A federal appeals courts says a high school in Northern California with a history of racial tension acted appropriately when officials ordered students wearing American flag T-shirts to turn them inside out during the Mexican heritage celebration Cinco de Mayo.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that officials' concerns of racial violence outweighed students' freedom of expression rights.
Administrators feared the American-flag shirts would enflame the passions of Latino students celebrating the Mexican holiday. Live Oak High School in the San Jose suburb of Morgan Hill had a history of problems between white and Latino students on that day.
The unanimous three-judge panel said past problems gave school officials sufficient and justifiable reasons for their actions. The court said schools have wide latitude in curbing certain civil rights to ensure campus safety.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
Comments
I do not agree
I think a student should be able to support and wear their nations colors. By making this student take off his American flag shirt on the day of a Mexican holiday, it shows the student that he can't support his nation. Yes I know there has been violence at this school but that needs to be managed a different way than saying to a student he can't wear his nations colors/flag. These students obviously need to learn that even if someone is supporting their nations color/flag they aren't trying to be disrespectful to your nation. They are just supporting their own country. I totally disagree with this decision.
An iconic example of the problem
With all due respect for PARKS2014, you are a clear example of why a national identity will be impossible to forge in the US and the Nation will remain segregated, as implied in your text is the exclusion of students identifying with the celebration of 5 de Mayo as not belonging or not supportive of the nation. Because you celebrate your ancestry does not mean you are not a part of this country, it does not mean you don't support it, it does not mean you don't love it. This children are American, their ancestral lines are being celebrated in in the right geographical location. Check your history and lets embrace each other's culture to make this nation a richer one.
Students can take in other
Students can take in other cultures while wearing their nations color. Maybe that student forgot the school was celebrating the 5 de Mayo. I just think that a person should be allowed to wear their nations colors whenever they want. I am a person that doesn't judge a person based of their skin tone or where they are from.
I completely disagree with
I completely disagree with this. They should be able to wear whatever they choose to wear as long as it is not offensive, and wearing the colors of the country they all live in is not. Maybe instead of telling students what they should and shouldn't wear they should find better ways to stop the violence all together.
Just Suppressing Violence
I believe it was a good way to suppress the violence that could have occurred at that time, but I believe it was a direct violation of those students' rights. To me, the only reason these students wore those shirts on that certain day was to create conflict. Especially since this school has a history of racial violence, I believe it was the right move for the administrators to make. If it were the other way around, I would expect the administrators to make the same call.