Wearing or waving the American flag on the wrong day is now blasted as ‘racist’ and schools are allowed to ban students from displaying the flag on certain days.
The federal appeals court just upheld a school’s right to ban students from wearing the American flag after an incident in 2010 at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, when students were banned from wearing our flag on Cinco de Mayo after members from the Latino community called the wearing of the flag ‘racist’.
Yesterday, which was Cinco de Mayo, a group of protesters waved the flag in front of the school in protest of the court decision and the school’s actions. The school stated it would not interfere with the protesters.
The tweets from ‘Americans’ about it being racist in displaying the American flag shows us how much trouble we are in as a country:
SFGate reported students built a “unity banner” to express that they felt united.
“They want to make it a regular day. The students have expressed that they don’t like the outside attention, and we’re trying to help them with that,” Steve Betando, Morgan Unified District superintendent, told the news site’s reporter. “But they wanted to send a message that what the media and the world has really depicted as a divided school is really not a divided school.”
WND has reported on the dispute since it developed.
The most recent step was the 9th Circuit’s ruling that called the American flag a “symbol of racial animus.”
“The court’s rationale behind this ruling was essentially that it’s not safe to display an American flag in an American public school, for fear of causing offense and disruption,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute and author of “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State.”
“This case signifies so much of what is wrong with America today, where the populace is indoctrinated into a politically correct mindset, starting in the schools, while those who exercise their freedoms are punished for it,” he said.
The full 9th Circuit has been asked to review the case, in an appeal filed by a number of legal teams, including attorneys with the American Freedom Law Center and the Thomas More Law Center.
The case centers on a decision May 5, 2010, by Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez. During a break, Rodriguez told several school students they were not allowed to wear U.S. flag shirts. He allegedly told them that he had received complaints from some Hispanic students about the flag apparel, and the students were not allowed to wear clothing that would offend them.
Later, Principal Nick Boden met with parents and students and affirmed Rodriguez’s order.
The appeals court “acknowledged that other students were permitted to wear Mexican flag colors and symbols, [but] it ruled that the school was allowed to forbid the American flag apparel out of concerns that it would cause disruption, even though no disruption had occurred,” attorneys argued.
Rutherford said school officials violated long-standing Supreme Court precedent forbidding suppression of protected expression on the basis of a “heckler’s veto.”
The attorneys said the school’s actions constituted viewpoint discrimination against pro-American expression, violating the free speech clause in the First Amendment and the due process and equal rights clauses in the 14th Amendment.
A three-judge panel of the court earlier had said: “The specific events of May 5, 2010, and the pattern of which those events were a part made it reasonable for school officials to proceed as though the threat of a potentially violent disturbance was real. We hold that school officials … did not act unconstitutionally … in asking students to turn their shirts inside out, remove them, or leave school for the day with an excused absence in order to prevent substantial disruption or violence at school.”
AFLC’s Robert Muise noted: “Not only is the panel decision wrong as a matter of Supreme Court precedent, the decision affirms a dangerous lesson by rewarding student[s] [who] resort to disruption rather than reason as the default means of resolving disputes. The school district’s proper response should be to educate the audience rather than silence the speaker.”
It was pointed out that only violence from “Mexican” students was feared, not violence by those wearing the U.S. flag.
David Yerushalmi, also of AFLC, said the panel “reasoned that because the ‘Mexican’ students were not ‘targeted for violence,’ they were permitted to express their message.”
“Yet, because school officials perceived that the same ‘Mexican’ students might react adversely to the pro-America students, the latter group’s speech – wearing an American flag T-shirt for goodness sakes – should be silenced. This not only creates perverse incentives for student hecklers; it ultimately turns the First Amendment on its head,” he said.
The attorneys noted: “The panel went so far as to compare the wearing of American flag images with the wearing of the Confederate flag – an arguable symbol of racism – and to liken relations between ‘American’ and ‘Mexican’ youth in an American school – a distinction not clearly apparent on this record in that it is unclear whether the students referred to as ‘Mexicans’ were citizens of Mexico or of the United States – with racial tensions between white and black students.
“Of course, plaintiffs had a constitutional right to wear shirts bearing the American flag on their public school campus, even on Cinco de Mayo or any other holiday and regardless of the expression of ethnic pride asserted by people aligned with another culture. The obvious and odious premise underlying the panel’s opinion is that the American flag is a symbol of racial animus – an inherently flawed premise,” they argued.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/americans-now-racist-for-waving-u-s-flag/#ICpqs0mmJym5gCJ7.99SFGate reported students built a “unity banner” to express that they felt united.
“They want to make it a regular day. The students have expressed that they don’t like the outside attention, and we’re trying to help them with that,” Steve Betando, Morgan Unified District superintendent, told the news site’s reporter. “But they wanted to send a message that what the media and the world has really depicted as a divided school is really not a divided school.”
WND has reported on the dispute since it developed.
The most recent step was the 9th Circuit’s ruling that called the American flag a “symbol of racial animus.”
“The court’s rationale behind this ruling was essentially that it’s not safe to display an American flag in an American public school, for fear of causing offense and disruption,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute and author of “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State.”
“This case signifies so much of what is wrong with America today, where the populace is indoctrinated into a politically correct mindset, starting in the schools, while those who exercise their freedoms are punished for it,” he said.
The full 9th Circuit has been asked to review the case, in an appeal filed by a number of legal teams, including attorneys with the American Freedom Law Center and the Thomas More Law Center.
The case centers on a decision May 5, 2010, by Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez. During a break, Rodriguez told several school students they were not allowed to wear U.S. flag shirts. He allegedly told them that he had received complaints from some Hispanic students about the flag apparel, and the students were not allowed to wear clothing that would offend them.
Later, Principal Nick Boden met with parents and students and affirmed Rodriguez’s order.
The appeals court “acknowledged that other students were permitted to wear Mexican flag colors and symbols, [but] it ruled that the school was allowed to forbid the American flag apparel out of concerns that it would cause disruption, even though no disruption had occurred,” attorneys argued.
Rutherford said school officials violated long-standing Supreme Court precedent forbidding suppression of protected expression on the basis of a “heckler’s veto.”
The attorneys said the school’s actions constituted viewpoint discrimination against pro-American expression, violating the free speech clause in the First Amendment and the due process and equal rights clauses in the 14th Amendment.
A three-judge panel of the court earlier had said: “The specific events of May 5, 2010, and the pattern of which those events were a part made it reasonable for school officials to proceed as though the threat of a potentially violent disturbance was real. We hold that school officials … did not act unconstitutionally … in asking students to turn their shirts inside out, remove them, or leave school for the day with an excused absence in order to prevent substantial disruption or violence at school.”
AFLC’s Robert Muise noted: “Not only is the panel decision wrong as a matter of Supreme Court precedent, the decision affirms a dangerous lesson by rewarding student[s] [who] resort to disruption rather than reason as the default means of resolving disputes. The school district’s proper response should be to educate the audience rather than silence the speaker.”
It was pointed out that only violence from “Mexican” students was feared, not violence by those wearing the U.S. flag.
David Yerushalmi, also of AFLC, said the panel “reasoned that because the ‘Mexican’ students were not ‘targeted for violence,’ they were permitted to express their message.”
“Yet, because school officials perceived that the same ‘Mexican’ students might react adversely to the pro-America students, the latter group’s speech – wearing an American flag T-shirt for goodness sakes – should be silenced. This not only creates perverse incentives for student hecklers; it ultimately turns the First Amendment on its head,” he said.
The attorneys noted: “The panel went so far as to compare the wearing of American flag images with the wearing of the Confederate flag – an arguable symbol of racism – and to liken relations between ‘American’ and ‘Mexican’ youth in an American school – a distinction not clearly apparent on this record in that it is unclear whether the students referred to as ‘Mexicans’ were citizens of Mexico or of the United States – with racial tensions between white and black students.
“Of course, plaintiffs had a constitutional right to wear shirts bearing the American flag on their public school campus, even on Cinco de Mayo or any other holiday and regardless of the expression of ethnic pride asserted by people aligned with another culture. The obvious and odious premise underlying the panel’s opinion is that the American flag is a symbol of racial animus – an inherently flawed premise,” they argued.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/americans-now-racist-for-waving-u-s-flag/#ICpqs0mmJym5gCJ7.99
here in Laredo Texas you cross the border to mexico and you do not see our American Flag no where Flying. but in Laredo Texas you do see a whole bunch of mexico flags every where even in our city buildings
well, last time I checked we were in America , I do not believe they should be allowed to put the American people through this, lets talk brass tacks, ok, lets see what happens, a man gets across the river from mexico,he gets past the border patrol and at the same time the government shoots down the idea of a raise in the minimum wage while there sitting back collecting money for doing nothing, the iliegal alien finds work so jobs he gets a job, when he gets paid each time, he sends it to his family in mexico for them to spend in mexico. now do you know wht I’m getting at , the government let their children go to school and they get on medical sometimes even welfare, they even give them like prizes for crossing the river safely.so now this man has a job , housing, school for his children, foodstamps and as long as can get somebody to sponser him, he gets a green card so now he’s got a job and sending American money to mexico,now do you think that mexico is going to do the same as our government is doing. I would almost bet that their not banning their flag from schools and banning anyone from wearing anything with their flag on it because it would be racist against us,i mean come on ,wake up,their not going to do it over there. they come here they get everything given to them jobs ,money,foodstamps free schooling lunches at school,medical,they get every thing that is handed to them. now , I’m not racist by no means, but pisses me off when we have to give up wearing anything with a flag on it or take our flag down because it offends some one from another country, well then let them go back home and stay there, Old Glory has flown for a many of years,if we take that same flag down because some people from mexico say its racist. I am going to be perfectly honest, I would die for it if it came down to that. but it shouldn’t come to that,our government needs to wake up and start paying attention to those counrtrieswho walk on us and take advantage of the tax that must be paid by us , the americans,and our great government just sits there and lets all this go on. if you ask me, they need to get rid all of the ones that are allowing this $#%&!@* to go on, and start from fresh, that’s what this country needs ,that and shook to loosen the bad ones out from the good. and start from scratch.
i agree with you Melissa …Dupin..They come into our country and do nothing but complain about there rights..The goverment hands them every thing on a golden platter..what rights would we have invading their country..What help would we get going to their country?
Oho so we can pay for everything but we can’t display our own flag in our own country. If we deported all these illegals we wouldn’t be having these problems.
Me as a Hispanic, I find this absolutely ridiculous. Who cares what flag you display on what day. At the end of the day we are in America, so fly the American flag
Also, some people are ignorant. ” go back to your country and fly your flag” when in fact we are all immigrants at one point from our ancestors. Only true people here were the native Americans
Screw the Mexican flag.
This is an attempt at multiculturalism. . . Liberal cultural relativism!
fly them with pride
🙁
I think this says it all
” f*ck your American flag . Racist as f*cks . I’ll always have pride with my Mexican flag but not the American one—”
Deport that anti-american idiots