5 students sent home for wearing American T-Shirts on Cinco de Mayo

[GSG]

Sorry huskerboard but I have to call on this discussion. I remember when I was a kid I was sent home from high school IN DEAR OL' NEBRASKA for having the audacity to show up at school with blue hair! So pardon me if I don't feel bad for a gang of white kids stirring sh#t up on Cinco de Mayo when they knew damn well they would catch hell for it. Does anyone really expect me to believe these kids where just going about their day quite as can be, and not making little asses of themselves? Sorry but I was a kid once, and I can guarantee you that's not how it went down.

 

Besides the fact that I don't appreciate some little punks using my flag to promote their misguided xenophobia. Our flag is a symbol of unity, not a tool to be exploited to expound some shallow quasi-nationalist rhetoric that they probably don't even understand. In other words, racism is NOT patriotism. Fight the association all you like but the fact is 99.9% of the "mexicans" these kids are trying to incite are as American as you or me, and most aren't even from Mexico you fools! Get a clue, the U.S.A isn't about one race, one religion, one culture, and it never has been.

 

And lastly, I would like to try and shed a little historic perspective on the situation if I can. Over a hundred and thirty years or so ago my great, great grandfather came to the U.S. in search of a better life, and can you guess what he had to endure? That's right, gangs of 'patriotic' thugs spiting and cursing at him for being a lazy, dirty alien that had no business coming to their country and taking their jobs. Oh how much difference a century makes!

 

Was your great, great grandfather Irish or German?

[muzicman0]

Your guaranty doesn't mean jack. Do some research on what actually happened. And I don't care what the reason was that they wore those shirts... last I checked, we had free speech rights in America.

[holvy83]

Here is what the other side has to say i guess...

 

[74Hunter]

Here is what the other side has to say i guess...

 

Not suprising.

[killer cacti]

Here is what the other side has to say i guess...

 

WTF do we owe them? By being here in our country you OWE us taxes at the very least. Tu comprende?

[fro daddy]

And lastly, I would like to try and shed a little historic perspective on the situation if I can. Over a hundred and thirty years or so ago my great, great grandfather came to the U.S. in search of a better life, and can you guess what he had to endure? That's right, gangs of 'patriotic' thugs spiting and cursing at him for being a lazy, dirty alien that had no business coming to their country and taking their jobs. Oh how much difference a century makes!

 

But I bet he was a proud new american and greatful for the oportunities and life this land presented him. I would bet he became a respectful citizen and paid his taxes. I bet he followed the laws and did his best to better his comunity. I bet he was a great american.

 

The same can not be said for the many, many illegals coming into this country in our time. It just happens to be that most of them are from Mexico. Not a race issue. Just a fact issue. I have no issues with anyone if they go about it the right way.

 

but that is just my $0.02

[Bradr]

And lastly, I would like to try and shed a little historic perspective on the situation if I can. Over a hundred and thirty years or so ago my great, great grandfather came to the U.S. in search of a better life, and can you guess what he had to endure? That's right, gangs of 'patriotic' thugs spiting and cursing at him for being a lazy, dirty alien that had no business coming to their country and taking their jobs. Oh how much difference a century makes!

 

My great grandparents were German speaking northern Prussians and Frisians. They moved here for a better life for themselves and their decedents. I have no problem with that. I have no problem with traditions either. I love ethnic bierocks just as much as I love barbacoa, tortillas, and horchada.

 

I celebrate St Pattys day when I'm not Irish, and I celebrated Cinco De May last weekend and will celebrate at another party this weekend when I'm not Spanish.

 

What I have a problem with here is not the people. It is the attitude towards lack of assimilation. America assimilates cultures and makes them its own. We integrate and it has worked for a long long time. But when a culture steadfastly and stubbornly refuses to assimilate, I have a problem with that. When I hear about any group that wants special attention in schools, who draws attention to itself for the sake of attention, who makes demands that include the group and not the whole, I get upset.

 

I'm going to guess that my great grandfather who was trying to assimilate, did not grab his nearest German flag, have his kids (my grandparents) skip school, and then march down the street denouncing the locals for displaying their pride in America. No, because he was an American at that point. He decided that when he moved here. And here a group of people who, if anything, are expressly avoiding assimilation. Not only that, but I detect a sense of loathing towards America from these people. And that can go towards not only the latino community, but towards a lot of people in the US these days. Be thankful for a chance at a better life and if you don't like it, get out. Don't decry when we display our pride towards our country and that country's symbol, our flag.

 

Especially when that flag represents the very sacrifices that have created this great country and the liberties that hsve been earned - a country that these people (rightfully so) wish to be a part of. That is BS of the most epic degree.

 

That is when and why I say either with us or go home.

[holvy83]

And lastly, I would like to try and shed a little historic perspective on the situation if I can. Over a hundred and thirty years or so ago my great, great grandfather came to the U.S. in search of a better life, and can you guess what he had to endure? That's right, gangs of 'patriotic' thugs spiting and cursing at him for being a lazy, dirty alien that had no business coming to their country and taking their jobs. Oh how much difference a century makes!

 

My great grandparents were German speaking northern Prussians and Frisians. They moved here for a better life for themselves and their decedents. I have no problem with that. I have no problem with traditions either. I love ethnic bierocks just as much as I love barbacoa, tortillas, and horchada.

 

I celebrate St Pattys day when I'm not Irish, and I celebrated Cinco De May last weekend and will celebrate at another party this weekend when I'm not Spanish.

 

What I have a problem with here is not the people. It is the attitude towards lack of assimilation. America assimilates cultures and makes them its own. We integrate and it has worked for a long long time. But when a culture steadfastly and stubbornly refuses to assimilate, I have a problem with that. When I hear about any group that wants special attention in schools, who draws attention to itself for the sake of attention, who makes demands that include the group and not the whole, I get upset.

 

I'm going to guess that my great grandfather who was trying to assimilate, did not grab his nearest German flag, have his kids (my grandparents) skip school, and then march down the street denouncing the locals for displaying their pride in America. No, because he was an American at that point. He decided that when he moved here. And here a group of people who, if anything, are expressly avoiding assimilation. Not only that, but I detect a sense of loathing towards America from these people. And that can go towards not only the latino community, but towards a lot of people in the US these days. Be thankful for you chance and if you don't like it, get out. Don't decry when we display our pride towards our country and that country's symbol, our flag.

 

Especially when that flag represents the very sacrifices that have created this great country and the liberties that hsve been earned - a country that these people (rightfully so) wish to be a part of. That is BS of the most epic degree.

 

That is when and why I say either with us or go home.

[bennychico11]

in the end, the administration's duty is to make sure the children get an education. Pretty much every school's administrator has had to send home a kid for having blue hair, a shirt that says 'f#*k', a girl who's wearing too skimpy of clothing, etc. If it's something that will be considered a distraction towards the rest of the students...the administrators will look to remove it. Obviously the kids did it in order to incite something out of the Mexican-American students and it was something the administrator deemed could be a distraction from the class work.

If it were a shirt with a swastika on it...would it still be okay for the student to wear it? (not comparing the American flag to a swastika...just comparing two cultural symbols)

[muzicman0]

in the end, the administration's duty is to make sure the children get an education. Pretty much every school's administrator has had to send home a kid for having blue hair, a shirt that says 'f#*k', a girl who's wearing too skimpy of clothing, etc. If it's something that will be considered a distraction towards the rest of the students...the administrators will look to remove it. Obviously the kids did it in order to incite something out of the Mexican-American students and it was something the administrator deemed could be a distraction from the class work.

If it were a shirt with a swastika on it...would it still be okay for the student to wear it? (not comparing the American flag to a swastika...just comparing two cultural symbols)

people love to say things like 'If it were a shirt with a swastika on it...', but the fact is, it wasn't. it was a shirt that depicted an american flag. We live in America. It is a national symbol. If people in America are incited to violence due to this flag, it's the problem of the idiots who don't like it. not the people wearing our national symbol.

[Apathy]

Here is what the other side has to say i guess...

 

At the beginning of that sign he was following our First Amendment right of freedom of speach until he took it to another level of terroristic threats for threating to shoot police officers. You have to be a legal citizen to have rights in this country I'm sorry but its not that difficult to because legalized. My fiances friend is married to an illigal immigrant (latino) and he is doing his part to learn the english language and to get his green card so he can be an American citizen and I applaud him for that and I wish him the best of luck because he is a really nice guy.

[Apathy]

I've had my flagpole in my front yard for over a year now and I have not taken down my American flag even thru snow, rain, and wind....nothing in this world will make me lower that flag.

[bennychico11]

btw, that pic above looks photoshopped to me

 

people love to say things like 'If it were a shirt with a swastika on it...', but the fact is, it wasn't.

 

we people love to say that because teenage students like this most likely weren't trying to make a national pride statement but rather to incite anger amongst a certain racial community. The swastika does the same thing. I highly doubt this student wears this shirt every week and is known as "just that kid who wears his American pride."

 

I'm not condoning any violence over this situation...all I'm saying is I understand how the administration acted.

 

 

On a related note, has anyone seen the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?"

It's a reality show where they follow around celebrities (ie. Spike Lee, Emmit Smith, Lisa Kudrow, etc.) when they search out their ancestry. Watching it makes me think how it's amazing that we sometimes forget where we've come from. Most of us came from completely different countries hundreds of years ago. While the Mexican Americans you're all telling to "love it or leave it" have only been here for one generation at most! And you're wondering why they still want to retain they're heritage?

 

Many sit here and say "f#*k everyone else! America is the best!" Almost as if it's a f'ing competition between countries. "Buy U.S. products, don't donate money to Haiti...give it to New Orleans instead, blah blah blah." And in the same breath we like to say how tolerant and 'Christian like' this country is.

[Manhattan]

I'm divided on the issue because two different things are really at the heart of this.

 

The first is that we clearly have some racist teenagers who want to stir things up for shock value. If you think those kids wear those cheesy shirts on any other day of the year, including Independence Day, you must be dense. I think any sensible American would be ashamed at these kids. Not ashamed because they wore an American flag to school - that is never something to be ashamed about - but clearly they organized an event to make the Hispanic people at the school feel uncomfortable. If I went to work out of the blue with an American flag for a tie on such a day, my Hispanic co-workers would probably feel antagonized by such a display. It's common sense. Now, if it were my habit to wear flamboyant ties all year round, so that it seemed purely coincidental that I showed up with an American-flag tie on Cinco de Mayo, then that is clearly fine. But only doing it with the intent of antagonizing Hispanics, that's just wrong.

 

The issue is not that they were wearing American flag shirts. Nobody cares. It is that the kids clearly did it with the intent on making others feel uncomfortable in a learning environment. That is wrong and their parents should be ashamed. If they're not, they're probably racists too.

 

Now, I don't think these kids should have been suspended. I support their first amendment rights. As pointed out before, there have been far worse things allowed to carry on in schools than someone wearing a flag as a counter-political statement, and at the end of the day, no crime was committed and they didn't do anything wrong. If Hispanic children were offended, I would say too bad. Honestly, people are too easily offended these days and they should realize that there are antagonistic people out there who are just ignorant.

 

What it boils down to this is this:

 

The kids wearing the shirts and the people who support then: You are right, but for the wrong reasons. This is not an us-vs.-them, this is about common social decency and respect. For a group of people so concerned about the disappearance of morals in our society, it seems to be perfectly acceptable to organize with your friends to make a political/social statement on a day that nobody would otherwise care about just to make other people feel uncomfortable. It just reeks of white trash. The reason you should support them is because of their constitutional rights, not because you have this ridiculous sense of outrage at this clearly racially charged (and motivated) situation, which you fail to identify as such.

[sd'sker]

these stories are annoying. the are isolated incidents that are completely inconsequential and yet they inflame the entire nation. it is really a waste of time to pay any attention to these stories.