Cinco de Mayo trumps the American Flag? - Commenteray by Jim Dean, Heritage TV

Jim Dean, Heritage TV producer/host

Jim Dean is the producer of Heritage TV and a member of Georgia Heritage Council and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.

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Cinco de Mayo trumps the American Flag?
-- Commentary by Jim Dean 5/08/2010

Dear Folks,
This posting was held up for a day or so because we smelled a whiff of change in the air. We all knew this was coming. School officials generally have broad discretion to control any clothing that students are wearing. It's understandable they don't want to have fights, especially group fights and all of that disruption. But banning the American flag?? Yes...it happened.

In the past school officials only took action when students who happened to be wearing something became offensive or taunted another group. That is the old 'who started it' that we all grew up with in school. But some school authorities have taken it up a notch, a pre-emptive strategy of nipping a potential situation in the bud by requiring clothing to be removed, turned inside out when it is a T-shirt, or the student to go home.

Below you will learn that American flag attire on Cinco de Mayo day was considered "incendiary" by vice principal Miguel Rodriguez of the Live Oak High School in California. These five kids got sent home, and congrats to them for not turning their American flag T-shirts inside out. As long as they were not taunting or engaging the Hispanic kids this should have been fine.

What made us hesitant to do a quick posting was our knowledge of the Supreme Court case on T-shirts which stated that students do not check their freedom of speech rights at the door of the school. And the fear of 'possible' disruption is not enough to abridge those rights. Schools cannot for example allow some kids to wear one flag attire, but not others. They cannot discriminate.

California being the land of fruits and nuts we figured they might have considered themselves not bound by Supreme Court rulings. And from the recent Arizona illegal immigration enforcement law that was passed, a large portion of the Hispanic community has publicly stated that they don't feel that America's immigration laws should be obeyed by them.

But after the initial reports the dam broke. First the Santa Clara school district stated that they "did not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions."

Superintendent Wesley Smith released the following statement:

"The Morgan Hill Unified School District does not prohibit nor do we discourage wearing patriotic clothing. The incident on May 5 at Live Oak High School is extremely unfortunate. While campus safety is our primary concern and administrators made decisions yesterday in an attempt to ensure campus safety, students should not, and will not, be disciplined for wearing patriotic clothing. This matter is under investigation and appropriate action will be taken." {emphasis added}

I will let you all ponder what appropriate action might be, but I would not want to be in vice principal Rodriguez's shoes now.

But it gets worse. The California Education Code 48950 "prohibits schools from enforcing a rule subjecting a high school student to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of conduct that, when engaged in outside of campus, is protected by the First Amendment." But Live Oak's dress code policy states that "the school has the right to request that any student dressing inappropriately for school will change into other clothes, be sent home to change, and/or be subject to disciplinary action."

Vice Principal Rodriquez told one of the students that others had 'complained' of their wearing American flag attire on Cinco de Mayo day despite it's being celebrated in America. What plugged in here was the old... 'a minority is offended, then their feelings trump all others"....reverse discrimination, the 2010 version.

The Southern Heritage movement has long been on the receiving end of this abuse. Our children have been horribly insulted and abused for wearing Confederate attire deemed 'offensive' or 'incendiary'. This has even extended to work place parking lots where stickers on employee cars were deemed offensive and people were fired.

But I am happy to report that Live Oak High School and vice principal Rodriquez have handed us a golden goose on a silver platter. And that is the need for traditional American and Confederate history sensitivity training for all educational employees...teachers, administrators and school boards, in order that they will not engage in anti-Southern bigotry which has been en vogue since the '90's with the massive lamestream media pipelining this out to the public.

The Sons of the American Revolution, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and yours truly representing my Military Order of World Wars chapter in Atlanta would be only too happy to assist in helping to deprogram these fearful school employees that American flags, which includes the Confederate flag, are not 'incendiary' unless someone has chosen to view them that way for 'incendiary' reasons.

Bottom line? When your are dealing with dishonest bullies folks, the best tactic is to put your head down and go right at them. This Live Oak School district had a policy in conflict with not only the California Education code, but the Supreme Court. It's impossible that they were not aware of both. I submit to you that they felt themselves 'above' these considerations. I think the term used to describe that is...supremacist.

What did the Hispanic kids do in response to the district policy statement? A hundred of them left school and marched to city hall to protest Fox News reported tonight. I wonder what they were protesting...their free education, or the horrors of being in America versus Mexico?

Jim Dean is the producer of Heritage TV and a member of the Georgia Heritage Council.

Five Morgan Hill students sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts

By Lindsay Bryant / May 5th, 2010

Four Live Oak High School students' First Amendment rights were challenged Wednesday morning when they were asked to leave school because they donned American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Officials at the school chose not to comment on the situation, but one student said an official called the T-shirts "incendiary."

"They said we were starting a fight, we were fuel to the fire," said sophomore Matt Dariano.

The Morgan Hill Unified School District issued this statement: "In an attempt to foster a spirit of cultural awareness and maintain a safe and supportive school environment, the Live Oak High School administration took certain actions earlier today. 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 five teens were sitting at a table outside during their brunch break about 10:10 a.m. when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two boys to take off their American flag bandannas. The boys said they complied. In the same conversation, sophomore Dominic Maciel said, Rodriguez told the group to "walk with him to the office."

Dariano called his mother Diana, who spread the word to the other parents, who all arrived soon after to have a conference with Rodriguez and Principal Nick Boden. The group said they were not instigating anything and did what they always do at break - sit and talk and eat.

The boys were told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home - and that it would not be considered a suspension - but that Rodriguez did not want any fights to break out among Mexican-American students and those wearing American flags. Dariano said other students were wearing American flags but since they were a group of five "we were the easiest target to cause trouble" according to Rodriguez, he said.

The boys told Rodriguez and Boden that turning their T-shirts inside-out was disrespectful, so their parents opted to take them home.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Dominic's mother Julie Fagerstrom. "I'm an open-minded parent, but it's got to be on both sides. It can't be five kids singled out."

A front-desk secretary said Boden was unavailable for any comment on what had happened Wednesday and Rodriguez was busy with testing, the secretary said.

More than 100 students were spotted wearing red, white and green as they were leaving school. Some had the Mexican flag painted on their faces or on their arms.

Nothing in Live Oak's dress code policy addresses what transpired Wednesday, but it does state that "the school has the right to request that any student dressing inappropriately for school will change into other clothes, be sent home to change, and/or be subject to disciplinary action."

One Mexican-American student, freshman Laura Ponce, had a Mexican flag painted on her face and chest, peaking out of her low-cut shirt. She did it because, "it's our day, the only day we can show our spirit." A school administrator took away the Mexican flag she was carrying as she was waiting to go home. Ponce said: "not cool."

"There was a lot of drama going on today," Ponce said. Some were saying "Mexico sucks" while Mexican-American students responded in their second language.

"Some were yelling Spanish to us," Maciel said, who is half-Hispanic. "I couldn't understand it, but it sounded bad."

Some Mexican-American students said that their flags were taken away or asked to be put away, but none were sent home for wearing red, white and green. Since Boden would not comment, it's uncertain if any other students were sent home for what they were wearing on Cinco de Mayo.

Live Oak High School even hosted a group of professional baile folklorico dancers, who waved flags and played traditional music from Mexico.

"It's sad it's come to this," Fagerstrom said. "But we stand behind their patriotic nature and the boys expressing their individuality."

The boys wrote a two-paragraph statement that they each signed detailing their support for American patriotism and that they felt disrespected and discriminated against when their First Amendment rights were discarded Wednesday at school.

"We were not going to start a fight. We wanted to show our pride," Dariano said.

Live Oak High School students from left, Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano and Dominic Maciel were sent home from school Wednesday because they were wearing American flag t-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Photo by: Lora Schraft

www.morganhilltimes.com/news/265402-five-morgan-hill-students-sent-home-for-wearing-american-flag-t-shirts