Kids get in trouble for wearing American flag T-shirts to school on Cinco de Mayo

[NIGHT STALKER]

Then sure. If they're using their symbol of choice to denigrate other people, it's exactly the same as what the kids did. The difference is that it's not in the school setting so it's fully protected speech just like a klan rally or whatever.

Protected speech...I like that.

"For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected will never know."

[#27TheDominator]

You're right. I can't win this argument out of context any more than you can in context.

Why does there have to be context? If the only "threatening" "disrespectful" thing to "belittle" Mexican culture was to wear flag shirts and bandanas then you're all ****ed in the head if you think something should have been done about it. If there was something else done then why weren't they disciplined for that?

[Pac]

You can't convince people who don't live in this enviornment Mick.

I go to Florida for at least a week every year... I've already been twice this year and am going back in October. In all the time I've spent there I've never seen any latinos acting as if they're better than anyone else. In fact you might be surprised that I actually agree that if you live in this country you should be able to speak English.. and I'm Puerto Rican.

But tell me.. what's this "environment" you speak of?

[New York Mick]

How is that relevant to this situation? This is a school issue. No different than if kids were in a gang and were wearing school gang colors in school. The principle has to act if he thinks it's going to be disruptive.

I would have gone to the drama teacher and had them enlist the kids in a dramatic version of West Side story, but you can't really argue with the direction the school took. Turning the flag into a political symbol is fine but if you're disrupting a school the authorities get to shut you up. It's no different than disrupting a teacher during class by talking through their lecture.

Should black kids that wear black pride shirts be told to remove them? When I went to school (granted along time ago) you would see black pride tee shirts all over the ****ing place.

In this country it only seems to be wrong if white Americans are the ones that are doing it.

[NIGHT STALKER]

How is that relevant to this situation? This is a school issue. No different than if kids were in a gang and were wearing school gang colors in school. The principle has to act if he thinks it's going to be disruptive.

I would have gone to the drama teacher and had them enlist the kids in a dramatic version of West Side story, but you can't really argue with the direction the school took. Turning the flag into a political symbol is fine but if you're disrupting a school the authorities get to shut you up. It's no different than disrupting a teacher during class by talking through their lecture.

By the way, the principal withdrew his proposal to punish the kids that wore American T's. Hmm, I wonder why.

[RutgersJetFan]

How is that relevant to this situation? This is a school issue. No different than if kids were in a gang and were wearing school gang colors in school.

Just so you know, context means nothing in this thread, and you'll probably catch a lot of heat for this one. So prepare for something like being challenged to fly down to Florida and fight an idiot in a stadium parking lot.

[NIGHT STALKER]

I go to Florida for at least a week every year... I've already been twice this year and am going back in October. In all the time I've spent there I've never seen any latinos acting as if they're better than anyone else. In fact you might be surprised that I actually agree that if you live in this country you should be able to speak English.. and I'm Puerto Rican.

But tell me.. what's this "environment" you speak of?

Where to you go to in Florida? Big difference in "environment" once you leave South Florida...night and day.

[Pac]

Should black kids that wear black pride shirts be told to remove them? When I went to school (granted along time ago) you would see black pride tee shirts all over the ****ing place.

In this country it only seems to be wrong if white Americans are the ones that are doing it.

Weren't these guys stripped of their medals and sent home?

[Biggs]

Should black kids that wear black pride shirts be told to remove them? When I went to school (granted along time ago) you would see black pride tee shirts all over the ****ing place.

In this country it only seems to be wrong if white Americans are the ones that are doing it.

It's not about right and wrong it's about having a calm environment to teach.

The answer to your question is if it's disruptive than yes they should be sent home to change.

[Pac]

Where to you go to in Florida? Big difference in "environment" once you leave South Florida...night and day.

Mostly Tampa but recently Orlando and Miami. I see a lot of fellow latinos but not so much attitude. I'm not saying you're wrong... just haven't seen it. That's why I'm asking what it's like.

[Biggs]

Just so you know, context means nothing in this thread, and you'll probably catch a lot of heat for this one. So prepare for something like being challenged to fly down to Florida and fight an idiot in a stadium parking lot.

This is a friendly discussion with a difference of opinion. If there's a little heat of the moment chalk it up to heat of the moment. I have no problem with people having the exact opposite opinion that I might have. They might just change my mind.

[Aten]

Why does there have to be context?

All sorts of reasons, but let's start and stop with the fact that you just posted that. Absent context, these pixels aren't words and the words don't express ideas.

[New York Mick]

Weren't these guys stripped of their medals and sent home?

Going by the post I quoted that has nothing to do with it because that didn't happen it a school.

[NIGHT STALKER]

Mostly Tampa but recently Orlando and Miami. I see a lot of fellow latinos but not so much attitude. I'm not saying you're wrong... just haven't seen it. That's what I'm asking what it's like.

Not talking about attitude. I have lived in South Florida since 1970 and have seen the changing of the guard here. What I mean by that, many Latinos would prefer to speak Spanish than English. Example, I have dark features and many times I have been approached and spoken to in Spanish. When I tell them I don't speak Spanish, then and only then am I spoken to in English. I don't know if that is considered an "attitude" here in South Florida, but anyone that lives here year round would attest to this.

[New York Mick]

It's not about right and wrong it's about having a calm environment to teach.

The answer to your question is if it's disruptive than yes they should be sent home to change.

LOL, if black students got sent home because they were wearing black pride tee shirts it would be on every news channel and there would be a protest the next morning asking for people to be fired.

[SouthernJet]

LOL, if black students got sent home because they were wearing black pride tee shirts it would be on every news channel and there would be a protest the next morning asking for people to be fired.

exacto mundo............

[New York Mick]

exacto mundo............

Learn some form of English *******, lol, I kill myself.

[Pac]

exacto mundo............

english only please.

edit: ninja'd

[SouthernJet]

Learn some form of English *******, lol, I kill myself.

Plus I think you need to pay reparations also Mick. More than me, cause Irish made up many of the Slave Ship captains.

[New York Mick]

Plus I think you need to pay reparations also Mick. More than me, cause Irish made up many of the Slave Ship captains.

Irish Protestants not Catholics, the Catholics had their land taken away and were sent to America as indentured servents and slaves.

[rillo]

Not talking about attitude. I have lived in South Florida since 1970 and have seen the changing of the guard here. What I mean by that, many Latinos would prefer to speak Spanish than English. Example, I have dark features and many times I have been approached and spoken to in Spanish. When I tell them I don't speak Spanish, then and only then am I spoken to in English. I don't know if that is considered an "attitude" here in South Florida, but anyone that lives here year round would attest to this.

It happens to me all the time, however I do speak Spanish and I tell them I don't. I don't see a problem really, if they can't speak english, they keep it moving.

[NIGHT STALKER]

Just so you know, context means nothing in this thread, and you'll probably catch a lot of heat for this one. So prepare for something like being challenged to fly down to Florida and fight an idiot in a stadium parking lot.

Or perhaps some idiot flying up north...got to watch out for these idiots like that "Vietnam Tom" guy that beat the leaving snot out of that other idiot on the bus awhile back. Woods are full of "idiots".

[RutgersJetFan]

Or perhaps some idiot flying up north...got to watch out for these idiots like that "Vietnam Tom" guy that beat the leaving snot out of that other idiot on the bus awhile back. Woods are full of "idiots".

You're about 8 for 8 on the irrelevant points card. Keep going though, it's highly entertaining.

[NIGHT STALKER]

You're about 8 for 8 on the irrelevant points card. Keep going though, it's highly entertaining.

I figured you would like that. It was for your own personal "entertainment" there buddy.

[RutgersJetFan]

I figured you would like that. It was for your own personal "entertainment" there buddy.

Entertainment for me would have been if I could have figured out an analogy in the context of Road House to explain yet again why the school was justified in what they did that you'd have clearly understood. Unfortunately, after racking my brain, I don't think there is one. But being on Dalton's side when stuff like this happens is no picnic, I'll tell you that much.

[Biggs]

LOL, if black students got sent home because they were wearing black pride tee shirts it would be on every news channel and there would be a protest the next morning asking for people to be fired.

That may be true, does that mean the school authorities would be wrong to try and stop the disruptive behavior? If the protest worked and was counter productive to having a reasonable teaching environment in the schools does that make it right?

I'm not sure if your defending the right of these guys to be aholes because they were hiding behind the American flag or because they are white?

I'm not sure I get where white kids are being discriminated against for having to live up to a decent standard of behavior.

There is also a growing trend in public shcools in minority areas enforcing strict dress codes and in many casses uniforms. This suggest that while your example might be true, the trend in many minority schools is clearly going in a different direction.

[NIGHT STALKER]

Entertainment for me would have been if I could have figured out an analogy in the context of Road House to explain yet again why the school was justified in what they did that you'd have clearly understood. Unfortunately, after racking my brain, I don't think there is one. But being on Dalton's side when stuff like this happens is no picnic, I'll tell you that much.

Come on man, this is all in fun. Someone pointed out to me a long time ago it's only the Internet. If I remember correctly, don't you box some? Hey, I'm just a former Army Ranger...we make love, we don't fight.

[rillo]

One of the kids is Mexican-American.

[RutgersJetFan]

Come on man, this is all in fun. Someone pointed out to me a long time ago it's only the Internet. If I remember correctly, don't you box some? Hey, I'm just a former Army Ranger...we make love, we don't fight.

Bah, no worries, if I thought you'd take genuine offense to any of the above I wouldn't have said it, just having some fun I guess, but I actually am seriously pissed I couldn't think of a way to put the entire ordeal in Road House terms.

[Falcon63]

Not talking about attitude. I have lived in South Florida since 1970 and have seen the changing of the guard here. What I mean by that, many Latinos would prefer to speak Spanish than English. Example, I have dark features and many times I have been approached and spoken to in Spanish. When I tell them I don't speak Spanish, then and only then am I spoken to in English. I don't know if that is considered an "attitude" here in South Florida, but anyone that lives here year round would attest to this.

Same exact thing happens to me in South Florida. I don't mind the people who don't speak English if they haven't learned it yet, but the ones who don't even ATTEMPT to learn, or the ones that CAN speak English, but DON'T.

[SouthernJet]

Irish Protestants not Catholics, the Catholics had their land taken away and were sent to America as indentured servents and slaves.

how much i owe u then?

[SouthernJet]

The Principal has apologized. If you read between the lines, it seems he was made to by Superintendent...

Maybe , just maybe, the PC Worm is slowly starting to turn

California Principal Apologizes for Forbidding U.S. Flag Shirts on Mexican Holiday

Tensions are rising at a California high school where five students were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.

A California high school principal has apologized for telling five students they couldn't wear U.S. flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo, the local superintendent said Friday.

Tensions at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill had risen in the wake of the decision to forbid the shirts, as the students who wore the shirts defended their right to show their patriotism -- even on a Mexican holiday -- while a large group of Hispanic students staged a walkout Thursday in protest.

"This has certainly been a very difficult time for our school district," Superintendent Wesley Smith said in prepared remarks delivered Friday at a news conference.

Smith affirmed that students are free to wear patriotic clothing on campus, but the campus also must be kept "orderly and safe."

"School leaders have to make judgment calls on when to take preventative measures to pre-empt a possible incident or conflict," Smith said. "In this situation, it appears that a decision was made too quickly."

The five teens were sitting at a table outside the school Wednesday morning when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two of them to remove their American flag bandannas, one of the boys' parents told FoxNews.com. The youths complied, but were asked to accompany Rodriguez to the principal's office.

The students were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags, the parent said.

One of the parents told FoxNews.com that the preemptive action was unnecessary, and that Rodriguez "overstepped his bounds."

Superintendent Smith described freedom of expression as "a sacred American value" and said the lesson learned is that it should be celebrated "thoughtfully and fairly."

"It is unfortunate that some people want to leverage their personal agendas off of this incident," Smith said, noting the national media attention on the school.

"Most of the kids on our campus have said, 'Enough is enough.' they want to get back to normal."

Morgan Hill Police Department Cmdr. Joe Sampson said two officers were stationed at Live Oak High School school midday Friday to give a "visual presence" in order to thwart any potential acts of violence.

"We want to give them peace of mind should they need us," Sampson told Fox News.

Sampson confirmed that no arrests were made during a walkout at the school on Thursday.

More than 200 Hispanic students reportedly skipped class on Thursday and marched to school district headquarters while chanting "we want respect" and "si se puede" -- "yes we can," the Morgan Hill Times reported.

"We did this to support the Latino/Hispanic community," Francine Roa, a 2005 Live Oak High School graduate, told the newspaper.

[dbatesman]

Example, I have dark features and many times I have been approached and spoken to in Spanish.

God forbid.

[Thai Jet]

California Principal Apologizes for Forbidding U.S. Flag Shirts on Mexican Holiday

More than 200 Hispanic students reportedly skipped class on Thursday and marched to school district headquarters while chanting "we want respect" and "si se puede" -- "yes we can," the Morgan Hill Times reported.

"We did this to support the Latino/Hispanic community," Francine Roa, a 2005 Live Oak High School graduate, told the newspaper.

Perhaps they might get more respect if they were back in Mexico where "Cinco de Mayo" isn't even a holiday.

[Green DNA]

I'm not saying that American's are always wrong. I'm saying these kids were clearly antagonizing. They have every right to do so, and the school can't mandate 'not being an *******'. Perhaps they get picked on every other day, perhaps they're usually victims, but on this day, they were acting like dickheads, and that's clear.

I wasn't implying that you said Americans are always wrong, but more that it is a mindset with many. Not knowing the entire story, amybe the kids were acting like dicks or then again maybe they were just fed up with anti Americanism from immigrants, who knows. It is just disturbing that the American flag stirs up animosity in the US of all places.