On a fall afternoon, Mark Hurley, a retired Army and Marine veteran, was doing chores in his yard in Bennington, Vt. Hurley has two American flags flying in front of his home.
“It means tons to me,” he said. “Regardless of what your opinion is on life, we are Americans we should be proud of that over everything.”
Hurley, who is white and leans conservative, told NPR he sees the flag as something sacred, a symbol you salute, not a symbol you question. He worries his kind of patriotism is being eroded these days, in part because so many people are focused on issues of race.
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