American Pride... Or Not???

So I know I've been gone a loooooong time :( but I'll post a bit later on that. Right now, I have a bit of a rant to get out.

I was listening to the radio this morning and caught the tail end of a news story that really pissed me off. When I got to work, I looked up the news report on MSN to get the whole story and to see if my anger was warranted. It was...

At Live Oak High School in the SanFrancisco Bay Area, 5 students were sent home to avoid suspension for wearing t-shirts and bandanas with American Flags on Cinco de Mayo. Are you kidding me???? The Mexican-American students are demanding apologies from these students, who refuse to give them and I say good for them. I guarantee nothing would happen to a Mexican-American student if they happened to wear something with a Mexican flag on it on the 4th of July. What kind of message does something like this send to the children and young adults in this country?

I live in the NYC area and you can't go anywhere without seeing Puerto Rican, Mexican, Domincan, Jamaican, Columbian, Haitian, and a wide range of other country flags plastered all over the place. In case anyone has forgotten, we live in the United States of American where the official flag is the American flag.

What seems to me to be happening is we are so concerned with what everyone else might think that we are beginning to discriminate against those who were born and raised in this country. I see it all the time. I get less help in a store because I don't speak Spanish. I finally had to tell the people coming to my door that if they didn't have literature in English than I can't help them. Why am I getting punished for speaking the language of the country that I was born in.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against other cultures. Many of my close friends have origins in other countries. My husband was born in Ecuador and English is not his first language. But I feel that those who wish to show their American Pride should not be penalized for it, no matter what day it is. Last time I checked, Cinco de Mayo was not a National Holiday in the United States.

Now, if the kids were wearing vulger languange or inappropriate images on their clothes, then yes, address the issue. But an American Flag??? Come on people. Let's use a little commone sense here.

God Bless the USA and the American Flag.

~AKO