Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees

[Spexxvet]

I'm impressed that so many of you in this thread know exactly what all of the participants were thinking and what they would do in the future. Congratulations to you all for you astounding perception qualities. People who were involved in the situation obviously lack your mad skillz.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're missing the point. It doesn't matter what the fuck they were thinking, it's what they did. That's all, just what happened, not why.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You're missing the point. It doesn't matter what the fuck they were thinking, it's what they did. That's all, just what happened, not why.

Bullshit. The reason and intent of all those involved matter.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I ran over your cat, but it's OK because I was bringing you a cookie.
Yeah sure, tell me about the good intentions on the way to hell.

Intent certainly matters sometimes when it comes to freedom of speech/expression.

It falls under the "fighting words" doctrine or shouting "fire" in a crowded theater.

Would it apply here...who knows?

[Shawnee123]

All hell breaks loose if one questions the intent of wording in a written law, such as the recent AZ law, of what is considered "reason to suspect" someone is an illegal. The "intention" of the person singling out the suspected illegal becomes all-important. Yet we should not consider intent (of any party) in a subjective decision at an individual school?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Leave off school, just individual.

[jinx]

Questioning is one thing Shaw, handing out armbands and assuming people are xenophobes and racists is another.

[Shawnee123]

And the question I asked was: how do we know? Do we make them wear armbands? I don't remember using the word racist but I don't remember what I had for lunch yesterday.

Anyway, it was an aside point, and only slightly relevant.

[jinx]

You asked a question, I gave you an answer based on your own posts, what's the eyerolling for?

[Shawnee123]

*shrugs*

It's a smilie...half smile/half laughing at our same old argument. I'll find a better one.

[classicman]

Since someone brought it up somewhere in here...

The ACLU speaks

Students' American Flag T-Shirts Are Protected Speech

Last week, five students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing T-shirts bearing the American flag. The students were reportedly sent home after Vice Principal Miguel Rodriguez told them the shirts posed a "safety issue" on a day celebrating Mexican heritage.

Punishing students for wearing T-shirts with the American flag is a clear violation of their free speech rights. The ACLU of Northern California responded to the incident by sending a letter to Morgan Hill Schools Superintendent Dr. Wesley Smith, reminding him of the speech rights students are entitled to under the U.S. Constitution and California law.

The letter points out that students' wearing of the American flag wouldn't have been controversial but for the interest of other students in celebrating their Mexican heritage on Cinco de Mayo. The students' patriotic display was particularly meaningful because of the context, and their right to express their patriotism in light of that context must be honored. The right to wear an American flag every day but Cinco de Mayo would do little to advance the important work of the First Amendment, whose protections must be enforced every day.

There is another important lesson for the school here. For displays of the American flag to create such a strong concern about disruption, it's likely the school has underlying racial and cultural tensions that need attention. Using censorship to suppress student speech is exactly the wrong thing to do in this kind of situation. While the school superintendent did make a statement reaffirming the school district's support for students' speech rights, it's also important that the Live Oak teachers and administrators use this incident as an opportunity to teach students tolerance, diversity and mutual respect.

Link

[TheMercenary]

A pretty good commentary on how the whole thing could have been handled differently.

The Soft Bigotry of Insulting Chicanos’ Intelligence

Yesterday was May 5th, which in Spanish is Cinco de Mayo… which Mexicans do not celebrate as their Independence Day (that would be September 16th, 1810), but which Mexican Americans (Chicanos) celebrate all across the American Southwest and probably elsewhere as well.
On May 5th, 1862, the nationalist militia of Mexico, under the command of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, defeated the imperial French forces at the Battala de Puebla. While this didn’t end the war with France — the French fought on for another five years, abandoning their Mexican “colony” only after the United States joined the war on Mexico’s side — Cinco de Mayo is a major Chicano holiday, celebrated primarily by gorging on Mexican food, swigging tequilla, and shooting pistols into the air (kind of like an NBA Finals victory celebration). One hopes the rituals are different in high school.
Yesterday at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, in the Santa Clara Valley of California (“Silicon Valley”), school officials celebrated Cinco de Mayo by sending five students home… for wearing American-flag t-shirts.
Principal Nick Boden called the t-shirts “incendiary,” according to one of the students. His rationale for threatening the flag-wearers with suspension and then sending them home was that wearing red, white, and blue on Cinco de Mayo was somehow insulting and disrespectful to Hispanic students, which constitute a very large portion of the school’s population; however, the school district is unhappy with Boden’s action:

Continues:

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives...-intelligence/

[classicman]

Muchas gracias, Principal Sanchez, for the breath of fresh sanity.

Outstanding. A far cry from that idiot Asst Principal Miguel Rodriguez did.

* Think what a revelation it would have been had he explained to them that, while their heritage may be Mexican, they themselves are American citizens… so the American flag is not insulting or disrespectful to them. (I doubt a single one of the protesting students is actually a Mexican citizen.)

* Imagine if Rodriguez had told them that celebrating a victory by Mexico over France does not require them to attack the United States… which allied with Mexico in that very war.

* Imagine if he had lectured them about showing civility themselves: The five students didn’t tell anyone else not to wear the colors of the Mexican flag; why should Hispanic students demand that their classmates not wear the colors of the American flag — which is, of course, also the flag of the Hispanic students?

But he didn’t.

Instead, the Hispanic assistant principal (Miguel Rodriguez) told all the Hispanic students at Live Oak High School that the American flag is insulting, offensive, and disrespectful… and that they have every right to demand it be excluded from an American school.

[Shawnee123]

Chico Rodriquez