“Are you the newspaper? Are we gonna be in the paper?”
These are questions I hear when people see me taking photos at parades.
I usually shrug my shoulders and smile, because the truth is I don’t know if I captured the action in focus until I take a closer look later. It’s just too hard to tell when I’m trying to zoom in on a tiny screen, with the sun glaring and action happening around me I don’t want to miss.
“There’s lots of good stuff to take pictures of,” one guy offered, pointing around. “Except for that over there.”
“What?” I asked.
“The lady with the upside-down flag in the black,” he responded.
I’d seen the silent protest happening at the tail end of the parade. The petite woman dressed in mourning clothes, complete with a veil, bearing a flag hung upside-down. It was Carol Deihl, one of our subscribers who lives in Ouray, and she was peacefully protesting.
She communicated a message of distress, of concern, a call to action.
Around her, kids ran to collect candy thrown from the parade participants.
They cheered for the firefighters, spraying the other side of the street with water. They chanted, “USA, USA!” when a church leader with a bullhorn led them to chant.
She stayed silent.
Ouray resident Carol Deihl protests silently at the Independence Day parade in Ouray on July 4, 2025. Erin McIntyre | OURAY COUNTY PLAINDEALER
The man looked over at Carol standing there, shaking his head with disgust.
I couldn’t help myself.
“Oh, the lady exercising her First Amendment rights?” I said. “I can’t think of a more patriotic way to celebrate the Fourth of July.”
I noticed he wore a shirt that had the word “freedom” printed on it, clearly only meaning freedom for those with his views, his beliefs, his values.
But that’s not what our Constitutional rights entail. Speech isn’t only protected if you agree with it.
The First Amendment not only includes the freedom of speech, it also includes the constitutional right for journalists to do their job – the freedom of the press – and the freedom of religion, the freedom to assemble and the freedom to ask the government to right a wrong.
These aren’t conditional. Free speech isn’t only free if it’s agreeable. The press isn’t only free to do its work if it’s friendly to government officials. That’s not how it works.
There’s a disturbing trend bubbling up – one of intolerance and downright nastiness from some who just cannot fathom having a conversation with others who don’t have identical views. The mere existence of opinions and information differing from their viewpoints is threatening.
The irony is people like Mr. Freedom Shirt fail to recognize that if freedom of speech isn’t protected for everyone, it could be his very own opinion at risk of being suppressed in the future. They’re too arrogant and short-sighted to think they would ever be the unpopular ones.
I talked to Carol after the parade and asked her about the statement she was making.
She said she was so concerned about the destruction of the principles on which our country was founded, and the dismantling of peace that she found it difficult to celebrate the holiday. While others decided not to attend the parade at all, she instead decided to wear black and exercise her free speech rights.
“I see challenges to the idea that no individual is above the law; to the commitment to reality, facts, and science; to the process of peacefully working out our differences,” she said.
Ouray resident Carol Deihl holds the U.S. flag upside-down to illustrate her concerns about the state of affairs in the U.S. during the Fourth of July parade in Ouray.
Erin McIntyre | OURAY COUNTY PLAINDEALER
She used the symbol of the upside-down flag to express the international sign for distress, to illustrate her concerns about the current state of affairs. And she dressed in mourning clothes because she’s grieving for “what our country is losing, and for all the individuals who are suffering, and even dying, because of the current administration’s impulsive and intentionally cruel actions.”
Freedom of speech is essential for a functioning democracy. We should be free to express our opinions without worrying if we’ll be thrown in prison or banished to some gulag.
That means even if I disagree with someone’s opinion, I’ll defend their right to express it. It doesn’t matter if I like them or their message.
I don’t know how many of you remember when a tractor bearing the Con- federate flag drove down Ouray’s Main Street on July 4, 2020, during the pandemic when the other festivities were canceled.
Do I support the Confederate flag? No. It stands for racism and slavery. White supremacist groups, neo-Nazis and other hate groups use it to intimidate others. But I maintain the Hudson Ranch had the right to fly it.
At least we know what people stand for when they are allowed to express their opinions.
And, thanks to the First Amendment, you’re free to express your own opinions, however unpopular they may be.
So, Mr. Freedom Shirt, thanks for giving me the opportunity to put Carol in the paper and talk about one of my favorite subjects. You’re free to criticize my opinion, of course, thanks to the First Amendment.
Erin McIntyre is the co-publisher of the Plaindealer. Email her at erin@ouraynews.com.
