Solid black flag meaning11/15/2022 ![]() Hillary Clinton narrowly defeated Trump in Colorado, in 2016. The state voted Republican in six of the ten past Presidential races, but urban voters in Denver and Boulder pushed the past three elections to the Democrats. “I said, ‘You know what? You take your regulations and shove ‘em up your ass.’ ” After Carr quit the Riders, he thought, “Now what the hell am I gonna do?” He said that God then told him, “Find a bridge and set your flags.”Ĭolorado, with a population of nearly six million, has been called a political microcosm of America: voters almost evenly represent Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. The Guardian Riders “mandated everything on us: we have to stay six feet apart, you have to wear a mask, you can’t talk to the family,” Carr told me. When the coronavirus pandemic-“this corona crap”-started, public-safety measures went into effect. He traded in his motorcycle, a Can-Am Spyder, for the S.U.V., and planned to devote his retirement to paying tribute to as many veterans and first responders as possible. He attended up to six funerals per week, driving as far as Oklahoma. Honoring fellow-veterans gave him a sense of purpose and peace. (“And none of ’em’s in jail.”)Ĭarr joined the Riders around 2015. He got married and raised three children. “If I hadn’t went into the Army I’d probably be in a chain gang somewhere-in prison or something-because I was mean.”Īfter the war, Carr came home “messed up.” He told me, “I couldn’t get nothing organized.” He tried nursing school, but he quit and eventually became a self-employed electrician, preferring the solitary work of fixing other people’s homes. I had four sisters-I couldn’t get along with anybody.” Enlisting in the Army straightened him out. When Carr was in the eleventh grade, in Georgia, he dropped out of school and ran away: “I didn’t like home life. He said, “These flags represent freedom.” ![]() Yet Carr assumed that the flag that he had worn into combat was mutually understood as a symbol of national unity. The idea of demanding greater police accountability had intensified since the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The “Blue Lives Matter” banner he displayed-a modified American flag with one blue stripe, honoring the police-no doubt angered those who favor “defunding“ law-enforcement agencies. He owned an enormous “ TRUMP 2020” banner but chose not to fly it for fear of appearing “political”-the country had become “so divided,” he told me, adding, “America is just so mad.” He now gives the toys to schoolchildren at Christmas and to families who stop by the bridge.Ĭarr had been flying his flags for the past forty-eight days, yet he still could not understand why some passersby gave him the finger. At his feet sat a storage bin containing some of the Beanie Babies that he once collected by the thousands, as an investment. Draped over the back of the chair was his black-leather motorcycle vest, which was crowded with patches-“Brothers Forever,” “ PTSD,” “Patriot.” He brought out a coffee thermos and a small Igloo cooler, which held his everyday lunch, a ham sandwich. Motorists could see Carr sitting at the tailgate of his S.U.V., in a camp chair, waving. The array was an arresting sight for such a drab stretch of interstate. Carr went up and down the bridge, affixing the flags to either side of the overpass, where they lifted and flapped in the wind. Most of these were American flags, but there were also banners honoring prisoners of war and law-enforcement officers. and removed twenty-nine large flags, each of which was attached to a pole made of P.V.C. Holstered on his left hip was a Colt nine-millimeter handgun-Colorado is an open-carry state. Carr, who has white hair and watery blue eyes, had on jeans and a T-shirt that referenced a benefit for veterans. One recent morning, traffic zoomed along I-70-eastbound to Kansas City, westbound to Denver. Above his “Purple Heart” license plate, he attached small replicas of the combat medals he said he received for serving in Vietnam, in 19, as a member of the 82nd Airborne these include the Bronze Star and the Army infantryman medal, which is conferred on soldiers who fight the enemy closely enough, as Carr puts it, to “look him in the eye.” ![]() Carr’s vehicle is unmistakable: several years ago, he had the exterior covered in a vinyl “skin” made from a super-enlarged color image of an American flag.Ĭarr, who is in his early seventies, had spent hours searching the Internet for a flag photograph with just the right “flow.” To the skin he added medallions (“ VIETNAM VETERAN”) and decals (“ NEVER FORGET”). The blades of a sprawling turbine farm turn slowly in the distance. The view from the bridge is brown prairie: stacks of spooled hay, an abandoned backhoe. on a remote interstate overpass in the unincorporated community of Agate, Colorado. ![]() Most mornings, Jim Carr parks his Ford S.U.V. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |