Singer Macy Gray is calling for the American flag to be redesigned. The 53-year-old said the flag should “represent all Americans” in an op-ed titled “For Juneteenth, America needs a new flag that all of us can honor.”
The op-ed was published on MarketWatch on Thursday, ahead of the Juneteenth holiday. Gray says this country is overdue for a new American flag.
“The Confederate battle flag, which was crafted as a symbol of opposition to the abolishment of slavery, is just recently tired. We don’t see it much anymore. However, on the 6th, when the stormers rained on the nation’s most precious hut, waving Old Glory — the memo was received: the American flag is its replacement,” Gray wrote.
Gray goes on to address President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of Congress. She informs them that the American flag “has been hijacked” and is similar to the Confederate flag in which it is “tattered, dated, divisive and incorrect.” The singer argues the flag doesn’t represent the nation and no longer represents freedom or democracy.
The Grammy Award-winning singer criticized the color of the stripes on the American flag. According to the Smithsonian Institution, the white stripes embody purity and innocence. Gray says America is great and beautiful, however, “Pure it ain’t. It is broken and in pieces.”
Putting her money where her mouth is, the singer designed her own version of an updated American flag.
OPINION: "Sixty-two years later, in 2021, we have changed and it’s time for a reset, a transformation. One that represents all states and all of us," writes singer Macy Gray. https://t.co/VTezKfjxdr
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) June 18, 2021
“What if the stripes were OFF-white? What if there were 52 stars to include D.C. and Puerto Rico? What if the stars were the colors of ALL of us — your skin tone and mine — like the melanin scale? The blue square represents vigilance and perseverance, and the red stripes stand for valor. America is all of those things. So, what if those elements on the flag remained? What if the flag looked like this?” Gray wrote as a proposal for a new flag.
She then went on to educate readers on how the flag came to be and why it’s so outdated. In the op-ed, she stated, “In 1959, 17-year-old Bob Heft designed the current flag for a school project when there were only 48 states.”
At that time both Alaska and Hawaii were petitioning for statehood. Heft had a hunch that both states would get approved, so he created a new flag, the one that the U.S. uses today.
She argues that America has changed since 1959 and it’s time that the American flag reflects that transformation.
