Five Students Faced Suspension for Wearing American Flag Images to School on Cinco De Mayo Day
t-shirts in side out and take off their bandanas or they would be suspended and asked to leave school. The reason was, some of the students wore t-shirts that displayed the image of the American flag and other students wore bandanas with the image of the American flag to school on Cinco de Mayo, which is a Mexican Holiday.
The principal said he did not want fights to break out between Mexican-Americans celebrating Cinco de Mayo and students wearing t-shirts and bandanas displaying American flag themes. He felt the T-shirts and bandanas were incendiary and offensive to some of the students who were celebrating a Mexican Holiday. The students wearing American flag themes chose to go home and not turn their t-shirts inside out or remove their bandanas.
Some of the Mexican-American students said they felt they were being disrespected on Cinco de Mayo holiday. However, at least 100 Mexican American students wore colors of the Mexican flag; some students had it painted on their face and arm.
Cinco de Mayor commemorates the Victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
The School District does not agree with the decision of the principal and the matter is being investigated.
I, also, do not agree with the decision of the principal. This is America and the five students were in their rights to wear images of the American flag on their t-shirts and bandanas. They were not breaking any school dress codes. I have never heard of any rules or dress code where students are asked not to wear certain colors, images or icons to school to respect the celebration of any holidays.
I can respect the principal not wanting any fights to break out. However, students cannot be instructed to remove or hide American flags because other students are celebrating a holiday that is important to their country. If the students are allowed to celebrate their holidays at school; other students should not be told they cannot wear images or themes of their choice. The principal made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Maybe a lesson can be learned from all of this.
Published by Mary E. Coe
I write articles, songs, poetry, short stories and stageplays. Some of my writings are fictitious and some are fact based. In the Spring of 1993, some of my poems were published in the library at Citrus Col... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentWhen I was in Junior High school an Irish/American kid got suspended from school for dying his hair green to celebrate St. Patrick's day. Times have changed have they not! I have enjoyed Cinco de Mayo festivities ~ perhaps the schools could ease tensions by have school wide events to celebrate various important culturally exclusive ethnic days. It is too sad that U.S. flags are being banned due to this clash between Mexican immigrants and born citizens. In Mexico Cinco de Mayo is not a major holiday or cause for celebration. Mexican Independence day is and that is in September.
You are probably aware that after the first Day Without Immigrants protest ~ schools in CA and elsewhere started prohibiitng wearing of "patriotic clothing" ie: flags. A school up the coast a bit from San Diego removed U.S. flags because they were said to disrespect immigrants ~ the issue is not with immigration but illegal immigration. I am all for a No Borders world and a Whole Earth Flag ~ good luck getting countries and their citizens to agree to that!
Thanks for reporting this. It's an outrage. If the American flag attire had to be removed, so should they have made the Mexican flag attire and paint removed from the school. This is not right. It's a disgrace. You are too kind in your comment on the decision.
Great reporting Mary! This is America, we should all be able to wear the American flag any day we choose.