"A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take away everything you have."

Friday, May 7, 2010

Apparently, the American Flag Is Incendiary

This story was pretty shocking to me. Five students were sent home from school at a California high school for wearing t-shirts with the American flag on them. Their crime? Celebrating America on Cinco de Mayo. As school administrators put it, wearing the American flag was "incendiary" and "disrespectful" on "Mexican Heritage Day." Take a look here and here.

Forgive me for asking, but what is disrespectful or incendiary or racially divisive about the American flag? Aren't we all Americans and don't we all supposedly love this country, whatever our ethnic background? Why would Mexican-AMERICANS be offended by someone wearing the American flag? At least one of the boys, Matthew Dariano, was actually part Hispanic. His mother said, "There will be no apology." Good for her. No American should ever have to apologize for respectfully displaying the American flag on American soil.

I am sick of Americans who seem to hate their own country and think we need to apologize for who we are. And I am sick of the ethnic identity politics that divides us along racial lines. Whether white, black, Latino, Asian, or Arabic, all Americans should share a common commitment to our country, our flag, and our ideals of liberty and justice for all. If you don't like America and you don't respect our flag and our ideals, you should shut up or leave. Or don't come here in the first place.

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