Thursday, May 6, 2010

Happy Cinco de..... What? Part 2

Don't know if you have heard about this yet, but several students at a California High School yesterday were instructed to remove patriotic articles of clothing and turn their United States flag t-shirts inside out.  The Vice Principal called the articles "incendiary" and other students called them "disrespectful".

Hello?!  What country do we live in?  Not only are we being forced to recognize another country's holiday, but our children are being punished for wearing the flag of THIS country?  All because somebody might be offended on the "official" MEXICAN holiday.

How can the flag of MY country be considered incendiary?  In MY country?  Did they take the flag down off the flag pole at Live Oak High School for the day?  Did they remove the United States flag from all the classrooms.  I don't ask about the Pledge of Allegiance because I KNOW that the Pledge has long been banned from California classrooms.

Where does it end?  Do we sacrifice our national identity, WHO WE ARE AS A COUNTRY, to make sure that don't offend people who are still more tied to their country of ancestry than they are to their country of residence?

When I was growing up, I was taught that the United States was a melting pot into which each culture was amalgamated into the whole, creating a richer AMERICAN culture.  Like adding carbon to iron, the incoming cultures made the AMERICAN culture stronger.

Today we are told that we are a stew, each culture maintaining it's own distinct "flavor" while adding to the richness to the stew.  Unfortunately, a culture that refuses to "cook down" into the stew is like a turd in a punch bowl.  No matter how much "flavor" it brings, it's still a turd.

If immigration patterns continue as they have our country will soon be "Balkanized" or "Quebec'd":  A Hispanic, mostly Mexican, southwest; an Asian Pacific Northwest, a Cuban/Caribbean Florida, and so on.

Where will we be as a nation when that happens?

One of our nation's mottos is "E Pluribus, Unum" meaning "Out of many, One."  How long before we will say "E Pluribus, Nullos".  "Out of many, NONE"

If you are as outraged about this as I am, please feel free to contact the Principal, Mr. Nick Boden at Nick.Boden@mhu.k12.ca.us

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