On what appeared to be Tuesday evening, October 8, 2024, the American Flag mural in Wappingers Falls on the khaki building on East Main Street and Market Street had the message “Free Palestine” spray painted onto it in black, with splatters of red paint dripping down, a technique used in the past to symbolize blood of those slaughtered in Palestine during the Israeli assault on Gaza, the West Bank, other parts of Palestine, and now Lebanon, that has been intensified during the past year. Many international institutions call it a genocide, and popular opinion has been referring to it as a holocaust, with recent burning of people alive and rounding up of people to be executed or tortured.

According to reporting at ESPN Radio 104.5FM, the “Free Palestine” message on the building was covered up and the flag repainted by noon on Wednesday by the Wappingers Department of Public Works and a local businessman Anthony Hardisty, who is a real estate agent with Sam’s Realty in Beacon, and a developer in Wappingers.

Reporting at ESPN Radio 104.5PM personified the building in the description of the application of the message, assigning emotions and actions to it: “The iconic American flag mural that greets visitors to the Village of Wappingers Falls has been vandalized with a political message.”

And “The flag has been a source of inspiration and pride for the village, standing tall during some of its darkest times, such as building collapses, fires and the devastating explosion on Market Street that occurred a year ago,” even though these events had nothing to do with the message written onto the building.

According to the article: “Wappingers Town Supervisor Joseph Cavaccini criticized the act, saying ‘Disrespecting the American Flag and acts of vandalism have no place in our community.’"

Not The First Time “Free Palestine” Tagged On A Building

In Fishkill near Home Depot, in December 2017, the Old Dutchess Mall was tagged with an enormous mural saying “Free Palestine.” While that part of the mall is trash, is surrounded by trash and is falling apart, someone or someones appeared within days to clean the message to make it disappear. They cleaned nothing else. The same trash lay in the puddles that had been there the day before the cleanup.

In Beacon in March 2024, a temporary “Free Palestine” was chalked onto a building in removable chalk. It was the back of the Sun River Health building. The first time it happened, someone threw white permanent paint over it. The person who threw the paint was never pursued, punished or discussed as a perpetrator. Only the artist who used temporary chalk was targeted with police action.

The ESPN Radio 104.5FM article pointed out that this is not the first time an American Flag was targeted with the “Free Palestine” message. An American Flag sculpture in New Paltz, as well as other objects, were painted with “Free Palestine,” as reported by the currently country radio station, The Wolf 97.7FM.

Fragility In The “Free Palestine” Message

Addressing the marking of a building without mentioning the message indicates the fragility of those who oppose its implication, which is a breakage of American imperialism, and thus, some may feel, a kink in their feelings of “safety” if they cannot be allowed to bomb Black and Brown and Arab and Muslim and Palestinian people with impunity.

“Free Palestine” means freedom to not be bombed and occupied, and it has also come to have more meanings for Americans, now that most of the country has become aware that billions of American tax dollars are and have been consistently sent to Israel to pay for the weaponry committing the mass murder in this genocide, as well as lifestyle amenities like free healthcare. Therefore, the “Free Palestine” message has patriotic meaning in America for Americans:

• Free Healthcare for all Americans.

• Free healthcare and mental health care and housing and groceries for all American Veterans.

• Free School Lunches for all students in America.

• Free politicians from AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) bullies and money so that American politicians will listen to their constituents demanding an arms embargo.

• Free College tuition for all students in America.

• Free Senior Living communities for all Americans.

• Free care for people taken by Alzheimers so that they can be safer.

• Free _____(fill in the blank) for all Americans. For all of this money spent to murder Black and Brown children, men and women, you might as well stick out your hand and demand free amenities for living here.