In yet another flash of brilliance, a California school sent home five boys for celebrating the American flag.
by Michael Naragon
Whose country is it, again?
At Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, CA, the American flag has been deemed “incendiary” when worn on certain days. In this case, when worn on the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo. According to a story on FOXNews.com, five students were sent home for reportedly attempting to incite violence by wearing the colors of the United States–the country in which their school happens to be located.
One of the boys, Daniel Galli, told a local NBC affiliate that school officials told him and his five fellow offenders that they could wear clothing celebrating the American flag on any other day, but Cinco de Mayo was “sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it.”
To be fair, the school district, smelling the potential for a First Amendment lawsuit, wisely released a statement claiming that they did not agree with Live Oak’s decision to refuse to allow them to wear the shirts and bandannas.
“In an attempt to foster a spirit of cultural awareness and maintain a safe and supportive school environment, the Live Oak High School administration took certain actions earlier today,” the statement read. “The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration’s interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.”
It’s not surprising that a California school would take such a tyrannical position as to prohibit kids from bringing the American flag to school. These are the same sort of people, after all, that also prohibited the Declaration of Independence in a high school classroom because it, too, was “incendiary.”
What is truly disturbing about this case, however, is how blatant was the subversion of American pride and patriotism to the perversion that is multiculturalism. Reportedly, the school officials were trying to protect the feelings of Mexican Americans. Why would Mexican Americans have any issue with the flag of their country being flown, displayed, or proudly worn? Are they not Americans? Who, then, is the school attempting to protect from such a hateful display?
Gone, it seems, are the days where a young person from the United States can show pride in his nation. And here I thought that, with Barack Obama in the Oval Office, that these were the days when a person could finally–and for some, for the first time in life–be proud of our country.
