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Are Raising Mexican Flags Un-American?
However, I think there were more Mexican flags than there were signs of protest, which was against HR4437. But now, Mexicans and other Latino immigrants have a right to wave their national flags, and not be called un-American. This country is composed of slash Americans, including the founding fathers. Indeed, the only true ÒAmericans,Ó if this word is appropriate at all, are the first peoples, or Indians/Native Americans. To be sure, many Latinos that protested did raise American flags, which was strategically sound. They can raise their national flag, whether it be Mexican, El Salvadorian, Guatemalan, etc, to show their national pride, and raise their American flag, as to not be deemed unpatriotic. I don't have to like a flag to raise it, if it means that I will be taken seriously, and that I can make an ally out of a potential enemy. Besides, since when was it a crime to not be patriotic? The idea of patriotism is very abstract. If fighting and working for your country can be considered patriotic, the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans in the U.S. armed forces and agricultural fields makes this national group one of the most patriotic group of Americans in this country. The historical truth that this land was once Mexican, Spanish, and Indian before that, is easily forgotten when students have to pledge allegiance to the star-spangled banner every morning from the time they enter the school system at five-years-old. White kids might not mind it, even if they are descendants of Europeans. Their appearance makes them feel ÒAmerican.Ó Latinos would rather pledge allegiance to their national flag. But what flag do African-Americans pledge their allegiance to? I can understand the Black and White reaction to all the brown peoples angry faces, shouts, and flag waving. Many Mexican and Latino youth missed the point of protest, and used the occasion to simply be rebellious, and show their ÒMexicanÓ and ÒLatinoÓ pride. The cultural divide here in America has always resulted in communication break downs between the races, and demonstrations of apparently arrogant racial pride can easily lead to racial bickering, and fighting. It is reported that some Mexican kids walked out with their flags and were jumped by some Black kids in Atlanta. Schools don't teach that the U.S. is a part of ÒAmericas,Ó and that Latin America is still America. White American kids feel that this is their country, their house, and that Latin Americans are lucky to be here at all. I don't blame the White, or Black, kids for getting angry and showing their colors, but I do hold the schools responsible. This is America, the home of global free speech, but teachers are not allowed to voice their social, political, and moral views to their students. I want to believe that if teachers and counselors were allowed to play more of a role in influencing the political views of their students, that there would be better communication between the cultures. In this case Mexican and other Latino youth wouldn't have felt the need to wave their pride in the faces of their White and Black classmates, and there wouldn't have been a negative, and violent reaction. Although America is composed of immigrants, it has never liked them. If that seems contradictory, that's because it is. But many people have found out the hard way that becoming American doesn't simply mean embracing the American way of life, it also means throwing away your ethnic identity. Many citizens, White and Black, are told that they are American, but don't know exactly what that means, thus are culturally frustrated. So when ethnic groups raise their flags, show ethnic and cultural pride, the mass of culturally confused descendants of immigrants that were forced to be American become angry. They don't know what it means to be American, but they know that they don't like immigrants, especially when the latter displays their power by demonstrating en masse.
Read Related Stories, audio, and video: Everybody and Their Mama Was There The Prison Industrial Complex and Immigration San JosŽ Opposes HR4437 - Part 2 On March 25th the Streets Belonged to Us Un Mill—n en Los Angeles "Si Se Puede" to "Si Se Pudo" Immigration Through East Palo Alto Eyes Students Takes the Streets San Jose Rising "To Reclaim Our Latino Legacy of Men" Step In the Name of Pride Immigrants Take The Streets of San JosŽ - Part 1 With a Movement Like This, Who Needs Activists?
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Not to far from San Jose, in the upper-middle class town of Los Altos, white kids reacted to Mexicans and Latinos walking out and displaying their flags by having a flag-waving rally of their own. These white kids were angry. They weren't protesting or celebrating anything. Theirs was a racial reaction to what they perceived to be a racial attack by Mexicans and other Latinos. They completely missed the point of why Latino youth were walking out and displaying their national pride. 
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