Nine: One Nation

The “thin blue line flag” is everywhere lately, and with good reason. Threats against American law enforcement today are more overt, more deadly and more prevalent than at any other time in our country’s history. Police need our support as much as wee need theirs. And the blue line flag serves a great purpose: it is trying to promote solidarity with law enforcement.

However, to a great degree it is failing. Here is the reason:

The United States of America has one flag. Its colors are red, white and blue. This flag can be found on police, military, fire, emergency medical and security uniforms throughout the nation. In certain military contexts, the colors of the flag are subdued or changed to match a uniform’s colors for safety. That sublimation is combat-related and prevents the flag from becoming a clear and present target on a field of otherwise indistinguishable camouflage.

Other times, the flag is adopted on TOP of other symbols for patriotic appeal. For example, the Superman “S” has repeatedly been shown in US flag colors. In this way, the Superman logo (among many others) is subverted IN FAVOR OF the United States colors.

The thin blue line flag does the opposite. It subverts the colors of our country to serve one particular group. We criticize street gangs and militias for having their own colors and displaying their own flags that separate “them” from “us” and that is exactly what the thin blue line flag does. It separates law enforcement from everyone else by suggesting that law enforcement NEEDS its own, unique symbol of the United States of America. Combine this with all the merchandise containing spartan helmets, rabid dogs and masked skeletons that cater to law enforcement and you have some of the world’s worst marketing. Law enforcement is a group often persecuted by the media and some sectors of the public, but pleads to be recognized as everyday people. But when all of the hats, t-shirts, and bumper stickers portray cops as beast-like, gun-blazing commandos, is it any mystery that there is a polarizing trend towards how some people see the protectors of our communities?

To portray a law enforcement officer simply as a warrior is to demean the position. Police are also counselors, negotiators, problem solvers, child finders, domestic mediators and youth mentors. To repeatedly enter into life-threatening situations with an obligation to always first assess and communicate with those who may be enemies lying in wait is the absolute height of selflessness.

All that said, law enforcement does need a symbol of solidarity. The US flag appears many places and represents the nation in general. And so, wanting to be part of the solution rather than just presenters of a problem, we have created a symbol that accomplishes solidarity WITHOUT subverting the colors of our sacred flag.

The One Nation™ logo: 3 blue stars represent police, community and what we can accomplish together. All of the stars are on the same side of the blue line because we are all on the side of good. The blue line itself has defined ends to represent authority with boundaries.

Although this logo is a registered trademark of GRMTAC, we will eventually license it for free to those who seek approval to utilize the symbol in a dignified manner that is consistent with the highest standards of law enforcement.

We are One Nation.