Isn't it ironic?

Today is Pioneer Day in Utah. The day the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Everywhere I went there were American flags flying. I find it ironic that these flags are part of the celebrations. After the persecution in Missouri and the slaying of Joseph Smith in Illinois, the Mormon pioneers that came here were trying to get away from the US. Utah was at the time still part of Mexico. Though it did become a territory of the US shortly there after, not ten years later President Buchanan sent troops to put down a rumored uprising. But to celebrate their ancestors, the people of the state fly the flag of the nation that persecuted them. Perhaps they are saying, "Thanks USA, if not for your hate they would not have come here." Perhaps.