Every bit of what is now the United States once sat under the flag of one or more different nations.
Over time we fought off, bought out or assimilated those who flew the flags of England, France (royal and Napoleonic), Spain, Mexico, Russia, the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Texas.
Not all of those jurisdictions had the kind of government we would today want to be associated with. But all are part of our history.
Among those banners is the historic flag of the state of Deseret. The state was the self-proclaimed government of land that includes modern-day Utah, settled by Mormon pioneers in the middle of the 19th century. The little-remembered flag flies in few places, one of them being Ensign Peak Nature Park overlooking Salt Lake City.
It should stay there.
If anything, the flag that features blue and white stripes and a circle of blue stars in the corner should be more prominent in Utah's public places and ceremonies.
The Deseret flag is clearly meant as an homage to the flag of the United States. It is also much more original than Utah's official flag, which, at a distance, is practically indistinguishable from the flags of many other states, including Connecticut, Kentucky and Kansas, Minnesota and Montana. Those designs are denigrated by flag aficionados — formally known as "vexillologists" — as a dull and unreadable "seal on a bedsheet."
Concerns have been raised that the Deseret flag is the banner of a theocracy, which Utah/Deseret certainly was at the beginning. But the flag bears no religious symbolism that would cause those of other faiths, or of none, to shun or be shunned by it.
In that, it again differs from the official Utah flag, which is dominated by a beehive design that is very much a religious icon to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (A fact that was pointed out in this space many years ago, when the beehive design was among those proposed for the Utah state quarter.)
Certainly the Deseret flag bears no real comparison to the battle flag of the Confederate States of America. The stars and bars has earned a special place in infamy. It was, and is, the symbol of choice for people who, in both the 1860s and the 1960s, have stood, not just against racial equality but often in support of violence and terrorism. Those who want it removed from public property are correct.
The Deseret flag, on the other hand, bears no such stigma and should be assigned no divisive meaning. It is a historic symbol for a generation of pioneers who first settled a land that many people, of many faiths, now call home.
