Main
Index of the Weekly Forecast & Review
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
© Copyright 2010, The Ultrapolis Project – May be used freely with proper
attribution. All other rights reserved. 
The First Sign of Mexican Sovereignty over U.S. Soil
Students Prohibited from Showing Stars & Stripes in U.S.
School, but Mexican Flag Okayed
By
Marco A. Roberts
Because of the sensitive nature of this topic, and the
necessities of political correctness in the current political climate, this
Forecast & Review brief is written exclusively from the personal
perspective of the Chief Editor, who has a Mexican mother and a Puerto Rican
father, and whose first language is Spanish.
Cinco de Mayo US Flag vs. Mexican Flag
Showdown in 2010
In one of the most unreal civic issue spectacles in
memory, on May 5, five students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill,
California, (70 miles south of San Francisco) were told by an assistant
principal, Miguel
Rodriguez, to turn their t-shirts inside out, and remove bandanas, that
displayed the U.S. flag or colors, stars and stripes. Mr. Rodriguez explained that he was concerned
that fights might break out, since he felt that displaying the U.S. flag or
colors on May 5 was “incendiary.” Live
Oak High School’s student body is 40% Hispanic.
Three of the students refused and were picked up by their parents. Two others stayed, but it is unclear if they
reversed their shirts. Students wearing
the Mexican flag or colors were not asked to reverse their shirts.
One of the boys’ mothers said they were told they “could
wear it on any other day, but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because
it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it." Later, the Morgan Hill Unified School
District reversed the assistant principal’s stance, and issued a statement that
said "The Morgan
Hill Unified School District does not prohibit nor do we discourage wearing
patriotic clothing.” It added that “The
incident on May 5 at Live Oak High School is extremely unfortunate. While campus
safety is our primary concern and administrators made decisions yesterday in an
attempt to ensure campus safety, students should not, and will not, be
disciplined for wearing patriotic clothing. This matter is under investigation
and appropriate action will be taken."
The next day, in televised interviews, the mothers of the boys who went home expressed not outrage, but discomfort. Interviewers asked them ‘why did the boys have to wear the U.S. flag on that particular day?’ They responded that the boys often wear those shirts, but were not trying to upset anyone. That same day (May 6), Hispanics students outside the school were chanting “Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!” at Anglo passersby.
Cinco de Mayo No Day of Independence
Today, or Freedom Tomorrow
Of course, May 5 is, as most Americans improbably know, a
Mexican day of celebration referred to by the Spanish words for May 5: Cinco de
Mayo. What most Americans have not known
until recently (the Internet does spread knowledge), and that includes most Mexican-Americans,
is that Cinco de Mayo is not a day of Mexican independence, nor is it in any
way related to Mexican independence or cultural heritage, and is not even a
Mexican federal holiday – not that any of this should matter.
What is striking about this episode was how muted the
reaction has been to this event, even from those on the right. The mothers of the boys seemed almost
apologetic. Meanwhile, many of the
Hispanic students felt that displaying the US flag on May 5 was ‘disrespectful,”
and that it was correct to ban any patriotic displays (U.S.-patriotic, that
is). Nowhere else in the world,
including Mexico, would anything like this be tolerated at any level. People would be incredulous at being asked to
justify “why” they would display their own flag on any day in their own country.
Only in the United States does it seem okay to grant some sort of
official acknowledgement of what is perceived to be a foreign national holiday
(not that this is one). And only in the
United States can you go to the next step, and actually have an American school
official tell American students on American soil that they do not have the free
speech rights to display their own flag or its colors, while those displaying
the flag and colors of a foreign country do.
While in this instance the school district restored
sanity to the situation, the underlying trends exposed by this incident are
alarming, and in my assessment, portend of future incidents that will gradually
erode. The sight of self-identified
U.S.-born Americans of Hispanic descent chanting “Mexico!” and waving a foreign
flag should be disturbing to anyone concerned with our national sense of shared
identity and destiny. Regardless of our separate
national, ethnic, cultural, and racial heritage, we all as Americans should be
joined under one flag representing one Constitution, one ship of state, one
people. Any people who lose that sense
of a common national interest and identity invariably fail as a nation-state –
no exceptions.
In all cases of sovereignty contests throughout history,
where large migrations of people that do not assimilate – do not share in the
idea of a shared national identity and purpose - begin to change the ethnic,
cultural, and political balance of a state, the numbers ultimately win. In the interim, there may be periods of
accommodation by the declining majority, punctuated by occasional strife,
followed by more accommodations by the majority that becomes a minority, and so
on, until ultimately, the former majority members become the strangers in what
use to be their own lands. Forecast:
There will be 100% chance of more instances like these in the coming years, and
with the current population growth and immigration trends continuing, they will
come with increasing frequency.
Eventually, one school district will uphold the outrageous.
I’ll Be Okay, But What About You?
In this new world, people like myself, of Hispanic
background and fluent in Spanish, will do fine.
We will even benefit from better treatment from comadres and compadres
in position of service or authority.
Already my sisters get better pay as bilingual teachers than do their
Anglo counterparts, as even illegal aliens get preferential treatment in school
tuition. Even now, I have an easier time
at restaurants, mechanic shops, and government offices that have a surprising
number of Spanish-accented personnel.
Instead, it will be the fair-skinned Anglos, and those of African
ancestry, that will find themselves encountering English less and less as the
language of private and public business.
That may not be so bad. At least
they won’t hear the expressions of contempt for the “stupid gringos” (I get to
hear them now). What will be bad is if
these Anglos and Afro-Americans find themselves increasingly amongst people
that defiantly chant “Mexico!”, people that are offended by the sovereignty of
the Stars & Stripes, and who have not internalized the American ideal of
freedom of speech and assembly.
An Added Personal Note from the Chief Editor
Rejecting Racial Solidarity; Choosing Solidarity of Purpose
Cinco de Mayo at the IRS Betrays Real
Bigotry
Years ago, when I worked as a manager at the Internal
Revenue Service, before the Internet became widely available, I was made aware
of Hispanic Awareness week during the May 5 week, in honor of Cinco de
Mayo. One of the big activities was an
essay contest on why Cinco de Mayo was important to Mexican independence. That this was even a subject for a contest in
a U.S. government office building that was supposed to be staffed only by U.S.
citizens (no legal foreign workers) was odd enough to me. However, I was annoyed that the subject made
no sense as, as noted above, Cinco de Mayo IS NOT MEXICAN INDEPENCE DAY!
I promptly informed my management colleague who was
chairing the committee overseeing these special week activities. I told my well-meaning platinum-blond,
liberal Anglo friend that Cinco de Mayo was not Mexican independence day, and
so, the essay contest was not appropriate.
He did not believe me. His
condescending, patronizing attitude betrayed a slight undercurrent of real
bigotry that refused to believe that I, of Hispanic descent and raised in
Mexico, would know more about this subject than he. I also suspect he did not want to confront
the idea that all his good intentions on behalf of people like me might
actually be misplaced. No doubt, he was
also probably irritated that I did not appear particularly grateful for his
efforts – I wasn’t.
After strongly insisting on my claim, I explained what it
really was about: a battle near the city of Puebla, where Mexican forces
miraculously beat back an invading French force. “So, it led to Mexico’s independence!” he
exclaimed. It didn’t I explained,
because, this battle happened in 1862, decades after Mexico gained
independence. “Ah, but it led to a new
independence from France!” Actually, no,
because though they won the battle, France eventually came back with more
forces, and took over Mexico. Still
reluctant to accept what I was telling him, we ended our discussion. He must have eventually done some research of
his own because later, when they made an official announcement at one of the
activities, they clarified that while May 5 was not Mexican independence day,
the essay would be about why Mexican independence day was important to the
author.
In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a happy historical note of
pride of an event that did not change history.
In the U.S. it has become a focus of ethnic solidarity of Hispanics, an
opportunity for some white Anglos to expunge a little guilt, and a chance to
for major brewers to sell beer. Educated
Mexicans look to the north at this time of year, and ask themselves “what are
those people doing?”
A Solidarity of Purpose, Not Background
Throughout my years, mostly when I was younger and less
so now, I have occasionally encountered the lily-white Anglo-liberal who cannot
understand why I do not want his special help, special consideration, or
special understanding of my background. Frankly, I find it insulting. I don’t want to take pride in “my race.”
There’s no such thing as the Hispanic race anyway. I don’t want to be identified as a
Mexican-American or Puerto-Rican American, or Hispanic or Latino or
Chicano. I don’t believe in “La Raza” solidarity
anymore than I believe in White Supremacy.
I want to simply be American, and I know many other Hispanics who feel
the same way. Yes, I take interest and
value my heritage. It is part of what
shaped me, and informs me on who I am. I
should know it and understand it. But it
does not determine who I am. I choose
that, and I choose to live here of my own free will, as a citizen of the United
States. I choose to be part of this
country, and to preserve and improve upon for others, everything it has
afforded me. I choose to join with
people of all races and backgrounds from around the world, under one banner, in a common national purpose that was first
formally outlined in one American Declaration of Independence. And I will not now or ever join with anyone
because of skin color or ethnic heritage, against it.
