Hundreds of red, white and blue flags taunt her from the crowd. A herd of angry Americans lurk outside the door to the building, waiting for her to come out. A chant of \U-S-A"" rises all around her, and she is emphatically told to ""leave our country.""
This situation has followed Toni Smith wherever she has gone for the last few months. It all started when the 2002-'03 Manhattanville College women's basketball season kicked off in November.
Just before tipoff of the M'ville Valiants first game, as the national anthem radiated through the gymnasium, Smith, a senior captain of the team, lowered her head to stare at the floor, and turned away from the American flag.
This process has become routine for Smith. She has acted out this little scene before every game this season. Needless to say, it has caused quite the stir.
For the most part, Smith has refused to comment on her actions. Early in the season, she released a 250-word statement in an attempt to justify her protest. In this statement Smith said she was speaking out against the ""inequalities embedded into the American system,"" and ""the war America will soon be entering."" Since then, she remained relatively silent until three weeks ago when she said, ""I don't feel like everyone needs to keep quiet just because they reap the benefits from living here."" One of Smith's classmates at Manhattanville said that the protest is not about the flag, but rather freedom of speech. This could not be more wrong.
It cannot be denied, just like every other person living in the United States, Smith has the right to speak her mind. She can disagree openly with our president. She can demonstrate for equal rights. She can cut classes and join a march for school funding if she wants to. Freedom of speech is not the matter in question here.
The real question is, did Toni Smith take any time at all to think about what she was doing? The answer is clear: She did not.
She says she is protesting inequalities and war, two very popular things to oppose. But in turning away from the American flag, she is opening a can of worms too big for her to handle.
When she refuses to honor the flag, she is speaking against the men and women who have sacrificed everything, including their lives, to give her the right she now uses to disgrace them. She is not looking at the big picture. The flag is a symbol of our country as a whole, and it should not be shamed by someone looking to draw attention to some personal moral crisis.
Yes, there are problems in the United States. But if you want to share your opinion with the rest of us, call a radio station, boycott a company, march to your congressman's office or write to a newspaper for heaven's sake. Don't turn away from the one thing that all Americans can take pride in.
The American flag stands for freedom, opportunity, unity, perseverance, possibility, life, liberty and justice for all. The values sewn into each stripe and the ideals hanging on each star give this country its unique identity as the greatest nation on earth. Let Smith try to protest the abundant and abominable inequalities in Iraq and see how far she gets.
Toni Smith is forgetting that we are all part of a family in this country. We all have our differences, but in the end we are a family nonetheless. And when she turns her back to the flag, she is also turning her back on our ancestors, not to mention us.
Like a spoiled child at the dinner table, refusing to eat her supper because her parents gave her the wrong kind of juice to drink, she is taking her rights for granted.
