Dear Editor, The action taken by Live Oak High School regarding
the students wearing the American flag is an outrage.
Other ethnic celebrations should not come at a cost
Dear Editor,
The action taken by Live Oak High School regarding the students wearing the American flag is an outrage. This is America or are we now intimidated to the point where foreigner can tell us not display our heritage symbols; where foreigners can celebrate their holiday in this nation and tell us we are disrespectful if we don’t honor their privilege to do so. This is becoming nauseating. It needs to be stopped. I have no problem with foreigners celebrating their holiday in this country, but not at the expense of telling an American he or she can’t display the national flag or similar symbol. That is going too far.
Gunther Sturm, Palo Cedro
Any and all students should be allowed to celebrate heritage
Dear Editor,
I’m a white girl (with white parents) living in Alabama, but I grew up in a Mexican Baptist Church and I’m fluent in Spanish. Some of us Americans are. I find it particularly interesting that a Miguel Rodriguez who works at an American school had a problem with American students wearing American shirts on a day that was supposed to celebrate Mexican culture. The last time I looked at “holidays” Cinco de Mayo was not a national holiday. The last time I looked at “holidays” major cities such as Chicago had been turning their river green for years on St. Patrick’s Day.
I think any student should be allowed the privilege of celebrating their heritage regardless of what day the calendar says. However, by Mexican students expressing outrage over American flag shirts simply indicates that they have forgotten or are not aware of the democracy and freedom their families came here for. If a student wishes to wear a shirt with a flag depicting their nationality, they have the right to do so.
Misty Walker, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
American pride and heritage is being trampled upon
Dear Editor,
I don’t really know where to begin this letter because I am so outraged and disgusted by the administration at Live Oak High School. I don’t have a child at Live Oak but do have one in the school district. I will NOT sit by and let our children and our future be brainwashed by teachers and administrators to think that they cannot be proud to be an American and cannot show that pride in an inoffensive and non-harmful way. Last time I checked the country we live in is the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, therefore I don’t care what day it is, wearing the American flag is not something that should be punished or looked down upon. I am so sick of everyone having to be “PC” to accommodate everyone else all the while our American pride and heritage is being trampled on and stifled for the benefit of others. Any person of any ethnic background, heritage, or race is free to come to the USA and practice whatever they want but don’t expect us to stifle our American pride to suit you. Many ethnic clubs operate at Live Oak but when students wanted to start a White Student Union they were told no because it is racist. Since when is being proud of your heritage racist? Why is it not racist for the other clubs that don’t include white people to have their own clubs at school?
Our family donates a memorial scholarship to a Live Oak student every year in memory of my brother who helped found the Patriot Club at Live Oak. We are seriously considering pulling this scholarship from Live Oak High School unless the administration is punished for their actions. What happened yesterday is an outrage and the administration of Live Oak High School should be ashamed to be allowed to educate our children and should be ashamed to be Americans. This discrimination and violation of these kids’ civil rights was disgraceful. I hope that this story gets as much media attention locally and nationally as it deserves and that proud Americans demand like I do for there to be considerable consequences for your actions.
Victoria Enos-Newberg, Morgan Hill
Straight talk from a Hispanic American
Dear Editor,
It’s a sad day in the United States when our kids can’t wave Old Glory any time of day on any day of the year.
When I found out that a high school administrator supported the ill informed and radical Latino students who believed that waving or wearing an American flag on Cinco de Mayo was incendiary and disrespectful (which is NOT our national holiday) I was infuriated. Understand that you are in the U.S. and if a U.S. citizen wants to wave the Stars and Stripes, it is our right as U.S. Citizens to do so, on any day or every day of the year.
Furthermore, this also applies to the parent who allowed her son to wear the Confederate flag T-shirt. This symbol is disrespectful to the Union; that is to say, the United States of America. News flash, there is no confederacy. It failed at its radical attempt to secede from the union. Therefore it is anti-American. The Confederate flag is not our nation’s flag, Stop waving it.
By the way, my family has defended Old Glory in one Civil War, two major World Wars I and II, Korean War, Vietnam and Iraq. So, I take great offense when my country and flag and the blood of my relatives that was spilled in the line of duty for this great nation, is maligned by people who try to prevent the Stars and Stripes from waving or worse yet brandishing a flag (the confederate flag) that represents sedition!
Let me provide a simple civics lesson. We live in the United States of America. The Franca lingua (main language) is English. We have recognized “national” holidays. These holidays pertain to our great nation, hence the term. If you’re going to live here then wave our flag. If you’re going to benefit from our great nation by going to our schools and enjoy our freedoms then bare alliance to the nation that affords you these opportunities. To deny another’s right to wear our national flag is in fact infringing upon our rights as Americans. If you can’t wave your own countries flag with pride in your own country, then where pray tell, can you?!
These Latino kids are regurgitating incendiary rhetoric passed down to them from their militant parents who have manipulated the system. They have benefited from the system all the while resenting this great land and its opportunity. Yet they stay and breed hatred for our country. A country which I love and support and live in as an American.
I am a hard working American whose ethnic background happens to be Hispanic. I am a United States citizen! So, I say to all of those incendiary students. Pick a side! Know which side your bread is buttered and don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
On a side note, I’d like to point out to the Latino girl on the news. You may have ethnic pride but it’s time to saddle up and support the country in which you benefit from. Furthermore, being Latino is not your “race” but an ethnic background. There are three races: Caucazoid, Negroid and mongoloid. There are however, a multitude of ethnicities. Perhaps if you stayed in school and chose to study and learn the facts you might actually be worth listening to, providing you’re informed and have something worthwhile to say.
Olivia Morales, Hollister
In no way does wearing the American flag diminish another’s culture
Dear Editor,
I was and still am very disappointed with my alma mater, Live Oak High School, for the Cinco de Mayo fiasco.
When did it become a violation of school policy or of the First Amendment to be a proud American? What’s next? Should I then be ashamed or it be illegal for me to be a proud husband and father? Proud Eagle Scout? Proud U.S. Army Veteran? Proud of the United States of America? Proud of the U.S. flag? The thought is absolutely ridiculous not to be proud to be an American!
In no way does wearing the American flag diminish another’s culture nor would someone wearing another country’s flag on the Fourth of July be diminishing mine.
A little insight from someone who lived in Mexico for years that is often overlooked in the US; the real Mexican Independence Day is Sept. 16 not May 5. The U.S. celebrates Cinco de Mayo more than people living in Mexico.
The simple act of sending young Americans home from a publicly-funded U.S. school for wearing clothing with the U.S. flag is preposterous.
My open question for the MHUSD Superintendent Dr. Wes Smith, do we really want and can our children afford the penurious guidance and leadership of individuals like Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez and Principal Nick Boden in these crucial formative years of our children? The obvious and only answer to this rhetorical question is absolutely not.
Sidney B. Smith, MD, FAAD, U.S. Army Veteran, Live Oak High School Graduate 1987, West Richland, Wash.
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s independence day
Dear Editor:
Cinco De Mayo Cinco de Mayo is a holiday held May 5 that commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza SeguÃn. It is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day, the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.
I think the principal and the Hispanic kids of that school need a history lesson. Cinco De Mayo is celebrated in the U.S. because it has been heavily promoted by Corona – a beer company. We celebrate St. Patrick’s Day too, because it’s associated with beer, not because we’re all Irish in the U.S..
Lorie B. Blaine, Richmond, Virg.
A vote for no suspension: treating the symptom doesn’t eliminate the cause
Dear Editor:
I have spent much of the past 20 years traveling around the world, and I live in the Middle East now, which may explain why my reaction to la tragedia en Cinco de Mayo is coming a bit late. I am a 1985 graduate of Live Oak. When I was a Live Oak student, our school bus from the George Day subdivision started making stops at a low-income housing development off Monterey Road that was overwhelmingly populated by Mexican families and families of Mexican descent. I was embarrassed the first day this occurred, because a group from my neighborhood – including one whose own parents were born in Mexico – announced as we pulled up to the subdivision that we kids from my neighborhood all had to move to the back of the bus and make the “spics” sit up front. They were the neighborhood “cool gang,” so they were obeyed. This behavior continued for months, and there were often insults hurled back and forth on the bus, but mostly “forth,” i.e. initiated from the back. Some were economic-based, but most were ethnic insults. Dangerous attitudes like this point to a flaw in our moral framework and in our education, at home and at school.
I am saddened to hear ethnic tension still a troublesome matter at my alma mater and in my hometown. The fact that the statement made by the five students was interpreted as provocative, points to the level of tension and discrimination that exists. I can only assume that they did not join in the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. I suggest that Live Oak make use of this incident not to suspend the flag-wearing five, but rather, to prompt school-wide dialogue, debate and soul-searching. More productive than simply suspending the students – and risk making them heroes of some sort – is to assign them a project that will help them and others understand (1) the beauty of Mexican culture and history, (2) that America is only one country among many in this world, and (3) that each country should be respected and honored and appreciated.
I wonder how the student protesters – “statement makers” – would feel if they read that here in Amman people protested against me wearing red, white and blue and barbecuing hamburgers on the Fourth of July, because local Jordanians were offended by my showing of cultural pride. What would they think to hear that they walked up and down my street wearing green, white and black that day? I for one would understand such action to be a provocative protest, and it would make me feel not only uncomfortable but also unwelcome. (I note, with pride: I have never experienced such discrimination abroad anywhere.) I also ask, would the student protesters be offended if I wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, in my own country? Would they refrain from attending Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco? To express pride in cultural and familial roots is not a statement against America but mere recognition of the fact that the world is diverse and America a country of immigrants. Perhaps more courses in the school district are needed on world cultures and history, or on American history and the foundations of American society, for that matter. The celebration of Mexican culture on Cinco de Mayo is not a statement or protest against American culture, and it is unfortunate that the five “patriots” chose to challenge provocatively what they misinterpreted. Their clothing itself is not offensive, but the message of unacceptance that it was unmistakably meant to convey is regrettable, and misplaced. Each country of the world has many beautiful things to offer and is filled with many kind people. It should all be celebrated.
Susanne McElrone, Amman, Jordan
As a sign of unity, students should engage in a sensible discussion
Dear Editor,
How unfortunate that the school authorities responded by sanctioning the patriotic young men instead of seizing the moment to provide a valuable and constructive lesson by emphasizing the fact that Mexican culture is very much a part of the American culture.
I believe that all Americans, regardless of their heritage, should celebrate Cinco de Mayo out of respect for our beloved neighbor to the South. On that day both the American and Mexican flags should be displayed together.
Sadly, instead of seeing the opportunity to unify, they chose to create division.
I hope that the young people at Live Oak High School will, independently of the principal, have a sensible discussion about the role that Mexican culture plays in American culture and will emphasize unity in the community, and the country.
No one living in the U.S. should every be criticized or prevented from displaying the American flag and we should all be grateful for the contribution of Mexican-Americana, and their very proud service in our Armed Forces.
Master Sgt. Luke Way, USAF (Ret.) St. Thomas, Ontario
