Have you seen the new Visibility Bridge Brigade on the pedestrian bridge over Route 101 in Keene? This weekly event is sponsored by Monadnock Women for Action and Third Act NH and is open to the public.

The first event, held on Wednesday, May 14, included an upside-down American flag, which sparked a bit of controversy. As many people know, the upside-down flag is a symbol of distress or extreme emergency that was originally used by sailors at sea.

It has more recently been adopted as a sign of political protest by the right and the left. For example, back in February, an upside-down flag was displayed in Yosemite National Park to protest the Trump administration’s gutting of the National Park Service.

The organizers of the Bridge Brigade in Keene displayed the flag in that way to protest President Donald Trump’s anti-democratic actions and policies regarding everything from rounding up immigrants without regard to their constitutional rights, to dismantling USAID and thus essentially signing the death warrant of vulnerable people around the world, to threatening to destroy the social safety net provided by Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Participants certainly intended no disrespect by displaying the flag in that manner. They love this country and are simply seeking to bring attention to the many ways in which they believe the Constitution is being violated and government agencies and protections are being systematically eviscerated by the current administration.

They encourage all pro-democracy citizens to join them in standing up for the Constitution, free speech and a free press, equality for all and the dignity of the flag that so many of our forebears fought so valiantly to defend.

Barbara Jatkola

Jaffrey