After yesterdays commentary regarding Cinco de Mayo, I've received a few interesting comments.
Although my commentary was in no way inflammatory, some readers took it that way anyhow. (I guess I hit a nerve...) So, first let me assure you that the commentary was not intended to offend. I just don't get the nationwide emphasis regarding a non-US holiday.
Secondly, I guess I'm really not the only non-mexican-American who doesn't get this whole thing. The following news article from California typifies the issue:
Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees
"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.
"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we
would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.
The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not
allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their
children, "total nonsense." "I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All
they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."
But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by
the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.
"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."
As for an apology, the boys and their families say, 'fat chance.' "I'm not going to apologize.
I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag,
but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American."
The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night.
The district and the school do not see eye-to-eye on the incident and released the following statement:
'The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.' The boys will not be suspended and were allowed to return to school Thursday. We spotted one of them when he got to campus -- and, yes, he was sporting an American flag T-shirt."
Additionally, since this story broke, the Internet message boards have been buzzing, with the vast majority of respondents supporting the students who were sent home. One service I came across had around 2250 messages; mostly supportive of the boys from my glancing through a hundred or so. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see a lawsuit emerge from this little whole thing.
So, who is right? Who is wrong? Is anybody really on the correct side here? But I must ask...Why is it offensive for teenage boys to wear patriotic American displays to a school located in the US State of California? Why is it NOT OK to be a proud American on 05 May? What is so wrong with America that proudly displaying American patriotism is inconceivably deemed inappropriate?
This really does boggle the mind. Or maybe, I'm just a Grumpy Gus.
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