke and for the occasion he added some text to the sermon where he asked the British congregation before him to pray for his young country:
“It is not for me to glorify to-night the country which I love with all my heart and soul. I may not ask your praise for anything admirable which the United States has been or done. But on my country’s birthday I may do something far more solemn and more worthy of the hour. I may ask you for your prayer in her behalf. That on the manifold and wondrous chance which God is giving her, – on her freedom (for she is free, since the old stain of slavery was washed out in blood); on her unconstrained religious life; on her passion for education, and her eager search for truth; on her jealous care for the poor man’s rights and opportunities; on her countless quiet homes where the future generations of her men are growing; on her manufactures and her commerce; on her wide gates open to the east and to the west; on her strange meetings of the races out of which a new race is slowly being born … “
One hundred thirty years later, I’d say we are a nation still being born.
Words + Images 
I also drove by that convoy–at first not knowing what it was. My son asked me why people were flying flags from their cars–at that point we’d only seen the American flags, not the Confederate flags. I told him that maybe it was a funeral. I was wrong–but the sentiment is fitting. A funeral procession for good sense, kindness, ethics, justice etc.
Then we saw the full convoy with the Confederate flags flying. I was surprised that the symbol had been embraced so completely by a certain demographic in New England. I thought the lovers of that flag were mostly found in the South. I guess I was wrong.
After I got home I also unsuccessfully searched the internet to for mention of that convoy–I only found out about the CB audio just now.
My son didn’t know what a confederate flag was, and I’m not sure he fully understands the symbolism. However, if you ask him now why he doesn’t like Donald Trump he’ll burst out with “He’s racist!!!” We’ve told him we don’t like the Donald for a whole variety of reasons, but those exclamation points are his own.
Since I have a child it behooves me to think of what I might tell someone flying that flag. I mean a thoughtful response. “I don’t like your flag,” seems tepid. Part of me thinks I’d just make a big “L” on my forehead and say nothing. But don’t those guys already know they are losers? That’s not the thoughtful response.
I might say is that: my father grew up in the South and defended his country in WWII, but he didn’t have a Confederate battle flag, so why do you need one? It’s true. Maybe too self-righteous, however, it does indirectly point to the fact (that I only learned tonight from an article on CNN) that the battle flags were resurrected in the 1960s as part of the backlash against the civil rights movement.
Following the convoy sightings I did read something online that many state fairs have asked vendors not to sell the flags or merchandise that displays them. This has also produced debate about the symbolism. Maybe that’s the best that can be hoped for at the present time.
Forgive this very long comment. It’s time to go think about something more cheerful for a while.
Thank you for this comment, Holladay.