Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wearing the Flag on Cinco de Mayo

So the 9th Circuit Court is considering a case where a school ordered students who wore an American flag on Cinco De Mayo to go home or change their shirts. because they were afraid of racial/gang tensions flaring up. This in spite of the fact that there was no dress code that banned flags at the time. 

Now let's get this out of the way right off the bat. Every progressive who thinks that anyone who says people should be allowed to display the American flag is some kind of wife beating cross burner is going to flood the comments with "Would you defend the kids if they wore a shirt with  a flag of (insert predominantly non white nation here)?" Yes I would.

See, I'm one of those people who thinks that instead of  banning certain articles or colors of clothing for "safety reasons," let's examine why an article of clothing is a safety issue. If the problem is that some group of thugs deems it a reason to savagely beat someone, maybe their right to be in school should be revoked.  Schools should remove such students rather than try to accommodate them by making non-violent students change their clothes so the violent ones won't have a psychotic break if they see a color they don't like.  

Don't  need school uniforms or restrictive dress codes. Just enforce some rules on civilized conduct. That is what this school should have done. That is what all schools should do. Ban the people using clothes as an excuse to attack people. You can change the rules on the however you want. The fact is, when schools choose to make kids dress differently because some thugs flash some gang signs, the gangs laugh. It shows them that they can dictate school policy.

You have to wonder where the progressive spirit of baby boomers that now make up our so-called educators has run off to.

Used to be that if some group of crazies made threats about stupid crap, they stood firm. They believed kids had the right to access any book in the library regardless of what some crazed up fundie thought about it. They believed that kids had the right to participate in a Day of Silence or wear an armband to protest a war if they so chose. They stood firm against attacks on teaching evolution.

Now? Some group of thugs flashes some hand signs, they all go "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Change your clothes to the right color! Maybe the gangbangers will behave if you do!"
And then they seem to be at a loss for what to do when that doesn't work.

If they were so gutless in the 60s as they are now, our schools would still be segregated and we'd be teaching that the earth was 10,000 years old.

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