CA - American students catch heat for wearing red, white & blue on Cinco de Mayo

[Nova]

peace? you mean giving them STD's on blankets and moving them to a portion of what was rightfully theirs? lol to think our ancestors were any better is deplorable.

Angels, I think it was smallpox. I don't know of an STD you can get from a blanket shipped to you from afar.

And according to the site I checked, the Pilgrims themselves didn't know why the Indians were getting plague. They didn't have a theory of germs yet. (The deliberate infection of Indians with infected blankets took place in the late 1800s, I think.)

 

[Nova]

Some Mexican ancestors did the same things to the American Indians. FWIW our government pays the ancestors of Native American Indians; does Mexico?

I tired of blaming ancestors for land grabbing. People did that back in the day. We grow, we learn; we populate and we have to let go and say NOW it is what it is.

If American kids do not like the Mexican culture thrust upon them in school they have a right to say so. Free speech.

This is the first country really based on IDEAS; so if those who come here don't share our forefathers' IDEA of what our America is, then we gotta problem.

Goodbye sweet America. Glad I knew you when.

What an odd post, ziggy. On the one hand, you call "Ollie, ollie, ox and free!" and demand that everyone be satisfied with the status quo. On the other, you talk about a country "based on IDEAS" without prescribing any remedy for those IDEAS that have been ignored, as often as not.

Displacement of Mexican-Americans and African-Americans never really stopped, so when exactly is the magical date of demarcation supposed to take place?

 

[Nova]

Perhaps they WERE trying to make a statement. Maybe like me they think that since this The United States the only independance celebrating that should be going on is our own. Honestly, Cinco do Mayo has no place in this country. Does Mexico celebrate the 4th of July? This may seem harsh but frankly I think if one wants to celebrate the independance of a particular nation they should go to that nation to do so. Otherwise its just an excuse for a party.

I guess you missed the posts that explained that Cinco de Mayo doesn't celebrate Mexican independence. IIRC, it commemorates a victory over the French. It has become a day for ethnic celebration, like El dia de los muertos and El dia de nuestra senora de Guadalupe.

As we've discussed, the Irish celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Puerto Ricans celebrate National P.R. Parade Day in June--the same month as Gay Pride Day in the largest cities. Other ethnicities celebrate other days, often based on the patron saint of their country. Many if not most African-Americans mark Martin Luthor King Day.

NONE of these are independence celebrations. They are celebrations of ethnic and cultural history and identity. If you lived in NYC, LA, Chicago or San Francisco, you'd see these celebrations and how little threat they usually pose.

ETA and many if not most Americans celebrate some combination of these holidays. One has to be very sheltered to avoid them.

 

[sonjay]

It should never, ever be "wrong" for anyone of any nationality, race, or ethnicity to wear the colors of his or her home country or country of origin any time they choose. No one should ever be prevented from doing so, or punished for doing so.

Especially in America.

 

[EllieBee]

It's REALLY time to turn of Fox News. (I know, I know: you've never watch it. Nobody has.)

The President didn't think wearing flag pins by rote showed much in the way of patriotism and I agree with him.

As for all the rights we are supposedly "losing", I'd like to see a list. As I said above, one couldn't even wear an American flag as clothing when I was a kid (well, the issue was still being fought in the courts). How would we have fewer rights now, even if we could only wear it 364 days per year?

I remember when patching our torn jeans was really popular. We were allowed smiley faces, or flowers, but NOT American flag patches. Which I thought was weird even as a kid because I collect American flags and memorabilia to this day. I really love our flag and not only wear it, but drive with it on my car and have artistic representations of it in my home.

 

[Nova]

Yeah, that's a battle the ACLU would jump right into. But, it's ok for Americans to be discriminated against.
This politically correct BS is ruining this country.
Take all our rights and freedoms away, and hand everybody else much much more. SICK

:sigh: As far as we know, ALL the students involved in today's incident were Americans.

As for the ACLU, I can only assume you mean "white Christians" when you say the ACLU doesn't defend Americans. Here's a link to the many, many cases where the ACLU has intervened ON BEHALF OF Christians or Jews:

https://www.aclu.org/aclu-defense-religious-practice-and-expression

 

[EllieBee]

The legal immigration period may take as long as 24 years. If your Mexican children are starving...

My nephew-in-law was raised between the US and Switzerland. His parents own businesses here and abroad. He was educated solely in the US, including university.

He is an architect, working for a top firm, for the past 8 years. He and my niece married last year after a ten-year courtship.

He is still waiting, after 9 years, for US citizenship. At least now, because he and my niece finally married, he is able to move things along. But unlike what the movies would have you believe, marriage does not instantly ensure citizenship.

 

[Nova]

Don't get it twisted. Americans come in colors other than white. You were talking about being "an American" and then went and substituted it for being "a white person". FYI - there are white - very white latinos.

And then the OP went on to refer to U.S. holidays as "my continent's holiday", ignoring the fact that 2/3s of the continent falls outside of the U.S. This was a bad word day for some people. LOL.

 

[Nova]

...Someone said in an earlier post that we are becoming over-run with people looking for things to be offended by. I agree. People no longer ask whether or not a point is logical and reasonable; they react according to whether or not someone's sensitivities will be hurt by it. Replacing rational standards with emotion-driven standards like that is a recipe for disaster. imo

In 18 years at WS I have never seen a more "emotion-driven" thread than this one. So who is to model these "rational standards" you prefer?

 

[Nova]

OMG I'm speechless. :furious:

I'm glad you weren't around during the Vietnam War. You would have seen much worse things done with American flags--and not necessarily by Latinos.

Yes, whoever put up the flags behaved inappropriately, something teenagers are rather famous for doing.

 

[Nova]

What race are they, as when dna is done? I've only seen Caucasian, Hispanic, African, and Asian, I believe but am probably wrong. I know that Latin is not considered a race, but just wondering about Hispanic, because I didn't think they would be considered Asian as Native Indians. I'm thinking back to some cases of rape/murders when dna was looked at in trying to figure the race of the attacker.

Since the human genome project mapped DNA all over the world, most biologists consider the concept of "biological race" to be completely outmoded and useless. Any two *advertiser censored* sapiens differ more than any two "races".

Put simply, race is a social construct, something we perceive, not something which actually exists in physical terms. (If anyone is having trouble grasping this concept, I'll readily admit I had to think about it awhile myself.)

* Until the last half-century, the term "race" also meant ethnicity and one will find European writers talking about the "English race", the "German race", etc. The thinking was that cultural difference arose from biological heritage, but that, too, has now been debunked. The peoples of antiquity were not as uniformly Greek, Roman and Egyptian as we were once taught.

As for crime solving, a DNA test might tell you the suspect has a high probability of having blue eyes, but I don't think it can tell you for certain that his eyes will appear blue. But even if it can, that's not the same thing as race; there are Africans with blue eyes.

 

[Nova]

ElleBee, I want to celebrate our Scot heritage, too, but I can't imagine it would be any fun. LOL.

 

[KaaBoom]

Quite frankly, I am curious about that as well. I am not sure and like you wish I had that information. Honestly, if there was some sort of organized celebration of Cinco de Mayo at school I would be sort of upset by that.

Picture me as a white person, living in Mexico, as citizen or not, with children attending school there and then expecting them to not only honor the fourth of july but expecting mexican students to not wear the colors of their flag that day as it might be disrespectful to me.

In another article some of the Mexican students discussed that. They said that they would not wear Mexican flags on the 4th of July, and they would consider that to be just as disrespectful. So there is not necessarily any hypocrisy there.

Now to the American flag wearing students. You are not going to convince me that a group of five students just coincidentally all showed up wearing American flags on Cinco de Mayo. They were clearly trying to start an incident. The school principal in the interest of school safety decided to send them home. The principal got in trouble for his decision. The American flag wearing students got their 15 minutes of fame. Congrats to them.

 

[EllieBee]

ElleBee, I want to celebrate our Scot heritage, too, but I can't imagine it would be any fun. LOL.

Well, I could chuck a big azzed log at you and then force you to eat haggis. All while wearing an itchy wool tartan with no drawers.

What's not fun about THAT? :lol:

 

[LinasK]

We are a nation of immigrants.

On March 17th, people (many of whom bear no Irish ancestry) wear green. (When I was a kid my mom made us wear orange because we were protestant Scots-Irish. How embarassing, but that is another issue, lol).

On Columbus Day, bars and restaurants celebrate with tasty Italian fare and parades with the Italian flag waving. (Not going to debate the whole Vespucci/Columbus thing).

In Louisiana, we celebrate the French Catholic tradition of Mardi Gras. The state is draped in purple, green and gold (actually, year-round, and nobody seems to mind).

And in Southwestern states, the 5th of May is another festive holiday for American citizens and for Mexican residents alike.

Oh! Chinese New Year! Rosh Hashanna! Guy Fawkes? Oktoberfest?

I am wondering how any of these are counter to being respectful of the USA?

Does it really diminish our identity as a nation if we embrace all cultural celebrations? If it does, we are pretty weak and whiny.

Why can't we celebrate our individuality?

I am proud of my Scots heritage, and also my French and Welsh heritage. If I wanted to celebrate my heritage by wearing a tee shirt or hanging a flag in my yard, am I no longer an American?

So much for tolerance.

Um as far as Scottish heritage-of which my husband has alot- in this area there are several Scottish Festivals held several times a year. And a good friend of mine married a guy from Scotland just over a year ago. That doesn't diminish from being an American. These boys did it to be incendiary. They can wear the flag to school the other 363 days of the year. It was an act of putting down Mexican heritage, plain and simple!
And F.Y.I. Rosh Hashana is a religious holiday, not a cultural one. It is one of the holiest days for Jews, I would not expect non-Jews to celebrate it with me, in fact I don't even bring my non-Jewish husband to temple then, only on other days. It is not comparable to St. Patrick's Day or Cinco De Mayo celebrations where the whole communities are considered Irish or Hispanic.

 

[LinasK]

It should never, ever be "wrong" for anyone of any nationality, race, or ethnicity to wear the colors of his or her home country or country of origin any time they choose. No one should ever be prevented from doing so, or punished for doing so.

Especially in America.

Except when you are doing it as a put down of another culture on their special day- much like the free speech debate designed to purposefully incite the Muslims by drawing Mohammed.

 

[LinasK]

ElleBee, I want to celebrate our Scot heritage, too, but I can't imagine it would be any fun. LOL.

Actually it is! Google Scottish Festivals. They all wear kilts, have Clan booths, beer, Scottish dancing, Scottish music, bagpipes, Renaissance costumes, Caber Tossing and such... There are several in the Bay Area, one very close to me every Labor Day Weekend. The whole fairground is filled. Found the link for you:
[h=3]http://www.thescottishgames.com/[/h]

 

[EllieBee]

Um as far as Scottish heritage-of which my husband has alot- in this area there are several Scottish Festivals held several times a year. And a good friend of mine married a guy from Scotland just over a year ago. That doesn't diminish from being an American. These boys did it to be incendiary. They can wear the flag to school the other 363 days of the year. It was an act of putting down Mexican heritage, plain and simple!

I think you misunderstood my point.

I am at the point of tears tonight from being attacked.

I meant that we should welcome ALL cultures and their celebrations. I meant that all of those things are what America means.

I am also sick of being picked on here. I quit. This is not what I thought WS was. This is just a big bully fest.

 

[i.b.nora]

I concur. Its gotten very ugly around here lately.

 

[sonjay]

Except when you are doing it as a put down of another culture on their special day- much like the free speech debate designed to purposefully incite the Muslims by drawing Mohammed.

No, not even then.