Thread by @lindork

I shared these thoughts on Instagram Story today and the hundreds of messages I got from people saying "I feel the same way" was both validating and very sad. 🧵

I now feel gross and uncomfortable when I see a Canadian flag—especially on a truck.

How messed up is that?

I was having complicated feelings about the Canadian flag before, re: residential schools and reconciliation, but the anxiety now of spotting not only a flag, but a truck brandishing a flag, it's sad.

What the Canadian flag is now associated with—white supremacy, alignment with Nazis and hateful people, entitlement and privilege, likely anti-vax, likely protested health protections at hospitals, totally cool with far right extremism, I hate that.

And no, being uncomfortable, disgusted or critical about Canada's history and current actions does not make you a bad person despite what the racists, extremists, freedumb folks will say, including the crowd fav "if you don't like it here, leave / go back to where you came from."

Multiple things can be true, including that there are aspects you are grateful for or appreciate about living in a country, along with how gross you feel about its leaders, law enforcement, and loud hateful losers that are running rampant and threatening our democracy.

For many, particularly refugees—of which my parents were—the Canadian flag is still such a beacon of hope, a positive symbol, a country that takes in so many who fled places that were actually oppressive, that actually took away rights and freedoms of citizens.

But these days? Recent weeks? Recent years? The Canadian flag has become a symbol of such hatred, of some of the worst who live among us. For Indigenous communities, it's likely always felt that way and the rest of us are just now catching up.

I don't know where we go from here. But I know that we need to continue calling out this bullshit, denouncing hatred, and demanding much, much, more from our government leaders and law enforcement.