To the editor:

It seems in this town that governance works like this. Those who are in power choose to follow a certain path, for example, adding banners to the pole which historically has flown the American flag alone.

They get push back about their choices and then proceed to draw up a policy that supports the actions they have already taken. The new "flag policy" introduced this past week rubber stamps the position the council has taken since this began a year ago. Their solution is to create a first amendment pole overseen by them. That seems to be a bit of an oxymoron …... free speech only if you have their support?

The fact is there is no need for a first amendment pole because the American flag is the first amendment pole as well as the pole for every other amendment, value and idea written in the United States Constitution.

One flag belongs on the pole, the American flag. That flag is a symbol that represents the deepest ideals of humankind we aspire to every day..... freedom, liberty and justice.

If anyone believes that the American flag does not represent all people and all colors and thus the need for accompanying banners, I would remind them that in the 60's, civil rights leaders carried American flags during their marches. In 1965 Martin Luther King led marches for social justice and equality, walking 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery. As they arrived in Alabama's capital, the marchers stopped and planted an American flag along the road, symbolically using the flag to pierce the heart of racism. They showed that the flag belonged to them.

Now, 55 years later, that same flag that led the marches for equality in a segregated south, does not represent everyone? How did we get to this place?

We got here because people let disinformation swallow the truth.

The American flag should not be divisive. It represents the best of America. It represents what we strive for. It stands for every single one of us and it always will. It has earned its singular place on the pole because men and women throughout history have been willing to die for the ideals that the flag represents. The flag is us, all of us, white, black, brown, yellow, straight, gay, Christian, Jew, atheist....... there are no exclusions.

I do understand that the town feels pressure to allow people to express their displeasure with things they may not like about this country. I offer this suggestion. Fly the American flag alone. Men and women fought and died for it. It has earned that honor.

For those who want to express their first amendment rights and dissent or espouse a cause, the town has a beautiful space that graces the front of Barrington Town Hall. I propose the Council allow everyone that has a cause dear to their heart the opportunity to put up a pole on the sprawling front lawn and fly their banners. There is plenty of space. You can accommodate everyone. It is in the center of town, giving groups a wide audience. You want the town to be known as proponents of free speech? You can’t make a more visible statement.

And it is fitting that the American flag wave alone, overlooking all those banners below, because it is the flag, and all those who have fought and died for her, that give us the right to free speech and every other right we enjoy as Americans

Mary Teixeira

Barrington