We went through a lot to be able to own nice homes, and this is what we fought for,” Esters said.
In contrast, Yvonne Pistochini, a 79-year-old Black Detroit resident, said she would never display the flag due to socioeconomic disparities and political polarization.
“Just because you fly a flag doesn’t make you a patriot,” Pistochini said.
Allison Wiltz, a Black author, described the flag as “a painful symbol” of unfulfilled promises for Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
White Republicans like Nancy Hansen, 73, associate the flag with personal liberty.
Linda Cunningham, 63, a conservative in Michigan, rejected political interpretations, saying, “It’s no political thing, at all.”
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Paul Walthour, a 71-year-old retired advertising executive from Minnesota, observed that ideological extremes interpret the flag differently, making it “more dividing than uniting.”
