Where is ACLU in teens' flag flap?
Ralph
Wenzinger
Pardon me while I get up on my soapbox, but I'm fuming. I don't know whether you've seen or heard the story out of Morgan Hill concerning five high school students who were asked to either remove or turn inside-out clothing they were wearing or face suspension because the clothing had the American flag displayed on it.
This appears to have been done because they chose to display the flag on Cinco de Mayo.
It has been reported the school's vice principal, Miguel Rodriguez, contacted the five after some students of Mexican descent had complained about the display of the flags and the school was worried it would start a fight. Let's think about that for a second. Just who did Mr. Rodriguez or the school's principal, Nick Boden, think was going to start the fight? The five who were displaying the American flag?
Since when did displaying the flag of the United States in the United States become a public safety issue that allowed for the suspension of rights enumerated and guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, without due process? We're not talking the wearing of gang attire or the display of racist or pornographic material on school grounds. This is the flag of the United States. It causes me to wonder if they fly an American flag at the school or whether that, too, was taken down. Maybe Morgan Hill has seceded from the United States? It also causes me to wonder, "ACLU, where are you?"
I don't seem to remember any violent confrontations in downtown Bakersfield several years ago when Mexican flags being carried by protesters greatly outnumbered American flags during the "Day Without Immigrants" marches. Perhaps we are more tolerant here than our liberal-minded Northern California neighbors. Perhaps we have a better grasp of the concept of freedom of speech. Perhaps Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Boden need to sit in on a U.S. history class, which discusses the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
It is further reported the clothing (or probably more accurately, the display of the flag) was referred to by Mr. Rodriguez as being "incendiary." Yet it was OK for students of Mexican descent at the same school to display Mexican flags or the colors of the Mexican flag. I guess First Amendment rights don't apply to those who have the nerve to actually display the American flag in the United States, but do apply to those who wish to display the symbol of another sovereign nation on American soil. Would Mr. Rodriguez make the same demands on St. Patrick's Day? How about Columbus Day? If school were in session on Independence Day, would he bar the display of anything but the flag of the United States? Perhaps I need to clarify that I meant the Fourth of July Independence Day, Mr. Rodriguez, not the 16th of September, Mexico's Independence Day. Again I ask, "ACLU where are you?"
To their credit, these patriots chose not to remove or turn inside-out their clothing. Instead, they, with the support of their parents, chose to leave instead of being suspended. Interestingly, two of the five claim to be of Mexican heritage. Just what would Mr. Rodriguez have done if they had carried an American flag in one hand and the Mexican flag in the other? Bar one but not the other?
I am appalled that anyone in these United States would be asked to stop displaying an American flag, other than one in a state of disrepair or displayed incorrectly. I find it hard to believe that the guarantees of the First Amendment apparently do not apply to those who wish to express their patriotism for the United States in the United States.
As an American who served under the flag of the United States for four years, and who proudly displayed it on his uniform, and who displays it at his home every day, weather permitting, I am fuming.
I, for one, plan on exercising my free speech rights at the following e-mail addresses: Miguel.Rodriguez@mhu.k12.ca.us and Nick.Boden@mhu.k12.ca.us.
Ralph Wenzinger of Bakersfield retired from the Bakersfield Police Department as a detective in 2006 and is an honorably discharged Vietnam-era veteran who served in the United States Air Force.
