The United States Flag is insensitive...in the U.S.A.?

May 5th, most folks know from their grade school social studies class, is "Cinco de Mayo" in Mexico, a holiday which commemorates Mexico's military victory over French forces in 1862. A modern Google search of "Cinco de Mayo" brings up numerous references to the idea that the holiday is primarily celebrated in the United States, and is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico itself. This wasn't the way it was taught to me all those decades ago. Perhaps the modern explanation has to do with some revisionist history, but discussion of that is for another day.

On May 5th of this year, some high school students at Live Oak High School, in Morgan Hill, California, thought it would be a bright idea to wear some some bandannas and t-shirts with various incarnations of the United States flag printed on them. They didn't have anything made especially for the event, but merely wore off-the-rack stuff available for purchase at most any national department or discount store.

These five high-schoolers were summarily asked to either change shirts, turn them inside out, or go home for the day, after Assistant Principle Miguel Rodriquez informed them that the display of the American flag on that day was insensitive to the Hispanic students at the school.
They were told that on any other day, the wearing of the shirts would be appropriate, but not on May 5th, here in the United States.


Students sent home for wearing Red, White, and Blue.
As reported by several sources, hundreds of students at Live Oak High School wore the colors of Mexico on May 5th, including some who drew Mexican flags on their arms or faces.
This is the United States of America, not Mexico. That we here in the United States celebrate the holidays of foreign lands at all is a credit to our heritage as the great "melting pot" of the world, where folks from all nations who dreamed of freedom and opportunity could come and become Americans. Becoming American doesn't mean you forget your heritage, but it does come with the responsibility of learning, honoring, and celebrating a new heritage, that of the United States. If people with ties to other lands wish to still honor the traditions of those lands, no problem. When those traditions take the place of established American tradition, big problem!

The fact that some adult administrators at Live Oak High School took the position that the American flag was somehow incendiary is an indication of just how warped our nation's system of education has become.  Perhaps administrators were only taking heed of the violence erupting in cities across the United States by those who are opposed to Arizona's new illegal immigration law, but the open celebration of allegiance to the United States should never be banned out of some misguided effort to "keep the peace".  If a student chose to pick a fight with someone because they were celebrating their heritage in a peaceful way, then that student should have been summarily dealt with, up to and including arrest and criminal charges. 

To the credit of the Morgan Hill Unified School District, they have issued a statement disavowing the actions of Live Oak High.


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