Tennessee has a state flag. A nice one. The trouble is, according to Local 24 Watchdog Mike Matthews, people don’t know how to fly it.
When you fly the American Flag upside down, it is a sign of distress. When you fly the Tennessee State
flag upside down, it’s just carrying on a tradition apparently.
We checked the plaza between Memphis City Hall and the Federal Building. It is loaded with flags flapping in the breeze from all over the world.
And the three big ones are there – the American Flag, the Tennessee Flag, and the Shelby County Flag.
But we were looking specifically at Tennessee’s, with three stars – one for West Tennessee, one for Middle Tennessee, and one for East Tennessee.
The first few people had no idea it was upside down. “Oh my God that’s hilarious,” said Mary Catherine, a downtown Memphis resident. “Maybe that’s an indication of our city government.”
The fifth person we talked with figured it out. “That’s probably the most common problem with our flag. it happens a lot,” she said.
She is right about that, by the way. The Tennessee State Flag is upside down a lot.
The US Postal Service put out stamps showing all 50 state flags.
Tennessee’s was upside down.
In Nashville, the flag was flown upside down over the Statehouse a few years ago.
So this isn’t one of those only in Memphis things. And people, when told what was wrong, seemed to understand. “I had not noticed,” one woman said, “…but when you pointed it out it is upside down.”
Arlenia Cole, a spokesman for the City of Memphis told us, “We’ll get that corrected.” That was on Friday, and you still will have to stand on your head to look at that flag to see how it should be flown.
