OUR VIEW: We have a right to wear our own flag (vote in poll)

We’re in the land of the free and home of the brave. But let’s not get carried away. We’re not so free, not so brave that we should dare display an American flag. Not on a T-shirt on public property when Hispanics are celebrating their Mexican heritage. Doing that would be far too much freedom and bravery in what is becoming the land of the censors and the home of the politically correct.

Our flag has long been a complicated symbol. Even its origin has been challenged and debunked. Research conducted by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History indicated that the story of Betsy Ross sewing the first flag in 1776 was simply that — a story. Between then and now, the flag has been flown in juxtaposition with the Confederate flag at Gettysburg, triumphantly mounted at Iwo Jima by American Marines, burned in effigy by hippies, planted on the moon, flown upside down in distress and draped on the coffins of thousands of soldiers.

On Cinco de Mayo, five high school students near San Jose, Calif., wore T-shirts, bandannas and other apparel containing flags or red, white and blue. The school has a large Hispanic population comprised of immigrants, aliens and American citizens. The five students were asked to take off the bandannas, turn the shirts inside out or go home because it was Cinco de Mayo. They refused, were sent to the principal’s office and subsequently dismissed from school for the day. School officials said a few Mexican-American students had complained, even though some were wearing red, white and green — the colors of Mexico’s flag.

School district officials later issued a statement critical of the principal’s actions. Parents want the principal fired.

This could be teenagers trying to confront fellow classmates with the radical symbol of the American flag. It could be young patriots trying to express their love for this country. One of the students, Dominic Maciel, was Hispanic himself. Whether the students were intentionally disrespecting Cinco de Mayo doesn’t matter.

The school’s reaction is what matters. It’s the latest example of the hypersensitivity that institutions and individuals have developed for any hint of bias or prejudice. We’ve taken prayer out of the schools. We no longer say Merry Christmas. We walk on eggshells, trying not to offend.

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In a clumsy attempt at political correctness, the school violated the basic right of students to express themselves. The delicate balance between one individual’s beliefs and another’s is tested on a daily basis. Our social fabric has changed, and the issues of immigration and civil rights sometimes clash. But Americans have the right to the express themselves, which includes the right to offend by celebrating America while others celebrate Mexico.

The American flag is a profound symbol of freedom, liberty and justice for all — the qualities of American life that draw immigrants to our soil. Our cultures must unite around a common allegiance to this country.

Let’s remember the flag that firefighters raised in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Let’s never forget what that flag stands for: freedom. That includes freedom of expression, not freedom from it. — By Pula Davis, for the editorial board

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