We don’t want to start a political debate, nor pit Liberals against Conservatives. In light of the Patriot Act, the revelations about the NSA domestic spy program, and a continuing decline in the freedoms we, by the constitution were guaranteed, enjoy, it just seems to me that if we continue to stand by while we allow American schools to ban students from wearing American T-shirts displaying the American flag, claiming they represent incendiary speech — then something’s very very wrong. We all, Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, and all citizens from every country in the world should be concerned. It’s a slippery slope we’re on.
The following was written by Jonathan Turley, who is a law professor at George Washington University, a legal scholar, and author. Please be sure to read the entire article, including the California Appellate Court decision upholding the school’s right to ban the American flag as incendiary”.
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An Inconvenient Symbol: Why The Flag Decision Flies In The Face Of Our Core Values
On Cinco de Mayo in 2010, students who came to Live Oak High School outside San Jose were rounded up by teachers for engaging in offensive speech. The speech? They had American flags on their T-shirts, something the school viewed as insulting to Hispanics. Administrators insisted that only the Mexican flag could be shown on campus that day.
Last week, the school’s actions were unanimously upheld by the federal appellate court in California — a ruling that would allow flags and other patriotic symbols to be banned like profanity or hate speech.
In reality, the ruling is not a sign of contempt for the flag but a sign of contempt for the rights of students. The fact that this speech concerns the flag itself (the very symbol of civil liberties) captures how far the courts have gone in abandoning core First Amendment rights for students.
The case started because Live Oak High was concerned about prior disruptions and saw the American flag as “incendiary” and disrespectful. Accordingly, Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez ordered students to change their shirts or turn them inside out to hide the flag. Those who did not comply were sent home. Last Thursday, the federal appellate court in California unanimously upheld the school’s actions. Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the Ninth Circuit ruled, “Our role is not to second-guess the decision to have a Cinco de Mayo celebration or the precautions put in place to avoid violence.” What they did is second-guess the First Amendment and the precautions put in place to protect it…
Read the entire article here… then come back and vote in our poll.
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The world hasn’t gone crazy, but our “Defenders and interpretors” of the US Constitution have gone absolutely bonkers. They are proving they don’t deserve the
priviledge, AND we can’t forget WHO elevated them to this position of power…that’s all it is, is POWER, because wisdom is totally lacking.
” What is most disturbing about last week’s decision is that the court entirely misses the distinction between speech and conduct. When presented with threats of violence, the school should punish those who engage in harassing or violent acts”
This statement couldn’t be MORE accurate. The school administration handled the situation in a very wrong and BIASED action…one that supported and advanced any discontent that may have been felt or exhibited. It certainly did not contribute
to the celebration and acknowledgement of our ancestral differences, of which there are many in this country. I assume the school administrators are AMERICAN citizens
no matter what their ancestral background may be. Recognition of this fact certainly was NOT reflected in their custodial and administrative action.
Wouldn’t it have been more unifying and respectful to prepare ALL the students for the upcoming Cinco de Mayo day and understand and share the history and why some would be celebrating it…just for the day. Perhaps they could have caused an “all inclusive” celebration that could have been shared by all….FOR A DAY. Instead, they allowed a few foul-mouthed, violent, bigots to dictate what followed, rather than punishing them for THEIR disrespectful instigation of violence and removing them from the premises.
The Appeals Court decision is reprehensible.
I’m not Irish, but I’ll wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, listen to the Irish music, eat corned beef and cabbage, and enjoy the parade with American and Irish flags all over the place. Mostly, on St. Patrick’s Day, I’ll just have fun. My ancestors come from England, so tomorrow I might wear orange. Who cares. Compare the two..St. Patricks’ Day and Cinco de Mayo.. and tell me what’s wrong with this picture? ALL of us live under the AMERICAN flag, and hopefully the intent of the words in the Constitution will be respected, restored, and PROTECTED, again.
While I can understand the desire of educators to avoid discord among students, I think that flag tee shirts provide a good opportunity to teach. Those who wear a tee shirt with a flag should not be discouraged, but those who are offended should get a lesson in tolerance. This would be a good opportunity to teach a little Mexican history and culture. The same could be true for any national holiday, including American holidays, which should also be respected (despite current “political correctness”) The lesson can always be that America consists of people from many national backgrounds, whose unique histories and cultures should be valued as they contribute to American life.
Let the kids wear flag tee shirts any day. This robs no one of their “rights”. Encouraging this immature over- sensitivity and easily taken offense will not help students in their lives as adults.
The point is that the courts are saying we could punish the perceived cause of trouble rather than the troublemakers. It’s like saying if women are suffering sexual harassment in the workplace, the solution is to ban women from the workplace. Our educational system is in such decline that I think many of the judges who make these kinds of decisions are not very intelligent and illogical.
Here’s an example of how we dumb-down America:
The LSAT test — the test students have to pass to get into law school has been “dumbed-down” so much that almost anyone could pass it. If you don’t believe this, go to a bookstore near you and pick up an LSAT study guide and look at the questions and answers.
Our countries’ problems are much more serious than kids being punished for wearing American flags on their t shirts during a Cinco de Mayo celebration in a California high school; the root of many of our problems is the continuing dismissal of the importance of education. The U.S.A. spends 100+ times more on defense than it spends on the future of our country — our kids’education. Our priorities are askew, our leaders are running amok, and like the once-mighty Roman Empire, I fear we will never be able to reverse this decline. We’re too polarized. It’s become an accepted practice to spend 100+ times more on war than on education. We’re told we need to spend trillions of dollars to protect our “interests”. What more enduring or important interests does our country have than making sure our children have access to the best educational system in the world?
We have children graduating high school who can barely read – and young adults graduating college who can’t comprehend what they read. Our educational system has turned into a an assembly line, turning out students who are nor prepared to deal with the real-world problems they all will surely face as adults.
We pamper them, we protect them, we standardize them — and it’s rare when any student who can come through the American educational system and retain any creativity at all. We’re becoming a nation of ill-educated, trained robots, who are pampered and coddled and over-protected by the American educational system and parents who, rather than being a parent and investing time with their children, would rather be children themselves and treat their own children as friends.
The work ethic in this country is deplorable and that begins with coddling students and thus not preparing them for the problems all of them will face in the real world. We coddle and protect them from things they’re going to have to face as adults. For example: In my part of the country recently, schools were cancelling classes because of a three-inch snowfall — and when the temperature (or wind chill) dipped below zero. When I was in school, we didn’t get out of school because of three-inch snowfalls. Many times and I went to school when it was ten or twenty degrees below zero – (actual temperature — not the wind chill — we didn’t have such a thing as Wind Chill then). Having kids graduating from high schools and colleges who can barely read is reprehensible and should be unacceptable to everyone in this country. The system is broken; the American Dream has turned into a tragic nightmare.
I don’t know what the answer is but maintaining the status quo should not be an option.
I am with you on that
Grrrrrrrrrr If the American flag offends them, then they need to home to their own country and try to make it better, not rework ours!
Deanna I agree. If I were a parent of a child at that school I would form a parents for America group and personally dress in an American Flag Shirt. People from other cultures are more than welcome to celebrate their heritage but America should come first. The American Flag should always fly above any other. It is the symbol of this country and many of our men and women gave their lives to protect it. The assistant principle in this case should be put on leave and attend classes on American History!
I agree. No one should EVER be denied the right to display the American flag or object to the flag of another nation being given preference over the stars and stripes. Give the assistant principal a one-way ticket to Mexico.
If we cannot use the American flag in America,then we have lost our symbol of freedom.
It is a shame that more citizens are not protesting.
I truly see more and more rights taken away from the citizens of the USA and no one seems to mind.
One day the land of the free won’t be so free.
I am glad to 65 because I lived through most of the best times. Today if it were up to me, WE ALL are
americans and if you cannot except that get out. I think a good old ass kicking to all that protest
OUR way is in order.As far as I am concerned I will stand toe to toe face to face with any one who
wants to say different!
Conservative Americans have been asleep and dumbed down for far too long. The government school system has seen to that. We have lost so many freedoms that at this point I fear everything may have to totally collapse before the majority wake up. How many people know that this country was founded upon a Republic system of government? Our founding fathers would protest loudly to hear us talk of this being a democracy. History shows that democracies ALWAYS lead to socialism. But we all know that if you tell a lie often enough, it then becomes “truth”. How many know that if you know how to get the Manufacturers Statement of Origin on a vehicle when purchased, that only then do you truly own your car and you do not have to purchase tags yearly? Under the current system you don’t truly own your vehicle and the state can take it at any time. A Certificate of Title does not mean true ownership. If you truly owned it why would you need to keep paying taxes on it every year? Or how about your land? You have a deed you say that shows it paid in full? Then why do you have to get permits to build on your land? Or pay property taxes every year? Only if you hold an Allodial Title do you really own it and you can do whatever you wish without needing permission to build/dig on your own property. All you own today is the right to use the surface of it, and only if you pay taxes and buy permits. If you want to know more about the Constitution, look up Michael Badnarik on YouTube. You can view his 8 hour class in small video clips or view it in it’s entirety. But it is usually more convenient to watch them in small divided clips. By the time you get to the third one your jaw will be dropping. I pray daily that we can still recover and reclaim without another civil war, but it’s not looking very positive. However, God is firmly in control and come what may I know we will be okay. When all is said and done it is the power of the Gospel that can turn it all around.
What the originators of these laws fail to comprehend is that by raising these subjects they promote the very thing they are trying to stop, and that is racial tension between the average Joe, and the minority race, be it Hispanic, or, in Australia, the Muslims. The very race they are aiming to protect gets blamed for these innovations instead of the idiots who raise bigger problems than they alleviate. Here they banned Christmas trees and Carols in some shopping malls in case it offended people of other religions. All they did was promote hostility against those people by changing tradition.