American Teen Wins Back Right to Display American Flag... in America

On Veterans Day, an American boy at an American school was told to take the American flag off his bicycle because it was offending immigrant students.

Thirteen-year-old Cody Alicea's bike bears the flag regularly, but on Veterans Day he was told it had to come off or he couldn't bring the bike on school property.

Attorneys from Liberty Counsel sent Denair Middle School a letter stating the school was in violation of Alicea's First Amendment rights, via the U.S. Supreme Court decision Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District. The school apologized, and told Alicea he could put the flag back. By then, Veterans Day was over.

This is what we're facing in this country. American citizens being restrained from expressing American freedoms, because of the very people who are coming here to take advantage of what America offers. Public school officials don't take the time to educate themselves about actual First Amendment wording, because they're so afraid of being politically incorrect that they exhibit these knee-jerk reactions.

Not an isolated American flag incident at public schools:

-On Cinco de Mayo, May 5, 2010, five American students at Live Oak High School in California's Bay area weren't allowed to stay in school because their American flag T-shirts were offensive to Mexican-American students (who were wearing green, red and white for the Mexican flag).

The five friends were told to turn their American flag shirts inside out, or go home. They had figured, since the Mexican-American kids were wearing their flag or colors, there was no harm wearing depictions of the American flag. According to a local newspaper, the Morgan Hill Observer, they disobeyed school authorities by refusing to turn the American flag shirts inside out, and were sent home.

-In March of 2006, when the federal immigration bill was being discussed in California, Mexican students at Montebello High near Los Angeles turned the school's American flag upside down, lowered it, and raised the Mexican flag above it. They were not reprimanded.

The majority of politically correct "acceptable" mainstream media (i.e., not Fox News) did not retain this incident on their websites for long. A photo and synopsis can be seen at columnist Michelle Malkin's website. Since Malkin is well-known for a conservative viewpoint, skeptics can confirm this at snopes.com or truthorfiction.com.

Is this evidence that immigrant parents aren't encouraging their children to assimilate into their new country?

Let's see if we've got this straight...immigrants are bringing their families to America, or giving birth to children here in America, in order for their children to have the freedoms and opportunities America offers. Then, they're not going to tell their children to respect the American flag?

At the Morgan Hill Observer article, there's a 5/13/10 comment by someone with the pseudonym "legal immigrant," who worked hard to become a naturalized citizen. "Legal immigrant" states it's outrageous for people who come to America for American freedoms to find the American flag "offensive." He/she describes the honor of taking the U.S. Oath of Allegiance, and says that after one takes it, they should consider themselves -- first and foremost -- an American.

Additional details and perspective about the Veterans Day incident are available at Yahoo!/Associated Content contributor Jay Braun.

Sources:

-Veterans Day bicycle incident: Liberty Counsel Press releases: Nov 12 and Nov 15.

-Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (393 U.S. 513, 509, 1969), decision as found at Cornell University Law School.

-"Morgan Hill Becomes Center of Flag Controversy," Jessica Fromm, Morgan Hill Observer 5/9/10.

-"Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees," George Kiriyama, NBC Bay Area News, 5/6/10.

-2006 immigration case: "The American Flag Comes Second," Michelle Malkin, michellemalkin.com, 3/29/06; and Snopes.com or Truthorfiction.com.