10/20/2013
From the Washington Times
California school ban on U.S. flag on T-shirts heads to appeals
By Cheryl K. Chumley
October 17, 2013
A Northern California school that banned a handful of students from wearing T-shirts that showcased the U.S. flag on the Hispanic-based holiday, Cinco de Mayo day, is headed to court Thursday, to defend their order that the now-graduated individuals go home and change.
The school’s argument during the 2010 matter was that racial tensions and gang problems plagued the student body at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, located 20 miles outside of San Jose, The Associated Press reported.
So when administrators caught wind that some of the altercations experienced on Cinco de Mayo day may have been rooted in the wearing of U.S. flag shirts by three students, their reaction was quick: Either turn the tees inside out, or go home and change, they told the kids, AP reported.
The students went home — but the incident played out in the national press as a question of political correctness versus First Amendment freedoms. [More]
We covered this when it happened in 2010:
A column by Steve Sailer said
Say you are a high school administrator who doesn’t like the kind of students who wear American flag T-shirts to school. Well, punish them and blame it on the Latinos. Claim the Mexicans would riot if an American flag were seen on Cinco de Mayo — which is what has just happened at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California.
I believe that this sort of elite enabling, not Reconquista, is the real political danger that the Mexodus poses to the U.S.
MSM Buries Lead — American Majority Supports Arizona Law. But Our Elites Don’t Like The American Majority, May 16, 2010
An earlier decision said the principal was within his rights because he "reasonably" feared violence — violence which would be committed, presumably, by patriotic Mexican students infuriated by the sight of the American flag:
Court backs Morgan Hill school in flag dispute
Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle
November 12, 2011A Morgan Hill high school principal reasonably feared violence on campus when he saw a group of students wearing American flags on their shirts on Cinco de Mayo, and he did not violate their freedom of speech by telling them to turn the shirts inside out or go home, a federal judge has ruled.[More]
Of course, you may ask, if the school has all these dangerous Mexicans (Live Oak is 45 percent Hispanic) why don’t they do something about it? The answer is, of course, that they can’t. The Supreme Court won’t let them.
In any event, the students,pictured above, are continuing the lawsuit, even though they've graduated. Good for them.
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