How flags unite (and divide) us

Flags are one of the simplest yet most powerful pieces of design ever conceived. They can make us swell with pride, burn with hatred -- and even inspire people to die or kill in their name, says vexillologist Michael Green. Take a brief walk through history as Green explores the symbolic fervor behind flags that unify and divide, inviting us to imagine a future where we can come together under one collective identity: humanity.

In 1989,

an artist by the name of Dread Scott,

who has also graced the TED stage,

created a piece of art in Chicago,

where he simply placed
an American flag on the ground

and then invited you the viewer
to go and stand on that flag

and record how it felt in a journal.

And to me, one of the most powerful things
written in that journal, in essence, says,

"Why are we so OK

with homeless people,

with human beings laying on the ground,

but not flags?"

And to some of you,
this piece of art is quite disturbing.

And that's kind of the point
of this talk --

not to upset you or to make you mad

but to prove to you that flags
have an incredible power,

and that even if you think
you don't care about flags, you do.

You know you do.

Alright.

By the end of it,
I hope that you're inspired

to go out and harness this power of flags
and fight for a better world.

But before we get there,

we're going to start
on the opposite end of the spectrum.

And before I show you the next stuff,
I need to say that anything I show here

is not an endorsement,

it's usually quite the opposite.

But more than anything,
what I want to do is create a space here

where we can look
at these flags, these designs,

and examine how they make us feel.

We're going to talk about our emotions.

Is that OK with everybody?

OK.

Are you ready for your first flag?

Cool, we'll start with an easy one.

That was a joke. (Laughs)

So, some of you may be a little bit uneasy
sitting in a room with this.

I'm certainly feeling uneasy
standing in front of it.

Some of you may be feeling
a little bit of pride.

And that's understandable. This is Texas.
This is not a rare sight, is it?

But let's start with the facts.

So this is not the Confederate flag. OK?

This is the battle flag
of the Army of Northern Virginia

led by General Robert E. Lee.

So next time someone tells you
that this is their heritage,

unless their family fought
for that very specific militia,

they're wrong, alright?

And you have a flag expert's
permission to tell them so.

This flag rose into prominence
during the mid-1950s and '60s

as a response to the growing
Civil Rights Movement.

And then of course today,

it has come to represent
the Confederacy to most of us.

But I shouldn't have to remind you
what the Confederacy is.

It was a rogue nation

that rose up against the United States,

waged war on the US,

and at one point in time,

this was one of the most
un-American things you could have.

But yet, this flag is protected

by the same laws that protect
the United States flag

in the states of Florida, Georgia,

South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana.

But let's pick on Georgia
for a second, shall we?

So in 1956,

a few years after desegregation
was mandated in public schools,

Georgia changed their state flag to this.

I think everyone watching can agree

that this was not meant to be a flag
that every Georgian was proud to fly

outside of their home, was it?

No.

Just like all of the Confederate statues
erected in the mid-1950s and '60s,

this was meant to be a symbol
of who was in charge

and who was not.

This remained the flag of Georgia

until the year 2001,

and in that year, they changed their flag

to this.

Now, as a flag expert, I can tell you:
this is officially ugly.

OK? It's OK to laugh at this flag.

It's ugly, and because it's so ugly,

that's one of the reasons
they changed it just two years later.

They had a referendum

where they got to choose
between that thing

and then what is now
the current flag of Georgia.

Now some of you might be wondering,

"Wait a second, Michael --

if that before wasn't
the Confederate flag,

what was the Confederate flag?"

Georgia flies the first flag
of the Confederate States of America

to this day.

They just slapped their state seal on it.

Well, let's go back
to our emotions for a second.

That didn't punch you in the gut
as much as the other one did, did it?

Right?

And that's why I love flags.

They are the simplest pieces of design,

usually just two or three colors,

just some bars or stripes.

But yet, they can invoke
the deepest emotions within us.

They'll make us swell with pride

or burn with hatred.

We will die for a flag

or even kill for one.

One of my favorite designers,
his name is Wally Olins,

they call him the father
of nation branding,

and he's quoted as saying

that "Everyone wants to belong,

and then they want to display
symbols of belonging."

And it's crazy that these pieces of cloth
that are just sewn together or dyed

come to be such a sacred item,

and that's because they become
parts of our identity.

They are powerful tools to unify

but equally powerful tools to divide.

You ready for the next flag?

Right.

Take a moment.

Really examine how you felt
when this hit the screen.

I'm going to change
the slide pretty quickly

so you don't take pictures of me
in front of this one.

(Laughter)

Alright?

So Germany after World War I,

it was in a pretty bad state,

and a young Adolf Hitler had a lot of --
let's call them -- "ideas,"

of how Germany got to where they'd gotten

and how to get them out.

He spent entire chapters
in his book "Mein Kampf,"

which I don't recommend reading,

about how Germany lost World War I

partially because the British
had better graphic design

and better propaganda.

So, as the Nazi Party rose,

Hitler created one of the thickest
brand guides I've ever seen.

It's thicker than most
company brand guides today,

and in it, he details titles and uniforms

and lots and lots of flags.

Hitler knew the power of flags.

He says in "Mein Kampf,"

"The new flag ... should prove
effective as a large poster,

[because] in hundreds
of thousands of cases

a really striking emblem
may be the first cause

of awakening interest
in a movement."

He was an artist, after all.

He knew the power
of visual identity and uniforms

could reignite the German identity.

And to millions of Germans,
this was a welcome sign.

But of course, this was also
a mark of death to others.

We don't often think of flags as weapons,

but like the Confederate battle flag,

the Germans used their flag

to make an out-group feel unwelcome

and less than.

You see, when you create a flag,
you immediately do two things:

you create an in-group,

a group that's meant
to be represented by the symbol,

but then, inevitably,
you create an out-group.

And usually, that's subtle.

It's a byproduct.

It's usually not the intent.

But the Germans were very clear
as to who was represented by the swastika

and who was not.

In 1935, Jewish people were banned
from flying German flags.

And in this way,

the Germans, maybe more than
any other time in history,

used the dual power of flags

to unite but also to divide.

Flags were used as identity weapons.

And now, in 2019, the Nazi flag
is banned from being flown

by anyone in Germany

and anyone in Austria, in Hungary,
in Russia and in Ukraine.

Think about that.

It's a piece of cloth, but it's banned.

On its face, that sounds crazy.

But I don't think anyone
in this room would disagree

that it's probably good.

Sounds a lot like a weapon.

As a vexillologist,

sometimes the most interesting
thing about a flag

is not so much its design,

but it's those laws around the flag.

For instance,

in India, to create an Indian flag,

you must use a hand-spun
cloth named "khadi."

If you make a flag out of anything else,

you could go to jail
for up to three years.

It's crazy.

Here in Texas,

we've all heard

that the Texas flag is the only state flag
that can fly at the same height

as the US, flag, right?

Because we were a nation
before we were a state.

Who here has heard that?

Yeah.

Well, I'm here to tell you
that is completely false. OK?

First of all, we were not the only state
that was a nation before joining up.

And secondly, all state flags can fly
at the same height as the US flag

according to the US flag code.

And I don't have to ask you
how you feel about this one, right?

Most of us grew up pledging allegiance
to this every morning,

knowing we should never
let it touch the ground, etc.

We take our flag code very seriously
here in the United States.

You remember, recently some NFL players
kneeling during the national anthem.

It was a big controversy.

They were breaking the flag code.

It states during the national anthem,

stand at attention,
hand at the heart, etc.

But what was fascinating to me
as a vexillologist

is that I didn't see
anyone getting upset

when something like this happens.

The flag code says, "The flag should never
be carried flat or horizontally,

but always aloft and free."

So sometimes during
the exact same national anthem,

this was being done,
and no one's upset.

Or this. This happens all the time.

The flag code is clear:

"No part of the flag should ever be used
as a costume or on an athletic uniform."

This is Texas A&M baseball,

not to get them in trouble,
but this happens all the time,

especially in November.

I'm sure, I can almost guarantee
when you leave here tonight,

you will see on the back
of someone's car or truck

a black and white American flag
with a blue stripe,

a thin blue line, right?

Blue Lives Matter.

That breaks the flag code
in multiple ways.

But all of these things are done
with the best intent.

No one's here to argue that.

But of course they break
a section of the flag code

titled "Respect for the Flag,"

so by putting this on your uniform,

you are legally disrespecting the flag.

And what I find interesting

is that those NFL players
kneeling during the anthem

and the people who would put
Blue Lives Matters stickers on their car

are both on the opposite end
of a very big issue,

but they're both breaking
the exact same law,

a law that is 100 percent unenforceable.

In fact, it was Dread Scott's
piece of art in 1989

that led the Supreme Court to rule
that the flag code is just a guideline.

You cannot be prosecuted
for breaking the flag code.

You cannot be forced to be patriotic.

So why, then, have all of these
little laws around how we use our flag

if you can't enforce them?

And that's because a nation

is a fragile collective idea.

It only exists in our minds.

Can I see this? Thank you.

Sometimes a flag is the only
tangible symbol of that idea.

Right? Our unity is sometimes
only held together by literal threads.

And that's powerful.

The flag code is meant to preserve
and protect that fragile idea,

while also protecting
your right to break it.

And that's what's special
about the United States, right?

And that's what's unique about our flag.

Our flag is amazing.

It has changed more than
any other flag in the world.

It's the flag code that says
when a new state is created,

a star shall be added
to the union of the flag,

and such addition shall take place
on the fourth day of July.

Our flag is unique because
it is meant to grow as we grow.

By design and by law,

it is meant to change with us.

It's a living symbol of our individuality,

our diversity in the stars

and our unity.

We have a gift in the United States
to have a flag that is inclusive.

If the Nazi flag was an identity weapon,

the United States flag, by design alone,
stands in direct contrast.

And I have to say,
as a vexillologist in 2019,

using this flag

as an identity weapon against anyone

disrespects it far more
than letting it touch the ground

or any one of the other little laws
that we break every day.

Right?

This flag is a symbol of our unity.

We should never use this as a weapon
against someone else.

I resonate so deeply with the person
who wrote in Dread Scott's journal,

"We should never value the symbol
over the thing that it symbolizes.

We should never value a piece of cloth
over a human life."

And if you're ever going to use
a piece of cloth as a weapon,

you should never use this one,

not when it has always
had room for more stars.

Hopefully by now, you've felt
the power of flags,

and you can see what they can do.

So what if we harnessed that power,

and we used it to fight
for something greater?

This is the flag of Earth,

designed by Oskar Pernefeldt of Sweden.

Just imagine with me for a second:

What if we celebrated our humanity

as much if not more

than we celebrate our nationalities?

As we become a spacefaring civilization
and we go off into the stars,

what do our nations mean anyway

when you're standing on the surface
of Mars or any other planet?

And then of course, back here on Earth,

as our planet is facing a climate crisis,

as our climate could be unlivable in
our children or grandchildren's lifetime,

I believe we need a strong symbol, a flag,

to unite us to fight,

not just as nations,

but as a species.

Thank you.

(Applause)