Gregg Deal
Indigenous Flag 2
There is an intersection of Indigenous communities that serve in the military, and carry a sense of pride with the settler colonialist power structure that is America. This is not meant to belittle or take away from that very real feeling, but is meant to honor the intersection of these things. While the existence of this may contradict the Indigenous struggle, the complexities of military service, Indigeneity and the effort to find a place to fit in the space we occupy now is very real. Indigenous people have more people serving than any other ethnic group or minority per capita, and to abandon this truth is to dishonor those that believe they are serving for the greater good of the United States, and the sacrifice that comes with that. The iconography used here are patterns used in baskets and some pottery, something appropriate and recognizable to both Native and non-Native. Using the original United States flag is meant to keep the integrity of the original flag in tact, keeping in place the familiar colors and layout that exist.