Court rules Calif. school can ban American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo
A California school that stopped students from wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo didn’t violate their constitutional rights, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
The school’s approach, according to the appeals court, kept students safe in a climate of racial tension ...
The case dates back to May 5, 2010, when the principal of Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, asked a group of students wearing American flag T-shirts to turn their shirts inside out or take them off ...
Judges said the civil rights case forced them to weigh the difficult question of what takes precedence: students’ free speech rights or school safety concerns?
According to court documents, the incident occurred amid “ongoing racial tension and gang violence within the school, and after a near-violent altercation had erupted during the prior Cinco de Mayo over the display of an American flag.”
The previous year, court documents said, a group of students carrying a Mexican flag had clashed with students who hung an American flag from a tree and chanted “USA” on Cinco de Mayo, a holiday marking a famous Mexican military battle that is often celebrated in the United States ...
CAIRCO Research
The five teens were sitting at a table outside Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Wednesday morning when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two of them to remove their American flag bandannas, one of their parents told FoxNews.com. The boys complied, but were asked to accompany Rodriguez to the principal's office ...
Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags ...
Freshman Laura Ponce, who had a Mexican flag painted on her face and chest, told the Morgan Hill Times that Cinco de Mayo is the "only day" Mexican-American students can show their national pride ...
___________________
From the article: Tolerate our intolerance, or else, Canada Free Press, February 28, 2014:
...Rather than respond to the violence from the previous Cinco de Mayo party by - oh, I don’t know - not having one; the school decided to keep kids safe by banning clolthes which bore the U.S. flag...
The opinion basically states that the threat of violence was credible, so the need to make sure everyone was safe trumped the First Amendment. Never mind the painfully obvious fact that seeing a U.S. flag - inside the United States - shouldn’t really be an issue. Moreover, don’t wrack your brain trying to figure out why a U.S. high school is celebrating the Battle of Puebla - Mexico’s (very) short-lived 1862 military victory over France.
What’s important here is that a court has actually held that these students’ free speech rights hinge on how their opinions will be perceived by someone who might want to do them harm....
In essence, the court has legitimized violence by suggesting that threats take precedence over free speech. If you want someone in your school silenced, just threaten to beat them senseless. If your threat is credible enough, the school will do the heavy lifting for you. Why should they waste time solving their gang violence problem when they can just appease?
From the article: Sacrificing Old Glory on the Alter of Political Correctness, Canada Free Press, February 28, 2014:
..Of course this decision shreds the First Amendment and is an affront to all patriotic Americans...
This ruling is symbolic of what is wrong with our country. In a different era of our country’s history, such a ruling would never stand. However, today, with our liberal court system, it is quite possible that it will never be overturned.
Instead of targeting peaceful students wearing American flag t-shirts, a better answer in a country that reveres freedom would have been to tell the offended Mexican American students that if they harmed anyone wearing a flag t-shirt, they would be disciplined and possibly arrested.
Instead, we now have mob rule running many of our schools, especially those with high percentages of Hispanic students...
From the article: Court: School ban of US flag shirts allowed, Philly.com, February 28, 2014:
William Becker, one of the lawyers representing the students, said he plans to ask a special 11-judge panel of the appeals court to rehear the case. Becker said he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if he loses again.
"The 9th Circuit upheld the rights of Mexican students celebrating a holiday of another country over U.S. student proudly supporting this country," Becker said.