Hating the Country You Adopted

When wearing a U.S. flag T-shirt is wrong?

When is wearing a T-shirt with the American flag on it considered provocative?

Answer: When you wear it to a high school with a dress code that explicitly prohibits "any clothing or decoration which detracts from the learning environment." And when the high school, where 20% of the 1,300 students are English-language learners and 18% come from low-income families, has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as having "an ethnically charged atmosphere."

And when, despite concerns about potential violence, you and some of your friends make your patriotic wardrobe choices on, of all days, Cinco de Mayo.

"any clothing or decoration which detracts from the learning environment."

There's a statement broad and ambiguous enough to pretty much be interpreted any way the powers that be want.

Under ordinary circumstances, wearing a T-shirt with the American flag on it would probably not be a big deal. But this high school is no ordinary place, especially not on Cinco de Mayo. It's a cultural powder keg.

The previous year, in 2009, a group of Mexican students marked the holiday by walking around campus holding a Mexican flag. A group of white students responded by hanging a makeshift American flag from a tree and chanting "USA." According to the Chronicle, tensions flared and the two groups faced off with profanity and threats.

Little wonder that when some students showed up at school wearing T-shirts with American flags on them administrators decided to err on the side of caution.

Meanwhile, the judge did the right thing in dismissing the case and declaring that administrators had the right to take preventive action if there was a "reasonable fear" of violence.

Typical liberal position. Support those who threaten violence and tell the lawful citizens to shut up, you have no right to free speech that counters the free speech of those who hate our country.

Americans have the responsibility to treat one another, and one another's cultures, with respect.

Unless, of course, it's treating the traditional American culture with respect.

Any wonder the article's writing is Hispanic and "Live Oak High School Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez ordered them to remove or turn inside out T-shirts bearing the American flag" is Hispanic. Obvious bias. Respect is a two way street, except to haters.