More proof, as if more is needed, of the lack of patriotism of today’s immigrants to the United States. Mexican immigrant Leo Manzano won a silver medal in a track event, but during his victory lap, instead of waving the American flag, he took up both the American and Mexican flags for his display of patriotism upon his partial victory.
A U.S. athlete is under fire by some in the Mexican-American community for carrying a Mexican flag after winning a silver medal in the 1,500 meters.
Leo Manzana, a Mexican immigrant who became the first American man to win a medal in the metric mile since 1968, draped himself in the flags of both his countries after his race at Olympic Stadium. That decision earned some cheers, but mostly jeers from Mexican-Americans.
So egregious is that even ReconquistaRINO Ruben "The Sandwich" Navarrette criticized Manzano’s actions, though undoubtedly because The Sandwich considered it a gaffe; a gaffe being when a politician, or in this case an immigrant, lets the truth slip out.
CNN by Ruben "The Sandwich" Navarrette August 10, 2012
San Diego (CNN) — Every few years, I reassess how I feel about Mexican-Americans who wave Mexican flags. Much of it has to do with who is doing the waving and under what circumstances.
In 2006, I wrote a column saying it was a bad idea for immigration reform advocates to wave Mexican flags as they marched through U.S. cities such as Phoenix, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. It’s illogical to show your allegiance to one country while demanding accommodation from another.
But in 2007, I penned another column after attending a Luis Miguel concert in Las Vegas where fans of the Mexican singer unfurled Mexican flags. Nothing wrong with that, I concluded.
You see, patriotism is relative, or as they say in cultural anthropology, situational. For The Sandwich, patriotism is like morals; they need to suit the times, or the situation. No absolutes here.
But then like a stopped clock being correct twice a day, The Sandwich actually says something intelligent and patriotic:
Now, thanks to U.S. Olympic medalist Leo Manzano, and what I consider to be the misguided and ill-mannered way he chose to celebrate his silver medal in the 1500-meters final, I get the chance to think through the subject of flag-waving once again.
After Manzano finished his race and secured his medal, he did what athletes typically do at the Olympics. He held up his country’s flag — the Stars and Stripes.
The 27-year-old was born in Mexico, but the United States is his country now. His father migrated here illegally from the city of Dolores Hidalgo. Manzano was brought here when he was 4. Like most immigrants, they came in search of greater opportunity. And they found it — for themselves, and their children …
Leo, con todo respeto (with all due respect), you should be proud of your accomplishment. You deserve it. But when you're an Olympic athlete, you don’t get to have your cake and eat it, too. Sooner or later, you have to choose which country you're going to represent. And you did. You made that choice, when you put on the jersey for Team USA.
It wasn’t unlike the choice your parents made when they chose the United States over Mexico a quarter century ago. They voted with their feet. It would be nice if you haven’t left your heart behind.
This country took you in during your hour of need. Now in your moment of glory, which country deserves your respect — the one that offered nothing to your parents and forced them to leave or the one that took you all in and gave you the opportunity to live out your dreams?
The answer should be obvious.
But for Mexicans that answer is not obvious. Their first instinct is Mexico first, last, and always. The Sandwich even hits on that, but either does not realize it, or, more likely, makes another gaffe:
I remember that, in 1992, Mexican-American boxer Oscar De La Hoya held up both the U.S. and Mexican flags after winning a gold medal in Barcelona. But that was largely symbolic since De La Hoya was born in the United States. He wasn’t an immigrant caught between two countries.
There The Sandwich lets it slip. Even Mexicans born here think of Mexico first, last, and always. We don’t need immigrants like Manzano or their descendants born here like De La Hoya. Go back from whence you came if, as The Sandwich says, you are so emotionally connected with such a failure of a country as Mexico.
It is not limited to Mexicans though. Chinese immigrants are just as bad. Whether it is Lang Lang, Ted Lieu, Leland Yee, Philip He, Norman Yee, or Ed Lee, patriotism from these immigrants and the descendants of immigrants is sorely lacking. Their first instinct is China, first, last, and always. It should have been a clarion call for Americans to see Chinese "Americans" lining up to kowtow to Hu Jintao.
There is an assimilation problem and it is worse than ever.
