Vincent W. Paramore knew that Old Glory never told the full story of his family`s experience.
Colors taken from the Union Jack. Thirteen stripes for the original colonies. The Stars and Stripes told a tale of European heritage, and Paramore wanted his people, those Americans who draw their roots to Africa, to have a banner they could rally around.
”The Haitians have a flag,” says Paramore, 29, of Hollywood. ”The Cubans have a flag. When you drive down the streets you see Italian flags and American flags crossed on cars. Everyone else has a flag.”
Shocked by a flag-less Martin Luther King Holiday parade on television in 1987, Paramore set out to find his own African-American design. Five years later, his patented creation-incorporating the Ethiopian, American and black nationalist banners-has generated a growing business of flags, T-shirts, bumper stickers.
Two years ago he turned full time from rare-metal commodities to sell his ”African-American Unity Flags” at parades, conventions and meetings
(phone 305-927-3751).
”When children receive this flag they say, `Mr. Paramore, this makes me feel important. It makes me feel proud of what I am,` ” Paramore says.