It's Finally Come to This ... The American Flag is Incendiary
By teamrose
@teamrose (1492)
United States
May 11, 2010 1:31am CST
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/265404-five-morgan-hill-students-sent-home-for-wearing-american-flag-t-shirts
Five Morgan Hill students sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts 2:11 PM By Lindsay Bryant Five male students were asked to leave Live Oak High School this morning because they were wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Officials at the school could not be reached for comment, but one student said administrators called the T-shirts "incendiary." "They said we were starting a fight, we were fuel to the fire," said Matt Dariano, a sophomore. The five teens were sitting at a table outside during their brunch break around 10:10 a.m. when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two...
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5 responses
@jb78000 (15139)
•
11 May 10
odd that it was only these 5 boys and not the other students wearing american flag clothing who were sent home. one girl got a mexican flag confiscated but others weren't. looks like incompetence to me - principal trying to avoid playground scuffles but actually just stirring things up. there were three sensible ways to handle this situation and this was not one of them. 
1 person likes this
@teamrose (1492)
• United States
11 May 10
Re: It's Finally Come to This ... The American Flag is Incendiary
Wow. More liberals offended by our country's flag.
Add this to the list of other things that offend liberals:
God
The pledge of allegiance
The National Anthem
prosecuting terrorists
SUV's
marriage between a man and a woman
employment
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
@jb78000 (15139)
•
11 May 10
who's being offended teamrose? not me anyway, i was just looking at this story in its context, which is kids sorting themselves into groups. they have a tendency to do this, if it was 'american' vs 'mexican' it would be something else. dealing with this can be tricky and the school didn't do it right at all - as i said they just stirred things up. what is a bit disturbing though is that apparently they haven't just stirred things up with the children.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
11 May 10
Are you really that naive or are you just hoping to attract a lot of responses?
These five boys (group) just *happened* to be wearing American flag tee shirts AND American flag bandannas on Cico de Mayo. They didn't plan this...they just all *happened* to pick out the same clothes that day. It's not like they were trying to make some kind of statement, sitting there in those costumes...they were just taking a break. It was completely innocent. It's not like it was a symbolic challange to the Mexican American students. Riiiiight.
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@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
12 May 10
There is SO much wrong with this!! First, it's OUR country--legal citizens of this country have every right to display our flag at any time and any place. Although that school official has admitted he handled it poorly I think there should be a policy: if you think our American flag is offensive you are free not to look at it. Waving the flag of your former country or your the country of your citizenship since you are here illegally should be offensive, not displaying the flag of this country.
We are destroying the country with our "sensitivity". Do you see any other country doing things like this? NO! Because they honor their citizenship and value it and they are proud of their countries. PC will be our downfall. This is so disturbing. Old veterans are sued when they fly their flags, kids sent home for wearing it and now it's "offensive". Bullcrap, I say.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
12 May 10
I'll admit it was incendiary on this particular day and that the kids may have done it on purpose. But there is an underlying resentment among the population that we cater so much to other cultures at the expense of our own. Until we solve this and stand up for our own country these things are going to continue to happen.
@jb78000 (15139)
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12 May 10
exactly and i think these boys almost certainly did but this was not how to deal with it. i am sure some of the other gang were all too ready to stir things up too. a half way competent head would have either insisted on no flags whatsoever mexican, american or whatever, the day before, or given everybody the day off, or ignored it but kept a close eye on known trouble makers.
although kids form groups for all kinds of reasons things get worse if they are picking up some of their attitudes from adults. the resentment between 'americans' and 'mexicans' here does not appear to be confined to children. the school managed brilliantly to not only stir things up between the kids but also to get ADULTS fuming too, as discussions like seem to prove.
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@jb78000 (15139)
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12 May 10
hi dragons - i think it is worth looking at the context of this story. we are talking about KIDS in a school. i agree that the school completely mishandled the whole thing but as far as i can see this was not political correctness gone mad, it was an incompetent principal mishandling a situation. notice how the kid quoted said 'incendiary' not 'offensive' and how not all the american flag wearing students WERE sent home. if you avoid the kneejerk reaction this looks like a school trying to prevent fights between groups of students. not the right way to go about it of course.
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@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
11 May 10
Sent home for wearing an American flag in America, but not sent home for wearing a Mexican flag and even having a painted face. I definitely agree with that kid that was saying that the reason things happened the way they did is because the assistant principal is Hispanic. It's straight-up racism. I hated that girl who said, "They can be patriotic another day, but not this day. This is our day." That's just messed up. We are losing all of our rights. I'm grateful for that man who was protesting on the side of the road.
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