Displaying Old Glory: An “Incendiary” Act?

By John Lillpop —— Bio and Archives May 6, 2010

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Some stories in the news are just too zany to be taken seriously. Like for instance, the wretched tale of five students in Morgan Hill that were sent home for wearing T-shirts with the American flag on Cinco de Mayo Day.

First thought: Does Morgan Hill, California, about 20 minutes from my home in San Jose, have a “sister” city in Mexico? That would explain this idiocy, although even then the Nazi-like behavior by school administrators would have been reprehensible. As it turns out, the high school involved is Live Oak, very much in the United States of America, in the town of Morgan Hill, California. As reported, in part, at nbcbayarea.com:

“On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population. “Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office. "They said we could wear it on any other day," Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today." “The boys said the administrators called their T-shirts "incendiary" that would lead to fights on campus.”

Wearing the American flag in America is “incendiary”? Just who in the hell are these ding bat “administrators,” anyhow? Did it ever occur to these so-called “educators” that the Mexican students who found the American flag so offensive (that they might resort to physical fighting)are the ones who should have been sent home for intolerance, bigotry and racism? Good God, do these damn fools even know what country this is? Besides the brutal stupidity of this ordeal and it inherent unfairness to the five students, administrators sent a very wrong civics message to the Mexican students who should be forced to learn that 1)this is not Mexico, 2)In America, freedom of expression is a sacred right guaranteed to Americans by the Bill of Rights. And, 3) the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are in full force and effect-- even on Cinco de Mayo day!