The red, white, and blue that we see hanging in classrooms, flying outside government buildings, and stamped on t-shirts and bumper stickers today is almost identical to the flag decided on at the Second Continental Congress in 1777 — just with more stars to show for it.
But our country has changed a lot since we made that symbol of our democracy official. America’s 250th year feels like a great time to ask: How might we deconstruct the stars and stripes — how might we as young citizens artistically interpret the flag — to explain and honor our democracy-in-progress?
That’s the question posed by Fly Your Flag, a youth civic contest that SUNN (which publishes The SUNN Post) is running in partnership with the USA Today Network and More Perfect, an American alliance working to revitalize democracy, from April 6 through May 19. Honoring the semiquincentennial of the U.S., the contest asks students from 5th through 12th grade to design their own American flag — a design that has the power to unify and that represents their America.
It’s not the first time we’ve asked young Americans to celebrate, challenge, and reimagine our national symbol. In late 2020, in the earliest days of the SUNN, we ran “Fly Your Flag” as our flagship civic contest, with judges from both sides of the aisle including Beto O’Rourke of Texas and the then-vice chair of the Young Republican National Federation, Lila Nieves-Lee. That’s when the competition caught the attention of Zoe Anaya, a 14-year-old Angeleno who was coming into her civic identity during the height of the pandemic.
Zoe’s was one of hundreds of submissions we received for that first contest. Using media from crayons and fabrics to oil paints and computer graphics, students reimagined the American flag in ways that challenged it, celebrated it, and had a whole lot of fun with it. In one, George Washington wore Ray-Bans. In another, a swirl of figures painted the flag (how meta!), working together to keep our country’s colors bright.
Some pointedly questioned the flag’s symbolism. One had bullet holes where the stars should be, and blood dripping down the stripes. Another depicted a flag on fire, with a trail of smoke in which butterflies flew.
But most, like Zoe’s, were compassionate and celebratory reimaginings of the flag.
A violet ear of blue corn drawn with ink pen and colored pencils against a white background, Zoe’s flag stood out for its visually quiet presentation and remarkable accompanying artistic statement:
“I’ve drawn an ear of blue corn to honor the indigenous peoples of North America. The color of the kernels is a mix of the red, white and blue that we see on our current flag. The colors represent the hardiness, valor, innocence, purity, vigilance, perseverance, and justice of our country. The green of the husk signifies the earth and all that came before us, and on the ribbon it says, ‘in radices speramus nobis,’ which means, ‘in our roots we trust,’ in Latin.”
Zoe took first prize in the age 13-18 category. Five years later, she recalls being motivated to enter in part by the political and public-health tumult of that first, fraught pandemic year. Creating her own flag was a way “to be engaged and do something,” she said.
Her emphasis on roots was a core part of what she wanted to express. It was one part celebration of the land, and one part celebration of not only Indigenous heritage, but that of all people who have immigrated to the U.S. The experience of migration, she said, is part of what has made America what it is today. “I think it’s important to remember where we come from, and not use it against people, but acknowledge that we all come from different places,” she said.
As it was five years ago, the Fly Your Flag contest is a way to celebrate our country and democracy, while continuing to dream of a more unified and less divided nation — whatever that means to you.
“I’ve only ever been a young person in a super polarized country,” Zoe said. “To change our flag as an idea makes me feel like there’s hope that it doesn’t always have to be this way, that we can make change.”
Young people are uniquely positioned for this exercise in unity-building, she added, because they haven’t yet grown accustomed to the way things are, making it easier to imagine something new.
Fly Your Flag is more than just an art contest. It’s an opportunity to think deeply about American identity — at the personal and collective level — as it exists today and as we hope it will look in the future, when young people are the ones in charge.
Zoe showed us her America. What does yours look like?
