Kids Sent Home For Wearing American Flag
 

I think the Vice Principle really didn't think this out.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/06...gs-cinco-mayo/

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¡ Que mierda!

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One of several reasons I left CA for NV. I'm not in the least surprised.

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My blood pressure just jumped through the roof. This PC bull$hit is getting so far out of hand it makes me sick.

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This happened in California? Wow, I am surprised. :td

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Ugh....

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I saw this on the news this morning and could not believe what I was seeing. Then they put on this girl from the high school who said,
"I figured people would wear red white and green for cinco de mayo but when the, and I dont' want to sound racist, but white boys came wearing red white and blue I felt that was disrespectful." (not exact quote but pretty damn good)

I about fell over laughing when I heard that. Not only did this girl actualy say something like that but they put her on the air. I guess stupid gets raitings.

:usa

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An instant :td

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What the heck is our State / Country coming too??? :td

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Did I detect a subtle sarcasm to your comment?

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:r Yes, yes you did.

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Epic fail. Did the kids mean disrespect? To be honest yes, probably. Unless that's the way they dress every day they clearly meant to antangonize the hispanics at their school, and if anything, the admin tried to make them change to avoid a ugly racial situation. But this is America and you should be able to wear a patriotic shirt at school, even if your intention is race baiting. Go ahead and wear your patriot gear on Cinco de Mayo, but don't come crying to me when some cholo beats you up for the disrespect.:2

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Such bullshit.

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Two of the "white" kids have a Mexican-American father.
In my country we don't officially observe foreign holidays.
My daughter was looking to move from Gilroy to Morgan Hill for the better schools. I think she will have to know about this. Or maybe it's worse in Gilroy, like forcing kids to speak espanol.

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No cholo is owed the least bit of respect just because it's May 5th. No amount of respect demanded is worth violence returned if that respect is not given. In fact the act of demanding respect for foreign holidays is itself condemnable.

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:td:td

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What about if some "cholo" (whatever that means) wears a Mexican flag on Memorial Day? Same no crying rule?

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Cinco de Mayo is not really a foreign holiday per say. It's more like St. Patrick's day or Columbus day. FYI.

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California schools are terrible. My wife and I plan to move out of state by the time our kids have to go to public school. Some may be better than others, but on the whole they are :td
With the state's budget being what it is, I can only see the situation getting worse. I hope your daughter finds a decent one, or can afford some private schooling.

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So the kids would be sent home for wearing a flag on St.Pat's day? Or not wearing green? May 5th in much less a holiday than St. Pat's. It is mostly a reason for college kids to drink more and for protesters to march against America. No one even knew about it more than 25 years ago.

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Yeah, let's say I show up on St Patties day wearing a British flag bandana and shirt. Do I have the right? Yes. Is it kind of a punk thing to do? Yes. I don't think the principal had the right to do what they did, but a lot of schools in California are powder kegs of racial tension. I saw plenty of fights erupt between whites and hispanics from Junior High all the way to High school. I can see where the school admin were coming from even if they were misguided, if they were trying to avoid a fight.

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On another board someone made this statement and it fits.

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What a mess... The school district is likely in for a lawsuit and the community is going to be further broken. Unfortunately, there is no good solution for this...

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I can understand the principal’s concern that the students wearing the US flag just to incite and provoke. I can also see (not a reason mentioned here) that wearing the US flag as a “bandana” is disrespectful of the flag.

I don’t think it was the disregard for the American flag by the principal that was the issue as much as the students’ negative and malicious intent by wearing it. That being said, the principal could’ve used a better solution to mitigate the circumstance.

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I'm not sure what "it fits" but I see a huge difference between wearing colors supporting your own country and burning the flag of another country.

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Lawsuit just around the corner. Such bs, I can't even believe it.

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We gotta start putting our vote where our mouth is (so to speak)

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Tragic that American kids are being punished for being American.
I have no doubt they did it to antagonize but the school definitely over-reacted.

I don't see where a lawsuit would benefit anyone. Yes, it's a question of First Amendment rights but if the school administration admits it overreacted a lawsuit is pointless and a waste of time.

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Not sure a lawsuit would be pointless.

Waste of time, maybe in your opinion, but there is grounds for a lawsuit.

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What is to be gained?

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Are high school principles elected in CA? :)

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Lots. If you think about the rights that were violated, and the fact that we live in America and we can have the freedom to protect our rights, sometimes you can't just sit back anymore and take bs.

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To an old fart like me, this is a double-sided non-issue. Was this PC? Maybe, maybe not. But decidedly, it is BS. Hell, when I was that age I would not have been sent home for wearing an American flag to school. Instead, I would have been arrested for disrespecting the flag, and the nation . . . if I was lucky. If not, I would have been shot.

It amazes me how much things have changed, but still intolerance remains a constant. A moving constant, perhaps, but constant nonetheless.

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Sorry I missed this Lance...I'm not really getting involved in the argument on whether or not the kids should have gotten sent home. I was just making the point that Cinco de Mayo is not a "Mexican" holiday exactly. It's holiday where Americans of Mexican decent celebrate their heritage (and college kids get drunk, but they don't really need an excuse for that :)) and has become, much like St. Patricks day, an excuse for everyone to get blitzed.

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The part of a lawsuit that would worry me is that technically it is illegal to wear or manufacture clothing in the image of the American Flag. Not that I object to those items but if you attack one side there are bound to bring up that in their defense.

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My friend is a Mexican American and he says Cinco de Mayo isn't a real holiday anywhere but the U.S., it was cooked up by beer companies to sell more products. It gets hardly any exposure in it's own country outside of Puebla.

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I don't think that would be an issue, but what do I know, Im not an attorney. Although I know a few, actually about 60 or so.

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Also, it's well established precident that students at school do not have full protection of the law when it comes to free speach. If an administrator decides that your t-shirt is inappropriate they can have you turn it inside out, and send you home if you refuse. It happens all the time with bandshirts that have inappropriate imagery or language, or clothing that is known for having significance to street gangs. This kind of censorship is reserved as a right for the school, and is important for student safety and maintaining a proper learning environment and a lawsuit isn't going to change that even if the rules were misapplied in this case. The whole incident is unfortunate for everyone involved and will not do anything to help the students or the school. If anyone is to blame, IMHO, it's these kid's parents. If it wasn't their idea, they stood behind the kids and let them go to school like that instead of saying, "you know, maybe people will find your statement a little disrespectful and this isn't the best idea." Maybe next time the parents complain about the fact that there is no school bus, no library and they have to pay for the textbooks, they should think twice about filing a lawsuit against the school district.

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There we go. Darrell, thanks for getting that out clearer and faster than I did. :)

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Would you consider wearing a shirt with the American flag on it, inappropriate and detrimental to the learning environment, and that this would fall under the reserved right of the school? By the way, Clayton, just trying to understand your stance:)

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And if it's not the beer companies, it's certainly the tequila companies. Cinco De Mayo is the perfect excuse to fire up the blender and take a trip to Margaritaville:D

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Again, I think the principal did a stupid move and I think the rule was misapplied, all I'm was saying is that the admin does have legal precident to exercise discretion over what the students wear to school, so a lawsuit might be a lose/lose situation for everybody involved:2

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For information purposes, the students are protected by California Education Code 48950.

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Wow...that is just sad. :td

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Haha. So true. :r

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I understand, and I think we agree.

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Yep:r:r

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When was that passed? They certainly did the "turn your t-shirt inside out" thing all the time when I was a student, so either the admin was breaking the law then too, or things have changed. Maybe they have some argument about how clothing is not a protected free speech thing? Thanks for bringing that up, now I'm intrigued about how this plays out. :tu

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I think the biggest gain is that the other school administrators will take the student's right to free speech more seriously. Maybe they will learn that their opinion or dislike of someone's protected speech is not legal justification for revoking that person's rights.

This stuff happens in colleges as well. Check out townhall.com columnist Mike Adams. He writes 2-3 times a week about how universities only filter (punish) speech they don't like. It's rediculous, immoral, and illegal. It will continue if legal action isn't taken.