It is nothing short of appalling that some students at a California high school were recently disciplined for daring to wear red, white and blue on Cinco de Mayo — a day on which Mexicans celebrate Mexico’s military victory over France in 1862.
An assistant principal at the school, in Morgan Hill, Calif., said the patriotic American colors were “incendiary,” the San Jose Mercury News reported. He ordered the boys wearing them to hide the patriotic colors, leave campus or be suspended. Hispanic students — many of whom freely wore the colors of Mexico’s flag that day — might be offended by the colors of the American flag, the boys were told.
“They said we could wear it on any other day,” one of the boys told San Jose TV station KNTV. “But today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday, so we were not allowed to wear it today.”
Incredibly, some Hispanic students said the boys should have to apologize for wearing the colors of the U.S. flag! There was even talk of violence against the boys — two of whom, ironically, are part Hispanic.
Later, the school district called the incident “extremely unfortunate” and said the boys would not be suspended for their supposed “offense.”
The very idea that American students would be disciplined for wearing American colors in an American school is deplorable and should be denounced.