photo the correct “rainbow flag”, not the whites only one the flew at Van Neste Square
The fact that Ridgewood had no content-blind procedure in place prior to receiving the third party request to display their flag put us in a vulnerable condition that allowed for political mischief and sowed chaos, both of which are goals of practitioners of Critical Theory, and of Obama-inspired community activists who brazenly employ cynical Cloward/Piven strategies with a view toward overwhelming the normal apparatus of government. The fact that Ridgewood has not yet responded to this stimulus by devising and implementing a content-blind municipal procedure by which such third parties can obtain approval for their proposed displays reflects poorly on the members of our Village Council and on the Village Attorney. Can it be that they wish to remain vulnerable to such politically-motivated manipulation of our local system of government? If so, this is a serious problem of judgment, particularly since they should know by now how bad things can get for naive municipalities who innocently fail, or worse, stubbornly refuse to prepare themselves in advance to deal with such attacks when they come. And they will come.
I would love to see the flag on top of the bank in Ridgewood Avenue next to the Jolly Roger remember remember that I do that was great
Okay, so the calendar continues to unfold, and it’s almost May.
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During the entire month of June of 2017, Village residents were treated to a six-color non-rainbow flag pitched and displayed at ground level in Van Neste Square in full view of everyone moving up and down East Ridgewood Avenue. This was the end result of a third party petition made directly to the elected representatives comprising our Village Council, which eventually took DIRECT action and approved the display via an up-or-down vote.
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As already discussed, this is not the RIGHT and CONSTITUTIONALLY SOUND way for an American municipality to handle this issue. The Village Council needed instead to establish a content-blind administrative process by which ANY third party wishing to erect a display for a period of a few weeks or a month that symbolized THEIR organization’s particular message or point-of-view on Village-owned property can obtain swift approval in advance. This would obviously be WITHOUT the municipality being dragged into a political debate or being called upon to formally endorse the viewpoint, political message, ideology, or personal lifestyle being advocated by the petitioning third party.
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So what’s the story this year?
Are we going to see a repeat of last year’s political agony and garish virtue signaling? Or has the six-color non-rainbow flag group MOVED ON?
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If so, or even if not, OTHER third parties interested in pitching and erecting similar-sized flags or banners symbolizing THEIR beliefs at ground level in Van Neste Square for a month at a time in full view of motorists and pedestrians moving up and down East Ridgewood Avenue may well choose to MOVE IN!
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According to Catholic liturgical tradition, the month of May is the “month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady,” and is the occasion for a “moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven.” During the month of May Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. “In this month, too, the benefits of God’s mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance. This Christian custom of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin arose at the end of the 13th century. In this way, the Church was able to Christianize the secular feasts which were wont to take place at that time. In the 16th century, books appeared and fostered this devotion. The practice became especially popular among the members of the Jesuit Order — by 1700 it took hold among their students at the Roman College and a bit later it was publicly practiced in the Gesu Church in Rome. From there it spread to the whole Church.”
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The traditional color used to symbolize the Blessed Virgin Mary is a beautiful deep blue (the reference being to the deep waters of the earth’s oceans).
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Also according to Catholic liturgical tradition, the month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Christ Jesus. “The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood. The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”
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A deep scarlet red color can certainly be used to symbolize the precious blood of Jesus.
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Let’s say the third party that came around last year does so again this year to receive approval for a race-inclusive (brown and black stripes now included) eight-color non-rainbow flag for display during the entire month of June, 2018.
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Why don’t we here in Ridgewood “bookend” this recurring June display with a beautiful deep blue flag for display during the entire month of May, in honor of the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a beautiful deep scarlet flag for display during the entire month of July, in honor of the Precious Blood of our Lord and Savior, the Son of God, Jesus Christ?
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Surely there will be no objection by our Village Council, since the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, once again as now applied to the several states, forbids them to approve or disapprove any such display based on the basis of the content of the message being conveyed.
And how could the mayor say no? She’s been well paid. She had to know that someday, and that day may never have come, she would be called upon to do a service.