On Cinco de Mayo, kids in a US school were arrested for wearing shirts with American flags on them. We should be able to show our patriotism at any time in our own country and not be arrested for it, amirite?

Yeah... or even patriotism of your own country if it's not the one you're in, if you prefer. Or even patriotism of a totally random country. Freedom, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's just messed up. Cinco De Mayo isn't even that big of a holiday in Mexico, I heard. But even still, it's AMERICA, not MEXICO, and I'm sure they didn't do that intentionally.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

they actually did it to instigate fights.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Ah, glad you cleared it up. Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but don't be an idiot.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Oh. /feels stupid

by Anonymous 13 years ago

arrested for wearing a shirt with American flags? where was this?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Live Oak High School, Morgan Hill, CA. They're a town over from me and it was all over the news... You can google it if you're interested. Oh, but they weren't arrested, just sent home and asked to change. The whole school district ended up apologizing for the vice principal's "unfortunate" action, but I think they also defended him for trying to prevent confrontation.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Link of proof pl0x. I've never heard of this. Ever.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/california-teens-sent-home-for-wearing-us-flag-shirts-1410781

by Anonymous 13 years ago

they didnt get arrested. they got sent home from school.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

im sure they werent arrested. suspended at the absolute most, and i doubt it even went that far.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

see my comment. and my link.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I think the OP's point was that no disciplinary action should have been taken at all.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

my question is how did this just now get home paged?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Kids should also know enough that wearing an American flag t-shirt, as in this case, almost protesting, will cause problems. I have nothing against patriotism, I encourage it, but if one is going to do it to be disrespectful to other cultures, then they pretty much have consequences coming.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

they did it to piss people off but that doesnt mean that they shouldnt have the right to wear what they want.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well if they did it to piss people off then the troublemakers got what they deserved.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You see though, the fact that they were doing it to be rude is the reason why they were asked to change, sent home, whatever. If they had worn the shirt just ebcause they felt like wearing it, with no reason behind it, they would have had no consequence. They were asking for trouble and attention all in the name of disrespecting another culture different from their own.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

well next time someone does it, no matter what they say the reasons are, theyre shit outta luck

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How is it disrespectful in any way?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They wore American flag t-shirts specifically to be rude to those who celebrate. They did it as a form of protest.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Most Mexicans don't even celebrate it; it's celebrated on a much larger scale in America. In the city of Morgan Hill, CA, the Mexican American population is minimal. It's a non-issue.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They still did it though. And they got the attention they wanted.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They have every right to do it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That doesn't mean that they should have.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's not offensive in any way, so it is perfectly acceptable. Would you be offended if someone wore a Brazilian flag shirt on the Fourth of July?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, not unless they had the intent of doing it as a way to protest. They way the kids were doing it was to say, "This is America. We don't celebrate YOUR traditions here. To show you how we feel, we're going to wear our country's flag in hopes of you retreating back to Mexico." And please don't try to tell me it was coincidence. Those kids did it with a purpose.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's an awfully big leap. All of the sources I have read indicate that the students did nothing but wear American flag clothing. They did not provoke or insult students.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Even if they did do it with the purpose of protesting, I doubt their underlying message was, "Go back to Mexico". If they want to be disrespectful and protest, that is their right as American citizens.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I remember that. They weren't arrested, they just pissed a lot of people off, so they got sent home from school or something. Either way, that's ridiculous.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Mexico's big holiday really is 15/16th September, the independence day, I mean this makes no sense at all...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's almost like Tinker v. Des Moines. Even if they were protesting something, they still have the right.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The Tinker test says they are not protected if it is disruptive to other students or offensive to them. It was disruptive to the Mexican students who go all out and celebrate just one time a year. I'm not sure if Tinker applies here or not, though. :|

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But how is it offensive? If the kid wasn't doing it to be annoying then there's no way that could be considered offensive. Maybe wearing a French flag would be a douche move but not the flag of your country and one that wasn't involved in the original conflict. And I doubt ANY kid celebrates only one time a year.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

1. They did it to instigate fights, and then cried, "woe is me" when they got sent home. 2. SENT HOME, not arrested. They were to be suspended, but they bitched to the press about it. 3. They press put immense pressure on the school and made it look terrible, so they got to go back to school without serving out their whole suspension. 4. Their school had a lot of Mexican students who were really into Cinco De Mayo, so they disrespected a lot of those kids even if we are in America. It's still their heritage. If you're an asshole, you probably get what you deserve.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

1. How do you know? 2/3. The school had no reason to suspend them. 4. The town of a Morgan Hill has a minimal number of Mexican-Americans, so it offended virtually no one.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

1. It was on TV about a year ago and the Mexican students said they were shoving it in their faces. This was also the only day that any of them showed any American patriotism. 2/3. They were being disrespectful and the punishment they saw fit was suspension. I thought that was a lot for what they did and thought that they should have just been asked to remove the items if it was so offensive. 4. "Hispanic or Latino of any race were 27.50% of the population."

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Source? I've read several articles about the event and none of them indicate anything about the students "shoving it in their faces." And, Hispanic or Latino does not ≠ Mexican American; it could very well be half of that figure.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It was on a high school stories thing that was on MTV. I'm not sure if the Mexican-American students wanted to make them look worse than they really were so they could get sympathy, so I'm not sure if what they said was accurate. :x Either way, the minority still has rights and apparently they felt very offended and the faculty of the school felt something had to be done about it. I'm not saying I support how they over reacted, but I don't think they should have done that on that day. :/

by Anonymous 13 years ago

MTV is not an accurate source whatsoever, but I think you realize that. I agree that if the students were directly provoking Mexican American students, then the school had every right to ask them to reverse their clothing and threaten with them with a suspension. However, if they simply donned American flag clothing and did nothing more, then I do not see it as offensive whatsoever.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah, the only information I got about the whole thing was through MTV and this reallllly rude article about how the white kids were totally right and they completely insulted all the Mexican students, calling horrible names and such (one was fat pigs because there was a picture of a bigger girl in her Cinco De Mayo apparel). I just think that it was rude of them to do that on Cinco De Mayo is all. I don't know who I side with, but I probably feel worse for the Mexican students because of the article I read. xD

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@dradyn (sorry, I'm on my phone) I didn't think about that part :/ But that was why I though they got to go back so soon to school.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No problem. They went to the press, who in turn put a lot of pressure on the school for doing that to the students. The school cancelled their suspensions. I think that's why they got back to school. I don't think it was a terribly long suspension anyway. :P

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If the school hadn't lifted their suspension, they could of sued the school district for a direct violation of their right to expression, which is given to them by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

For all of you arguing for patriotism and whatnot I'd just like to point out that, technically speaking, it's disrespectful to wear the American flag at all as clothing.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They did it to instigate fights. They could've chosen any other day to show their patriotism but they chose that one. They were asses, I have no sympathy for them.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Seems too coincidental to be "patriotism" to me. They may have the right, but it's wrong to offend others.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

So much for freedom and rights, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I doubt the press would care if Mexicans did the exact same thing for the exact same reason on the fourth of july. This country is full of double standards.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Being from Morgan Hell, I would just like to weigh in: 1) They WERE NOT arrested. They were asked to change by the principal because people were complaining. They said no to an authority figure and were thus suspended. 2) They were doing it to piss people off. People do that every single year- not because they want to show their patriotism, but because they want to make people mad and start fights. 3) While we should have the freedom to show our love of country whenever we damn well please, they would have gotten the shit kicked out of them. Live Oak is known to break out in fights for stupid reasons. There are a lot of Mexican-American students in this town. ALOT. And they were ready to jump those kids. So my opinion: This whole thing was blown out of proportion. They should be allowed to wear what they want, but the school was just trying to protect them. Sure, it's a double standard and no one would react like this to a Mexican acting the same way on 4th of July, but thats life.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They suspended people wearing Obama & McCain shirts at our school during the elections. Even teachers were getting mad. It was an all out war. It was hilarious.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

THIS IS A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT D:

by Anonymous 13 years ago

it's kinda like that old scenario: yelling fire in a crowded room because you have free speech. what I think happened was that cocky teenage boys who are hung up on "America being the best country" decided to be "clever" and try to make these kids feel uncomfterable. Really though, I can't say that's what it is, because I don't know these boysx but that seems like the most logical explanation, I mean, what are the coincedneces? They're punishment really depends on how these Mexican kids felt, the boys intentions, and how strongly the principal/school board feel on the subject and what their morals are.

by Anonymous 13 years ago