The Voice of New Rochelle: Flag Fishing

I am tempted to say that New Rochelle’s cerebral mayor—Noam Bramson—“took the bait,” when he and the Democrats on the City Council voted to take down the Gadsden Flag from the roof of the Armory. But that would assume it was placed there to lure his honor into the political trap in which he is now ensnared. It would also presume that the members of the city’s Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Association consciously put it there for that purpose.

I don’t believe either is true.

It is true, I think, that the mayor made a political mistake that played into the hands of those who do not like him. More directly, most of the people I know who belong to the broader Save Our Armory effort loath Bramson, and must be joyous over his miscalculation. I can’t help but wonder if the mayor didn’t realize that the veterans had the cards on this one.

Yes, it is true that only the city has the right to say what flags go up on city buildings, and some council member who voted to take it down have said they did so to defend that principle. It is also true that the Gadsden flag has been co-opted by Tea Partiers and some extreme sub-groups of the movement. This has, at times, associated the flag with hatred and intolerance. But what the Veterans are saying about the flag is overridingly true. The banner is an icon of our nation’s heritage under which people, particularly marines and sailors, have fought and died. The Armory is a symbol of those traditions. Assuming there are no zoning or other code issues, the flag’s presence is, at worst, harmless, and at best, a symbol of American patriotism.

Now, before you make the mistake of jumping to a conclusion about this column, read on.

The people, whom I agree with in this case, who want to keep the flag up, are also the same people who publicly and privately trash the mayor every chance they get. Quite frankly, the comments, accusations and pure vitriol are hate-filled and toxic. It is downright frightening and not at all conducive to the “we are one nation strong together” sensibility espoused by the veterans. The mayor, it must be said with equal frankness, has not always suffered these attacks as well as he might. 

And so one wonders, did the mayor block a punch that wasn’t there? Was he so tired of the attacks that he fired back at a shadow? Or, did the mayor see his sworn enemies on the roof, trying to poke a finger in his eye, instead of the flag.  Wrong though I think he was, it is easy to see how these scenarios might have been the case.

I can’t help but wonder if this could not have been decided more peacefully and privately. It makes you wonder if the blood is so bad that the two sides can’t come together on such an obviously fixable issue. Both sides will have to ponder that.

When the smoke clears, Bramson will still have a 75 percent support level, and the Republicans will have put a little dent in his armor. Perhaps, also, the mayor will learn that sometimes your opponent does have the cards.

As for the Veterans, et al.: A word to the wise is in order. I hope you get the flag back. But your case may be hurt, as many good issues are, by the radicals who will now be energized by the debate. You will not be able to stop the letters, hate mail and God knows what other epithets will emerge when the “Fair and Balanced” Fox News people are done with the story. And you, too, however unfairly, might well be stained by it.

Couldn't somebody just pick up the phone?