Judson Memorial Church 55th Anniversary of the People's Flag Show
On October 21st, 2025 I received an acceptance notice from "The Flag Show Team" at Judson Commons:
"Thank you for submitting your artwork for the 55th Anniversary People’s Flag Show! We are pleased to confirm that your work has been accepted."
The artwork: STOP THE USRAEL HOLOCAUST OF PALESTINE (حق العودة)
I sent the following requested statement to be included in the catalog:
My aim is to wield the heaviest hammer in protest against the Israel fueled and US funded genocide. The attempted erasure of the Palestinian people, which began in 1948, continues in broad daylight in hyper-demonic forms. Making a mockery of the UN since 1948, Israel has become the swastika of our time against the Palestinians.
The whole world conspired against Gaza, the whole world is at stake because of it.
The opposite side of this banner reads “ABOLISH ISRAEL!”. It hit the streets in late December of 2024, with images of the message traveling across the globe.
I was sent confirmation that it was received. “Thank you! Confirming that we have received this information for the catalog.”
I was scheduled to drop off of my artwork on November 7th at 10:30AM. However, on Nov. 6th, 2025, the day before delivery, I received a text, a phone call (Bucey left a message) and an email from Senior Minister Rev. Micah Bucey, who just saw the artwork for the first time that morning. My artwork was being pulled from the exhibition. Judson Commons, Bucey stated, has a policy of no swastikas: "I’m sorry that your piece was accepted without our curators consulting the community guideline barring swastikas from being anywhere within Judson’s space.”
The advertisement for the 55th Anniversary People’s Flag Show displays a swastika in the image of the original Peoples Flag show.
Both confused and disappointed, I responded "Considering the eruption and controversy the original flag show ignited in 1970, and this show was in celebration of its 55th anniversary, and in light of the ongoing holocaust of the Palestinian people by Israel, funded by the US, while screaming "NEVER AGAIN!", I am quite shocked and deeply disappointed. Whether policies or laws, it is this suppression of expression, and free speech that the 1970 flag exhibit was testing and rooted in.”
As a closing statement I ended my correspondence with an excerpt from Wikipedia:
"The organizers of the exhibition wanted to test the boundaries of “repressive laws governing so-called flag desecration.”[3] This intent was posted on a flyer calling for artist participation for the week-long event. While the exhibition was not explicitly an antiwar event, it grew out of the antiwar movement, with many of the works included in the exhibition referencing and in some cases expressing disapproval of the Vietnam War."
Excerpts from a recent interview with Micah Bucey in ART News:
Judson Memorial Church Is Fighting Fascism by Remaking a Famed—and Controversial—Art Show About the US Flag
By Maximilíano Durón November 10, 2025 10:53am
Regarding original Flag Show: “They wanted to, of course, protest the war and the US’s continued funding of that war, and also to test the limits of freedom of expression, especially as there was such a crackdown on flag desecration laws. The pastors at Judson, as usual, said, “This is the exact place where you can and should do this show.”
"Ever since Judson opened in the 1890s, there have been three legs to the stool that holds Judson up. Those are expansive spirituality, radical social justice seeking, and unfettered, uncensored creativity."
"Counting artists as our modern-day prophets is in our DNA, which is essentially saying artists are the question askers."
"We think that artists show us where we’ve been, who we are, and what we can become."
"This new “People’s Flag Show” is not just an aesthetic appreciation of a time in our history. It is very much us getting back to our roots but thinking of the word “radical” that it is both rooted in our history but also tendrils out.”
"For us, coming together around this show, it isn’t navel gazing. It’s meant to activate. It’s meant to allow us to interrogate our complicity and accept our invitation—as artists, as activists, as organizers, as art lovers—to know that we have a place and a part to play in a revolution and in a resistance."
"Freedom of expression and interrogating this symbolism of America—and the flag as the most widely known and recognized symbol of America—is the main theme.”
MD: “What do you and the Judson community hope people take away from visiting the exhibition or any of the week-long programs?”
MB: "I hope they are activated to get involved in activism. I hope that they are activated to say that art can be art for art’s sake, of course, but it can be—and I would argue should be—a catalyst for embodying who you’re called to be, not only all the time, but especially right now, in a time like this where fascism and Christian nationalism are threatening us. Watching artists create in the midst of it can be a catalyst for anyone—whether they call themselves an artist or not—to understand that they can be the makers of creation in the midst of destruction, no matter who they are. That’s what makes art and artists so dangerous. That’s why artists are the first voices that get silenced at a time like this, and you can see it now. We are seeing that artists, activists, and organizers are the first targets right now where the current governmental regime is trying to tamp down on any kind of art that is questioning the direction that the country is going in right now. I hope that people leave feeling activated to go in create in the midst of destruction.”
On November 11th, opening reception of the exhibit, and November 15th, the last day, protest actions took place against the censorship. I printed 200 postcards of my artwork, handed them out to attendees of the exhibition, along with a flyer detailing the censorship and hypocrisy. They all made it over the threshold, contrary to the "community guideline barring swastikas from being anywhere within Judson’s space." The reception was disrupted in support of my protest for censorship. One artist removed their artwork from the exhibit and a performance artist brought his performance and supporters outside to perform.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking. The outward appearance of Judson stands for radical activism and freedom of expression, yet internally it is quite the opposite. The original People’s Flag Show was created to challenge exactly this kind of censorship. To ban a work whose purpose is to confront fascism and state violence is to reverse the spirit of the original show and to narrow the political possibilities that Judson once held open. The swastika in my piece is used to draw a parallel between the Nazi Holocaust and the ongoing oppression and mass killing of Palestinians. One may disagree with my interpretation, but disagreement is not grounds for exclusion from an exhibition whose legacy rests on protecting political dissent in its most difficult forms. My artworks continue to be a critique, commentary and condemnation of the Israel fueled and U.S. funded genocide of the Palestinian people. (not a celebration or promotion of Nazi Germany.) My aim is to wield the heaviest hammer in protest against the attempted erasure of Palestine, which began in 1948, and continues in broad daylight in hyper-demonic forms. Making a mockery of the UN since 1948, Israel has become the swastika of our time against the Palestinians.
My current protest art aims to wield the heaviest hammer against the Israel fueled and US funded holocaust while acknowledging America’s own diabolical history. The attempted erasure of the Palestinian people, beginning in 1948, continues in broad daylight in hyper-demonic forms. My protest art shines light on the perpetrators. The attempt to place these messages in the crosshairs of jewish bigotry is an attempt to deflect away from the massacring of Palestinians by the Zionist, so-called Jewish State of Israel. Making a mockery of the UN since 1948, Israel has become the swastika of our time against the Palestinians.
Artists can choose to create art as a spark for critical conversations, to alert and engage others in the fight against oppression, occupation, apartheid and genocide. “Acting as guardians of artistic freedom and independent thought”, acting as guardians of humanity in the pursuit of justice. We all have the duty to disrupt daily life, seize every moment, create every opportunity, to speak out against the most horrific injustice of our time. Only a supremacist would deny a people of this right; only evil would guard and permit that denial.
The whole world conspired against Gaza. The whole world is at stake because of it.
Art can force us to grapple with different perspectives, for hearing what we might rather ignore or prefer to hide, and for facing what makes us uncomfortable. Cultural organizations must make these encounters possible. They are key to the functioning of a democracy, as they promote freedom of expression, encourage critical thinking, and create vital opportunities for public discussion and dissent.
I am an activist who has devoted the past two years to anti-fascist and pro Palestinian work. I am regularly harassed, threatened, and have been doxxed because of my political commitments. My artwork is part of a serious and necessary archive of our time.
Just as Israel has made a mockery of the UN since 1948, Judson's censorship is making a mockery of "Fighting Fascism".
According to an AI overview: Hypocrisy and propaganda are two distinct concepts that often intersect, particularly in politics and media, to manipulate perception and evade accountability.