VANDALS destroy 9/11 Memorial Flags in CA and NYC (Los Angeles and Columbia university)

Flags torn out and destroyed on both coasts

USA Flag is Triggering and Opressive

First Hand report by ROTC member who witnessed

[link to youtu.be (secure)]



No 50% Rule as this is direct from the ROTC student


Video of Vandal and story Credit to (READ BELOW WOW!)

Aanand Shah added 2 photos and a video — at Columbia University.
This morning, I ran down to the 9/11 Memorial with my ROTC battalion. There, we took some time to reflect on the tragedy that occurred 16 years ago and why we chose to serve.

A couple hours later, around 1120, I was on campus, waiting for my next class to start. I noticed there were some flags planted on the lawns in honor of those who were killed many years ago -- a common tradition on many campuses.
Then, I saw someone walking through the lawn, removing the flags one by one. He finished a row, ended up with a handful, threw them in the trash, and went back for more.

Angered, I ran over and asked him what he was doing, and was laughed at with no proper response. I asked a nearby Public Safety officer what could be done; but he was well within his rights to protest, so I recorded the video attached.
I, along with some others who'd witnessed this, decided to pull the mass of flags out of the trash, and started planting them back in. Soon, our numbers grew from five to nearly 15 passers-by who noticed and decided to help. We gradually replanted all the flags, albeit not as nicely or neatly as they were before. Love trumped hate.

I'm (personally) okay with people kneeling for the anthem or burning the flag in dissent or protest -- I will fight to defend their right to do so. I countered this man because (in my opinion) the tragedy and the memory of Sep 11, 2001, and the flags on that lawn, shouldn't devolve into politics and disrespect when it's meant to serve as a symbol of remembrance and memorial.

Shoutout to some guy named Eric, an unnamed veteran, and two other girls who helped get those flags out of the trash, and to Public Safety for allowing that man to safely protest (some people def wanted to punch him). I'm not too vocal about my political beliefs but if you read this far, thanks for hearing what I had to say -- I just wanted to get it off my chest.