Letters

I watch a man reach his arms into a vehicle carrying a family. Through the window, he forcefully rips something from the driver’s hands. It was the flag of his country, his proud heritage. His Palestinian flag, his Palestinian heritage.

The flag-stealing man’s face is painted with hatred, disgust and satisfaction.

Let it be noted that flag-waving is a common sight on Sundays. Almost exclusively, Israeli flags will be waved out of car windows as they stop to show their support for the pro-Israel side of a longstanding weekly demonstration [“On Sag Harbor’s Wharf, Weekly Vigils Reflect Global Strife and Local Anguish,” 27east.com, August 21]. People cheer, wave their arms, and even exchange words, typically halting traffic and garnering impatient honks from other drivers.

These flags are waved at the group calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, too; we call it freedom of expression.

But when it is a Palestinian man, with his wife clad in a hijab, wearing a jersey reading “Palestine,” his actions are marked as aggression. He is no longer a protective father or loving husband; he is an agitator, he is a threat.

Suddenly, it is acceptable — noble, even — to steal his flag and shove arms into his vehicle while his wife and young daughter cry. An attempt to reclaim his property becomes an attack in the eyes of most Americans, and this “progressive” community is no different. What he experienced was no longer theft but something he deserved. He asked for it — he waved a flag, after all …

Israeli flags fly freely in this town; Palestinian flags get ripped from the hands that hold them.

Through his daughter’s cries, through the racism and prejudice, I remind myself: Hate still has a home here.

Emelia Baltz

Sag Harbor