'Remarkable moment': Karen flag flies at Utica City Hall

For the first time, the Karen flag is flying over Utica City Hall. 

The red, blue and white flag was not just on the pole but in the hands of some of the dozens gathered for the flagraising ceremony. A proclamation from Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri recognized January as Karen Heritage Month. 

LuPway Doh, chairman of the Utica Karen Community, said a Karen city employee first approached the administration about raising the flag. The city accepted and coordinated for it to be held to coincide with Karen New Year's holiday Jan. 2. 

“It means a lot … because we have a lot of pride in our heritage,” Doh said. “At the same time, we want to build an inclusive community for our people to have a better quality of life.” 

Karen New Year is a significant holiday, which typically falls in late December or early January, Doh said. While it was held virtually this year, hundreds of people in the Utica area participated, he said. 

Other significant holidays include the wrist-tying ceremony, which symbolizes bringing the Karen people together, and martyr’s day to commemorate leaders and others who sacrificed their lives for freedom. 

The flagraising ceremony Wednesday included several Karen cultural songs as well as comments from Palmieri and Doh. 

The Karen people first arrived as refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma, in the early 2000s. There are now roughly 8,000 Karen people in the Utica-Rome area, Doh said. 

The Karen flag has a traditional frog drum in the upper left corner and three bars of red, white and blue on the right half. A rising sun behind the drum has nine rays, representing the nine regions the Karen people come from.  

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Flying the flag symbolizes how far former refugees in Utica have come, Doh said. Many Karen forced to live in refugee camps due to the destruction of their homes in a civil war with the ethnic Burmese population could not fly their flag.

Doh hopes the flag raising ceremony in Utica becomes an annual tradition. 

“We’re just hoping this remarkable moment will bring us closer together to the community here,” he said. 

Steve Howe is the city reporter for the Observer-Dispatch. Email him at showe@gannett.com.