Lesson: The First Amendment

On May 5, 2010, five students were asked to either change their attire or go home.  These students had the audacity to wear the American flag on Cinco de Mayo.

On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.

Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal’s office.

“They said we could wear it on any other day,” Daniel Galli said, “but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today.”

The vice principal said the image of the America flag could be incendiary; some students were offended.  On any other day, it would be incendiary.  On any other day, students would not be offended.  On any other day, the five teens would have failed to garner attention.  But, the actions of the vice principal catapulted these students into the national spotlight.  Now it’s the First Amendment versus Respect of Other Cultures.

“Students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” | Tinker v. Des Moines

The Tinker case is akin to what happened to the Live Oak Five.  Instead of American flags, the students wore black armbands in protest to the Viet Nam War.  Not knowing the motivation behind the students’ decisions to wear the American flag on Cinco de Mayo, it is still safe to say that wearing the flag, in general, is speech meant to impart patriotism.

Going by Tinker, school officials must reasonably foresee that the speech would  cause a “substantial disruption” or “material interference” with school activities or would “invade the rights of others” before censoring.   This is why the vice principal said the American flag shirts were incendiary.  The vice principal only wanted to avoid a fight.  The vice principal only wanted to protect those students who were offended.

Obviously, the vice principal is failing at teaching children the basic lessons of living in the United States.  Here’s the lesson: there is no right to be not offended.  We cannot protect children from everything that may hurt their feelings.  That is not the way the world works.  Teach children that they will be offended, then teach children how to deal with it.  Teach children that instead of literally fighting the offense, they should add more speech on top of it – drown it out.  That’s the beauty of free speech.

The next lesson the vice principal is failing to teach: tolerance.  I see why some of the students were offended by the American flags on the day they’re celebrating their heritage.  I can see how it can be taken as rude.  If the Live Oak Five were wearing the shirt in response to Cinco de Mayo, then there is an underlying intolerance being shown. (Again, I don’t know the motives of the students.)

But, there is also an intolerance of the students who expressed being offended.  Why were they offended?  Because it was their day to show their heritage and no one else can show theirs?  If you find that offensive, then you’re going to have a fun time dealing with images of white supremacists rallies on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  In a just society, you have to tolerate the intolerant because we all have the right to freedom of speech, of expression, and of belief.

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I understand how some take what the Live Oak Five did as being rude and intolerant.  I am fine with allowing Cinco de Mayo to be celebrated.  I am fine with allowing the Chinese New Year to be celebrated.  If Koreans ever had the numbers to celebrate some  Korean holiday in the United States, I’d jump on that bandwagon.

But, regardless of my race or ethnicity, in my bones, I am an American. I am fine with anyone expressing that they are American.  Why?  Because no matter who you are, you are allowed to celebrate whatever without fearing government reprisal.  The United States allows schools to have mini-parades in celebration of Chinese New Year (from what I remember from my own experience).

Try wearing an American flag in a school in North Korea, see what happens.

& – – // – –

The irony in all of this: by sending these kids home for wearing the American flag, the public gets a refresher course on one of the cornerstones of the United States.  It’s a “big f’ing deal” (to borrow from VPOTUS Biden) when the freedom of speech and of expression is hampered by the government.  And I think the reaction from people on all sides of the issue is the best way to celebrate the heritage of the United States.  Because that tells me, this experiment that is the United States is working.

Here endeth the lesson.


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