What do you think of when you see Albany’s Flag? Did you even know we had a flag? This may sound surprising, but in other places, citizens fly their cities’ flags with pride. One of these cities is Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This is the city Albany High School alumnus and current Harvard sophomore Adam Aleksic was visiting when he had the revolutionary idea of redesigning Albany’s Flag.

Why should we adopt a new flag, you may ask? 

1. It is simply not a well designed flag, and most Albany residents do not even know we have a city flag. A flag should be memorable and something our city’s residents can take pride in. It also does not follow the North American Vexillological Association principles of flag design, so it is no wonder that this flag is not embraced by Albany citizens.
2. Many would argue the original design is racist. The United States’ political climate proves that we need to be more aware of racism and discrimination in this nation, so changing the flag would be an excellent first step in doing this. Our current flag is a modified version of the Prince’s Flag of the Netherlands and looks like the flag of apartheid-era South Africa. It is also co-opted by Dutch Nazis and similar designs have been used by white supremacists.

Adam has poured a tremendous amount of effort into getting the Albany flag replaced. He has proposed a new flag design, started a petition, created an Instagram account making others aware of this issue, and gathered people to speak on behalf of this cause to government officials.

As someone who has grown up in Albany, I fully support changing Albany’s flag because I do not want to be represented by an unjust flag. It is time for America to make changes, and Albany should play its part and adopt a new flag design. 

If you would like more information or resources visit https://www.albanyflag.com/ or @albanyflag on Instagram.