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Controversial Air Force Vet Arrested For Trying To Protect The Flag
An Air Force veteran has found herself at the center of a controversy after taking action to defend the American flag Friday.
Michelle Manhart received a call from a student at Valdosta University in Georgia who told her that a group of protesters had put a flag on the ground and were walking on it. She called the university to complain and was told the matter would be investigated.
When she learned that the demonstrators — who have declined to identify themselves or say what they were protesting — were still desecrating the flag three days later, Manhart went over to where they were, “walked up, picked up the flag and walked away.”
“I saw what was happening and I couldn’t believe nothing was being done about it,” she recalled. “In my head I kept seeing all the caskets of our service members. It was like they were walking on their caskets. It hurt me so much. I couldn’t let it go on.”
Her act of patriotism, though, quickly turned into a heated confrontation as the protesters tried to get the flag back; and police got involved, as you can see in the video below.
Reactions to Manhart’s display have been mixed.
Todd Starnes of Fox News wrote that, “The way I see it – her only crime was behaving exactly the way we would expect a veteran of the Armed Forces to behave.”
However, a commenter on TheBlaze, under the name Ballot_Box_Revolution, wrote that, “Although i agree with her stance, admire her conviction, and totally disagree and find the other side disgusting…. she did deprive someone else of their liberties, and stole their property…If we were ever looking for the meaning of protecting our liberties, and the purpose of police this is a very good example….Im sure a lot of people will disagree with me out of pride, but it really is the truth…”
A 1989 Supreme Court Case, Texas v. Johnson, protects demonstrators’ First Amendment rights to do what they want with the flag.
Many have pointed out that the Air Force demoted Manhart (leading to her resignation) for posing nude for Playboy several years ago. Some of the pictures showed her posing with an American flag.
Manhart feels there is a big difference between her photo shoot and what the protesters were doing. “When we originally did that shoot, we did it for a specific cause,” she said in an interview with The Valdosta Daily Times. “We wanted to portray what we have as Americans when we get rid of all our material things. We wanted to strip the human of all material items and stand behind the flag because if we don’t have anything, we still have this. We still have our freedom.”
She said she knew the flag would touch the ground during the shoot and had arranged for it to be donated to the Boy Scouts so it could be disposed of properly. She insists she has no regrets about taking part in the photo shoot.
Both the protesters and police declined to press charges against Manhart; but she has been given a criminal trespass warning, which bans her from all university activities.
She still isn’t sure what the demonstrators were protesting, but conceded that she was not necessarily opposed to their protest — and might even support their cause — just the way they were going about it. “To walk on the flag is walking on our symbol of freedom,” she commented. “You have the freedom to do what you are doing because of it. I’m not fighting against them. I’m fighting against the way they are going about it.”
“If I had to do it again I would,” Manhart insisted. She is hoping for a letter of apology from the demonstrators and possession of the flag so it can be properly disposed of. She also said she is planning an event to show support for the military and the flag on Wednesday.
Do you support Manhart’s defense of the flag? Let us know in the comments section below.
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/controversial-air-force-vet-arrested-for-trying-to-protect-the-flag/
