Hayden flags flipping upside-down in protest
A flag hangs upside down in Hayden in protest of the presidential election.
Storm clouds loom Friday afternoon as the American flag waves upside-down outside Chuck Brumbach's home. Brumbach said he was inspired to flip his flag around after seeing his neighbor do the same. The two Hayden homeowners are protesting the presidential election, in which former Vice President Joe Biden is leading in both the popular vote and the electoral college. (CRAIG NORTHRUP/Press)
(CRAIG NORTHRUP/Press) An American flag hangs upside down in Hayden in protest of the presidential election on Friday.
A trend is blooming in Hayden, as residents are turning American flags they keep raised on their properties upside down in protest.
The trend started on Election Day Tuesday, when a homeowner near north Rocking R Road flipped the Stars and Stripes around to protest the results of the presidential election. (The homeowner did not want his name or location to be printed in the paper, nor did he wish to be quoted.)
A neighbor on the same street followed suit Friday. Chuck Brumbach said he lowered his American flag, flipped it around and raised it backward after what he described as an election in question.
“I told everybody to start doing it,” Brumbach said. “I talked to my wife, and I said, ‘By God, we’ve got to do that, too.’“
“America’s in distress,” Brumbach said. “Everything that flag stands for is in distress right now. Hanging it upside down is a way of telling people, ‘We’re in trouble.’ Because we’re in trouble right now.”
As of 4:30 Friday afternoon, former Vice President Joe Biden held a lead in both the popular vote and in the electoral college, though at least four states — Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania — are still in play. Wins in Nevada and Arizona, for example, would give Biden the win of the White House. Lawsuits on behalf of the Trump campaign have been filed and subsequently tossed out by judges in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan, the latter of two called by several news outlets as swinging for Biden.
“I’m worried about the fact that this election is between freedom and oppression, “Brumbach said. “Lines have been drawn for years. And you can’t keep re-drawing the lines in the sand like (Democrats) did."
Brumcach’s word of mouth appears to have spread. At least two other flags in the same neighborhood were flipped around Friday afternoon, a fifth was flipped outside a home on Hayden Avenue and a sixth sprouted from a flagpole near the airport.
“There’s a lot of anger,” Brumbach said. “I’m angry. We don’t have any way to release that anger peacefully. So this is a way to peacefully release your frustrations.”
