0:00:00.979,0:00:03.114
In 1989,

0:00:03.114,0:00:05.556
an artist by the name of Dread Scott,

0:00:05.556,0:00:07.626
who has also graced the TED stage,

0:00:07.626,0:00:10.645
created a piece of art in Chicago

0:00:10.645,0:00:14.298
where he simply placed[br]an American flag on the ground

0:00:14.298,0:00:18.292
and then invited you the viewer[br]to go and stand on that flag

0:00:18.292,0:00:21.227
and record how it felt in a journal.

0:00:22.446,0:00:26.923
And to me, one of the most powerful things[br]written in that journal in essence says,

0:00:26.923,0:00:28.991
why are we so OK

0:00:28.991,0:00:30.410
with homeless people,

0:00:30.410,0:00:33.245
with human beings laying on the ground,

0:00:33.478,0:00:34.997
but not flags?

0:00:37.272,0:00:41.027
And to some of you,[br]this piece of art is quite disturbing,

0:00:41.027,0:00:43.528
and that's kind of the point of this talk,

0:00:43.528,0:00:45.694
not to upset you or to make you mad

0:00:45.694,0:00:50.424
but to prove to you that flags[br]have an incredible power,

0:00:51.446,0:00:54.595
and that even if you think[br]you don't care about flags, you do.

0:00:54.595,0:00:56.071
You know you do.

0:00:56.071,0:00:56.987
All right.

0:00:56.987,0:00:59.740
By the end of it,[br]I hope that you're inspired

0:00:59.740,0:01:02.976
to go out and harness this power of flags[br]and fight for a better world,

0:01:02.976,0:01:04.462
but before we get there,

0:01:04.462,0:01:07.688
we're going to start[br]on the opposite end of the spectrum,

0:01:08.444,0:01:12.258
and before I show you the next stuff,[br]I need to say that anything I show here

0:01:12.258,0:01:14.093
is not an endorsement,

0:01:14.093,0:01:15.968
it's usually quite the opposite,

0:01:15.968,0:01:19.855
but more than anything,[br]what I want to do is create a space here

0:01:19.855,0:01:22.775
where we can look[br]at these flags, these designs,

0:01:23.058,0:01:25.684
and examine how they make us feel.

0:01:26.235,0:01:28.370
We're going to talk about our emotions.

0:01:28.370,0:01:30.021
Is that OK with everybody?

0:01:30.021,0:01:31.222
OK.

0:01:31.222,0:01:33.491
You ready for your first flag?

0:01:33.491,0:01:36.617
Cool, we'll start with an easy one.

0:01:37.069,0:01:38.535
That was a joke.

0:01:39.537,0:01:44.407
So, some of you may be a little bit uneasy[br]sitting in a room with this.

0:01:44.825,0:01:47.718
I'm certainly feeling uneasy[br]standing in front of it.

0:01:47.718,0:01:50.386
Some of you may be feeling[br]a little bit of pride.

0:01:50.804,0:01:55.615
And that's understandable. This is Texas.[br]This is not a rare sight, is it.

0:01:55.999,0:01:57.934
But let's start with the facts.

0:01:57.934,0:02:01.420
So this is not the Confederate flag. OK?

0:02:01.420,0:02:04.907
This is the battle flag[br]of the Army of Northern Virginia

0:02:04.907,0:02:07.048
led by General Robert E. Lee,

0:02:07.048,0:02:10.184
so next time someone tells you[br]that this is their heritage,

0:02:10.184,0:02:13.271
unless their family fought[br]for that very specific militia,

0:02:13.271,0:02:14.806
they're wrong. All right?

0:02:14.973,0:02:18.033
And you have a flag expert's[br]permission to tell them so.

0:02:18.416,0:02:23.120
This flag rose into prominence[br]during the mid-1950s and '60s

0:02:23.120,0:02:26.447
as a response to the growing[br]Civil Rights Movement.

0:02:26.631,0:02:28.215
And then, of course, today

0:02:28.215,0:02:32.203
it has come to represent[br]the Confederacy to most of us.

0:02:33.620,0:02:36.813
But I shouldn't have to remind you[br]what the Confederacy is.

0:02:36.813,0:02:38.347
It was a rogue nation

0:02:38.347,0:02:41.200
that rose up against the United States,

0:02:41.200,0:02:43.069
waged war on the US,

0:02:43.069,0:02:44.570
and at one point in time

0:02:44.570,0:02:47.846
this was one of the most[br]un-American things you could have.

0:02:48.463,0:02:51.216
But yet, this flag is protected

0:02:51.216,0:02:54.689
by the same laws that protect[br]the United States flag

0:02:54.689,0:02:57.228
in the states of Florida, Georgia,

0:02:57.228,0:03:00.665
South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana.

0:03:01.748,0:03:04.768
But let's pick on Georgia[br]for a second, shall we?

0:03:04.768,0:03:06.678
So in 1956,

0:03:06.678,0:03:10.414
a few years after desegregation[br]was mandated in public schools,

0:03:10.414,0:03:12.799
Georgia changed their state flag to this.

0:03:14.867,0:03:17.627
I think everyone watching can agree

0:03:17.627,0:03:21.514
that this was not meant to be a flag[br]that every Georgian was proud to fly

0:03:21.514,0:03:23.766
outside of their home, was it.

0:03:23.966,0:03:29.461
Just like all of the Confederate statues[br]erected in the mid-1950s and '60s,

0:03:29.811,0:03:33.081
this was meant to be a symbol[br]of who was in charge

0:03:33.081,0:03:34.866
and who was not.

0:03:35.940,0:03:37.943
This remained the flag of Georgia

0:03:37.943,0:03:40.027
until the year 2001,

0:03:41.046,0:03:43.398
and in that year they changed their flag

0:03:43.398,0:03:44.686
to this.

0:03:45.266,0:03:49.543
Now, as a flag expert, I can tell you[br]this is officially ugly.

0:03:49.543,0:03:51.562
OK? It's OK to laugh at this flag.

0:03:51.562,0:03:53.815
It's ugly, and because it's so ugly,

0:03:53.815,0:03:57.040
that's one of the reasons[br]they changed it just two years later.

0:03:57.040,0:03:58.542
They had a referendum

0:03:58.542,0:04:00.932
where they got to choose[br]between that thing

0:04:00.932,0:04:03.780
and then what is now[br]the current flag of Georgia.

0:04:04.464,0:04:06.456
Now some of you might be wondering,

0:04:06.456,0:04:07.490
wait a second, Michael,

0:04:07.490,0:04:10.026
if that before wasn't[br]the Confederate flag,

0:04:10.026,0:04:12.711
what was the Confederate flag?

0:04:13.061,0:04:18.323
Georgia flies the first flag[br]of the Confederate States of America

0:04:18.323,0:04:20.042
to this day.

0:04:20.325,0:04:23.345
They just slapped their state seal on it.

0:04:23.345,0:04:25.683
Well let's go back[br]to our emotions for a second.

0:04:25.683,0:04:30.192
That didn't punch you in the gut[br]as much as the other one did, did it.

0:04:30.192,0:04:31.442
Right?

0:04:31.872,0:04:34.180
And that's why I love flags.

0:04:34.180,0:04:37.316
They are the simplest pieces of design,

0:04:37.316,0:04:39.552
usually just two or three colors,

0:04:39.552,0:04:41.837
just some bars or stripes,

0:04:41.837,0:04:45.713
but yet they can invoke[br]the deepest emotions within us.

0:04:45.713,0:04:50.604
They'll make us swell with pride[br]or burn with hatred.

0:04:50.604,0:04:53.387
We will die for a flag

0:04:53.387,0:04:55.796
or even kill for one.

0:04:57.064,0:04:59.949
One of my favorite designers,[br]his name is Wally Olins,

0:04:59.949,0:05:02.606
they call him the father[br]of nation branding,

0:05:02.606,0:05:04.361
and he's quotes as saying

0:05:04.361,0:05:07.497
that everyone wants to belong,

0:05:07.497,0:05:10.967
and then they want to display[br]symbols of belonging.

0:05:11.618,0:05:15.945
And it's crazy that these pieces of cloth[br]that are just sewn together or dyed

0:05:15.945,0:05:18.447
come to be such a sacred item,

0:05:19.115,0:05:22.352
and that's because they become[br]parts of our identity.

0:05:22.684,0:05:25.543
They are powerful tools to unify

0:05:25.543,0:05:29.163
but equally powerful tools to divide.

0:05:29.580,0:05:31.549
You ready for the next flag?

0:05:32.367,0:05:33.925
Right.

0:05:34.793,0:05:36.444
Take a moment.

0:05:36.444,0:05:39.914
Really examine how you felt[br]when this hit the screen.

0:05:40.164,0:05:42.350
I'm going to change[br]the slide pretty quickly

0:05:42.350,0:05:45.658
so you don't take pictures of me[br]in front of this one.

0:05:45.993,0:05:47.260
All right?

0:05:47.260,0:05:50.397
So Germany after World War I,

0:05:50.397,0:05:52.482
it was in a pretty bad state,

0:05:52.482,0:05:56.642
and a young Adolf Hitler had a lot of,[br]let's call them ideas,

0:05:57.143,0:05:59.979
of how Germany got to where they'd gotten

0:05:59.979,0:06:01.947
and how to get them out.

0:06:01.947,0:06:04.890
He spent entire chapters[br]in his book "Mein Kampf,"

0:06:04.890,0:06:06.859
which I don't recommend reading,

0:06:06.859,0:06:08.994
about how Germany lost World War I

0:06:08.994,0:06:12.630
partially because the British[br]had better graphic design

0:06:12.630,0:06:14.940
and better propaganda.

0:06:15.541,0:06:17.758
So, as the Nazi Party rose,

0:06:17.758,0:06:21.663
Hitler created one of the thickest[br]brand guides I've ever seen.

0:06:21.893,0:06:24.224
It's thicker than most[br]company brand guides today,

0:06:24.224,0:06:28.062
and in it he details titles and uniforms

0:06:28.062,0:06:30.630
and lots and lots of flags.

0:06:31.010,0:06:32.717
Hitler knew the power of flags.

0:06:32.717,0:06:34.352
He says in "Mein Kampf,"

0:06:34.352,0:06:37.479
"The new flag... should prove[br]effective as a large poster,"

0:06:37.479,0:06:39.764
because "in hundreds of thousands of cases

0:06:39.764,0:06:42.316
a really striking emblem

0:06:42.316,0:06:45.753
may be the first cause[br]of awakening interest in a movement."

0:06:46.286,0:06:48.062
He was an artist, after all.

0:06:48.062,0:06:52.266
He knew the power[br]of visual identity and uniforms

0:06:52.266,0:06:55.135
could reignite the German identity.

0:06:55.135,0:07:00.096
And to millions of Germans[br]this was a welcome sign.

0:07:00.096,0:07:04.233
But of course this was[br]a mark of death to others.

0:07:05.167,0:07:09.495
We don't often think of flags as weapons,

0:07:09.495,0:07:11.697
but like the Confederate battle flag,

0:07:11.697,0:07:13.999
the Germans used their flag

0:07:13.999,0:07:17.325
to make an outgroup feel unwelcome

0:07:17.325,0:07:19.477
and less than.

0:07:19.477,0:07:22.146
You see, when you create a flag,[br]you immediately do two things.

0:07:22.146,0:07:24.082
You create an ingroup,

0:07:24.082,0:07:26.567
a group that's meant[br]to be represented by the symbol,

0:07:26.567,0:07:28.826
but then inevitably[br]you create an outgroup.

0:07:28.826,0:07:30.377
And usually that's subtle.

0:07:30.377,0:07:31.728
It's a byproduct.

0:07:31.728,0:07:33.529
It's usually not the intent.

0:07:33.529,0:07:37.941
But the Germans were very clear[br]as to who was represented by the swastika

0:07:37.941,0:07:39.660
and who was not.

0:07:40.176,0:07:44.881
In 1935, Jewish people were banned[br]from flying German flags.

0:07:44.881,0:07:47.674
And in this way,

0:07:47.674,0:07:51.093
the Germans, maybe more than[br]any other time in history,

0:07:51.093,0:07:53.445
used the dual power of flags

0:07:53.445,0:07:56.939
to unite but also to divide.

0:07:57.981,0:08:01.216
Flags were used as identity weapons.

0:08:01.216,0:08:05.510
And now, in 2019, the Nazi flag[br]is banned from being flown

0:08:05.510,0:08:07.212
by anyone in Germany,

0:08:07.212,0:08:11.232
and anyone in Austria, in Hungary,[br]in Russia and in Ukraine.

0:08:11.232,0:08:12.850
Think about that.

0:08:12.850,0:08:15.269
It's a piece of cloth, but it's banned.

0:08:15.269,0:08:17.578
On its face, that sounds crazy,

0:08:17.578,0:08:20.782
but I don't think anyone[br]in this room would disagree

0:08:20.782,0:08:22.599
that it's probably good.

0:08:23.066,0:08:26.669
Sounds a lot like a weapon.

0:08:26.669,0:08:28.295
As a vexillologist,

0:08:28.295,0:08:31.116
sometimes the most interesting[br]thing about a flag

0:08:31.116,0:08:32.784
is not so much its design,

0:08:32.784,0:08:36.619
but it's those laws around the flag.

0:08:36.787,0:08:39.514
For instance,

0:08:39.514,0:08:41.547
in India, to create an Indian flag,

0:08:41.547,0:08:45.552
you must use a hand-spun[br]cloth named Khadi.

0:08:45.702,0:08:48.262
If you make a flag out of anything else,

0:08:48.262,0:08:50.896
you could go to jail[br]for up to three years.

0:08:51.514,0:08:52.714
It's crazy.

0:08:52.714,0:08:54.517
Here in Texas,

0:08:54.517,0:08:56.251
we've all heard

0:08:56.251,0:08:59.744
that the Texas flag is the only state flag[br]that can fly at the same height

0:08:59.744,0:09:01.096
as the US, flag, right?

0:09:01.096,0:09:03.754
Because we were a nation[br]before we were a state.

0:09:03.754,0:09:05.485
Who here has heard that?

0:09:05.667,0:09:06.668
Yeah.

0:09:06.668,0:09:10.294
Well, I'm here to tell you[br]that is completely false. OK?

0:09:10.294,0:09:15.015
First of all, we were not the only state[br]that was a nation before joining up,

0:09:15.015,0:09:19.092
and secondly, all state flags can fly[br]at the same height as the US flag

0:09:19.092,0:09:22.629
according to the US flag code.

0:09:22.629,0:09:25.649
And I don't have to ask you[br]how you feel about this one, right?

0:09:25.649,0:09:28.808
Most of us grew up pledging allegiance[br]to this every morning,

0:09:28.808,0:09:31.311
knowing we should never[br]let it touch the ground, etc.

0:09:31.311,0:09:36.231
We take our flag code very seriously[br]here in the United States.

0:09:37.232,0:09:41.443
You remember, recently some NFL players[br]kneeling during the national anthem.

0:09:41.443,0:09:43.344
It was a big controversy.

0:09:43.344,0:09:45.229
They were breaking the flag code.

0:09:45.229,0:09:49.123
It states during the national anthem,

0:09:49.324,0:09:50.709
stand at attention,[br]hand at the heart, etc.

0:09:50.709,0:09:55.913
But what was fascinating to me[br]as a vexillologist is that I didn't see

0:09:55.913,0:09:57.723
anyone getting upset

0:09:57.723,0:09:58.455
when something like this happens.

0:09:58.455,0:10:01.959
The flag code says the flag should never[br]be carried flat or horizontally,

0:10:01.959,0:10:04.000
but always aloft and free.

0:10:04.000,0:10:06.764
So sometimes during[br]the exact same national anthem,

0:10:06.764,0:10:09.389
this was being done and no one's upset.

0:10:09.389,0:10:11.691
Or this. This happens all the time.

0:10:11.691,0:10:13.075
The flag code is clear.

0:10:13.075,0:10:17.837
No part of the flag should ever be used[br]as a costume or on an athletic uniform.

0:10:18.554,0:10:20.289
This is Texas A&M baseball,

0:10:20.289,0:10:23.175
not to get them in trouble,[br]but this happens all the time,

0:10:23.175,0:10:25.927
especially in November.

0:10:25.927,0:10:28.336
I'm sure, I can almost guarantee[br]when you leave here tonight,

0:10:28.336,0:10:31.022
you will see on the back[br]of someone's car or truck

0:10:31.022,0:10:33.558
a black and white American flag[br]with a blue stripe,

0:10:33.558,0:10:35.076
a thin blue line, right?

0:10:35.076,0:10:37.327
Blue Lives Matter.

0:10:37.327,0:10:39.604
That breaks the flag code[br]in multiple ways,

0:10:39.604,0:10:43.247
but all of these things are done[br]with the best intent.

0:10:43.247,0:10:45.559
No one's here to argue that.

0:10:45.559,0:10:47.718
But of course they break[br]a section of the flag code

0:10:47.718,0:10:50.169
titled "Respect for the Flag,"

0:10:50.169,0:10:52.655
so by putting this on your uniform,

0:10:52.655,0:10:56.192
you are legally disrespecting the flag.

0:10:57.243,0:10:59.685
And what I find interesting

0:10:59.685,0:11:01.337
is that those NFL players[br]kneeling during the anthem

0:11:01.337,0:11:04.306
and the people who would put[br]Blue Lives Matters stickers on their car

0:11:04.306,0:11:08.000
are both on the opposite end[br]of a very big issue,

0:11:08.000,0:11:11.686
but they're both breaking[br]the exact same law,

0:11:11.953,0:11:16.208
a law that is 100 percent unenforceable.

0:11:17.024,0:11:21.918
In fact, it was Dread Scott's[br]piece of art in 1989

0:11:21.918,0:11:26.039
that led the Supreme Court to rule[br]that the flag code is just a guideline.

0:11:26.039,0:11:28.348
You cannot be prosecuted[br]for breaking the flag code.

0:11:28.348,0:11:32.187
You cannot be forced to be patriotic.

0:11:32.187,0:11:37.257
So why, then, have all of these[br]little laws around how we use our flag

0:11:37.257,0:11:38.965
if you can't enforce them?

0:11:38.965,0:11:43.185
And that's because a nation

0:11:43.185,0:11:45.738
is a fragile collective idea.

0:11:45.738,0:11:47.896
It only exists in our minds.

0:11:48.529,0:11:50.564
See this? Thank you.

0:11:52.176,0:11:58.165
Sometimes a flag is the only[br]tangible symbol of that idea.

0:11:58.632,0:12:04.229
Right? Our unity is sometimes[br]only held together by literal threads.

0:12:04.911,0:12:06.846
And that's powerful.

0:12:06.846,0:12:11.190
The flag code is meant to preserve[br]and protect that fragile idea,

0:12:11.190,0:12:14.310
while also protecting[br]your right to break it.

0:12:14.960,0:12:18.313
And that's what's special[br]about the United States, right?

0:12:18.313,0:12:21.540
And that's what's unique about our flag.

0:12:21.540,0:12:22.790
Our flag is amazing.

0:12:22.790,0:12:26.194
It has changed more than[br]any other flag in the world.

0:12:26.194,0:12:29.136
It's the flag code that says[br]when a new state is created,

0:12:29.136,0:12:30.970
a star shall be added[br]to the union of the flag,

0:12:30.970,0:12:35.414
and such addition shall take place[br]on the fourth day of July.

0:12:36.430,0:12:40.924
Our flag is unique because[br]it is meant to grow as we grow.

0:12:41.758,0:12:43.483
By design and by law,

0:12:43.483,0:12:45.687
it is meant to change with us.

0:12:45.911,0:12:48.696
It's a living symbol of our individuality,

0:12:48.696,0:12:51.164
our diversity in the stars,

0:12:51.164,0:12:53.250
and our unity.

0:12:53.250,0:12:56.779
We have a gift in the United States[br]to have a flag that is inclusive.

0:12:56.779,0:13:02.548
If the Nazi flag was an identity weapon,

0:13:02.548,0:13:06.826
the United States flag, by design alone,[br]stands in direct contrast.

0:13:07.332,0:13:10.816
And I have to say,[br]as a vexillologist in 2019,

0:13:10.816,0:13:12.428
using this flag

0:13:12.428,0:13:14.787
as an identity weapon against anyone

0:13:14.787,0:13:18.857
disrespects it far more[br]than letting it touch the ground

0:13:18.857,0:13:22.977
or any one of the other little laws[br]that we break every day.

0:13:22.977,0:13:24.502
Right?

0:13:26.337,0:13:30.290
This flag is a symbol of our union.

0:13:30.507,0:13:33.808
We should never use this as a weapon[br]against someone else.

0:13:33.808,0:13:38.522
I resonate so deeply with the person[br]who wrote in Dread Scott's journal,

0:13:38.522,0:13:42.308
"We should never value the symbol[br]over the thing that it symbolizes.

0:13:42.992,0:13:47.186
We should never value a piece of cloth[br]over a human life."

0:13:48.254,0:13:51.341
And if you're ever going to use[br]a piece of cloth as a weapon,

0:13:51.341,0:13:53.009
you should never use this one,

0:13:53.009,0:13:56.752
not when it has always[br]had room for more stars.

0:13:56.752,0:14:00.172
Hopefully by now, you've felt[br]the power of flags

0:14:00.440,0:14:03.492
and you can see what they can do.

0:14:03.766,0:14:05.751
So what if we harnessed that power

0:14:05.751,0:14:09.104
and we used it to fight[br]for something greater?

0:14:09.104,0:14:12.607
This is the flag of Earth,

0:14:13.748,0:14:17.084
designed by Oskar Pernefeldt of Sweden.

0:14:17.852,0:14:20.121
Just imagine with me for a second,

0:14:20.121,0:14:24.115
what if we celebrated our humanity

0:14:24.115,0:14:25.883
as much if not more

0:14:25.883,0:14:28.669
than we celebrate our nationalities?

0:14:29.119,0:14:33.698
As we become a spacefaring civilization[br]and we go off into the stars,

0:14:33.698,0:14:36.700
what do our nations mean anyway[br]when you're standing

0:14:36.700,0:14:39.151
on the surface of Mars[br]or any other planet?

0:14:39.435,0:14:41.922
And then of course, back here on Earth,

0:14:41.922,0:14:45.631
as our planet is facing a climate crisis,

0:14:45.881,0:14:50.119
as our climate could be unlivable in[br]our children or grandchildren's lifetime,

0:14:50.335,0:14:53.521
I believe we need a strong symbol, a flag,

0:14:54.179,0:14:56.165
to unite us to fight,

0:14:56.682,0:14:58.317
not just as nations,

0:14:58.317,0:15:00.751
but as a species.

0:15:00.969,0:15:02.252
Thank you.

0:15:02.469,0:15:04.962
(Applause)