DAVIS, Calif. — A black and white American flag with a blue line through its center was torn down over the weekend from a growing memorial for slain Davis Police Officer Natalie Corona.
Fellow officers with the Davis Police Department have since replaced the flag with a new one, but the department now has an officer posted at the site to protect the growing memorial near where Officer Natalie Corona was killed.
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The flag is used by many to show support for law enforcement, synonymous with the thin blue line, which stands for law enforcement’s separation of order from chaos.
Just before Corona entered the police academy in 2016, she posed for a series of photographs carrying the thin blue line flag. She posted the photo on Facebook as a tribute to law enforcement officers in October of 2016.
“I would like this photograph to serve as my gratitude for all those law enforcement men and women who have served, who are currently serving, and those who have died in the line of duty protecting our liberties in this great country,” Corona wrote on Facebook.
Although, some argue that the blue line flag is being used to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement. Students with the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission for the student government at the UC Davis protested the flag in a Facebook post.
“Flashing lights, sirens, and increased police presence can be triggering to many Black and Brown people,” the commission wrote. “In addition, there has been circulation of an image of the police officer with the Blue Lives Matter flag. The flag is blatantly anti-Black and disrespectful,” the student group wrote. The group has since removed its Facebook page.
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