Posted on 11/12/2010 9:01:49 AM PST by COBOL2Java
DENAIR, Calif., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Officials in a California school district said a middle school student was told to take a U.S. flag off his bike to avoid "racial tension."
Denair Unified School District Superintendent Edward Parraz said Cody Alicea, 13, was told not to fly the U.S. flag from his bike while at Denair Middle School after complaints from other students, KCRA-TV, Sacramento, Calif., reported.
"(The) First Amendment is important," Parraz said. "We want the kids to respect it, understand it, and with that comes a responsibility."
Parraz said racial tensions boiled over at the school this year around the Cinco de Mayo holiday.
"Our Hispanic, you know, kids will, you know, bring their Mexican flags and they'll display it, and then of course the kids would do the American flag situation, and it does cause kind of a racial tension which we don't really want," Parraz said. "We want them to appreciate the cultures."
Alicea's parents said he flies the flag from his bike as a tribute to veterans in his family.
"He's got that flag on his bike because he's proud of where he comes from," Alicea's father, Robert Kisner, said.
Alicea folds up the flag and keeps it in his backpack while attend class, the TV station said.
You won’t get much of an argument from me. On the back of his Green Card is a union card I’ll wager.
I think you’d know how to deal with it if your girl was still in a gooberment school. You might recall me telling you about the big burly bikers my mom would threaten with her walking stick at the campground? One that I saw was a super big guy, 6 ft+ and 350 lbs minimum. He had an American flag sewn onto the back of his jacket. Underneath it was a challenge “Go ahead. Try to burn this flag.”
I never would have known you felt so strongly about these things. ;^P hehehe
At the present rate, only if you plan on it being muslim! :(
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