Posted on 11/13/2001 9:23:12 AM PST by healey22
Monday, November 12, 2001 - Maria Chavez painted a mural on her high school wall last spring that was intended to promote unity - within families, at school, in communities and between nations. But that mural has recently sparked some disunity.
Chavez's mural depicting the Delta High School panther mascot between two flags - the Stars and Stripes and the banner of Mexico - has raised a protest from some veterans because the two flags are given equal representation. When facing the mural, they say, the American flag should be on the left rather than the right, and the American flag should be larger or somehow more prominent.
At least one vet doesn't believe the Mexican flag belongs there at all.
"My main gripe is some foreign flag taking the same prestigious position in a school as the American flag. A foreign flag doesn't belong in our schools in a permanent mural," said World War II veteran John Sukle.
Chavez, 18, said she never dreamed she would be creating controversy when she painted the flag on a hallway wall at the school for her senior art project. Chavez was a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national organization with local chapters in schools, so she painted a mural that would represent the league's ideals.
"I never intended to do anything to make people offended. That's so not me," said Chavez, who now attends the Delta Montrose Voc-Tech School.
There was no offense taken until Sukle recently saw a photograph of the mural in a local newspaper and contacted the American Legion Post 65 in Delta.
Gordon O'Brien, commander of the post, met with school officials, Chavez and some other members of the league last week.
"We weren't upset. We just brought it to their attention," O'Brien said.
Chavez agreed to paint gold fringe on the American flag to make it look larger. School officials also decided to place a plaque in the front of the mural explaining the goals of the League of United Latin American Citizens and Chavez's motivation for painting the mural.
Chavez said she wanted to show understanding, cooperation and unity of two nations in a school where nearly 20 percent of the students are Hispanic. The plaque will say: "Working together as a family, school, community and as a country to make a difference in our youth."
That settled the matter as far as most people were concerned.
Not Sukle, though.
Sukle, 89, said he fought in four key World War II battles. He helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp. And he is not going to back down from defending the honor of his flag now.
"I intend to fight on. I don't mind yelling as loud as I can," Sukle said. "Too many people don't understand what our flag stands for."
School Superintendent Bill Carlquist said Friday that he understands that the flag means different things to different people.
He said the school's 30 or so members of the Latin League are very patriotic: They recite the Pledge of Allegiance before every meeting and handed out miniature flags in the school after Sept. 11. He said the group promotes leadership, community service and the importance of education.
Carlquist said he can also understand the veterans' deep-seated feelings about proper protocol for display of the flag.
Carlquist contacted school attorneys for advice and delved into the details of the U.S. flag code. They found that there are no rules specifically addressing flags in murals. The district, however, agreed to make changes that would satisfy the majority of the American Legion members.
No one, including Sukle, knows what his continuing protest will lead to.
Carlquist said right now he considers the entire matter a good learning experience for students.
"It's been a great civics lesson," he said.
Then there shouldn't be any problem with flying the Confederate Battle Flag or the Stars and Bars, should there?
And for those way out there, how about the Hammer and Sickle or the Swastika?
"Nor is this ambivalence about American identity confined to Muslim immigrants and their children. The most comprehensive evidence we have on the patriotic assimilation of the children of immigrants is a longitudinal study by the Russell Sage Foundation. This study of 5,000 children of immigrants (mostly Mexican-American and Filipino-American teenagers) revealed that after four years of American high school, the students were 50 percent more likely to consider themselves "Mexicans" or "Filipinos," than "Mexican-Americans," or " Filipino-Americans, " or just plain "Americans." In other words, patriotic assimilation or self-identification with the American nation actually decreased (and decreased dramatically) after four years of studying in American schools. "
Americanization Now
Getting serious about assimilation.
By John Fonte, senior fellow, Hudson Institute,
www.nationalreview.com
November 8, 2001 8:55 a.m.
I have three flagpoles, the center one flying the US flag, the one on the right flying the Texas flag, and the one on the left flying the Confederate Battle Flag. They fly all of the time, spotlit round-the-clock.
No, what is ridiculous is you. Where have you been hiding lately? Still ready to support more criminal illegal aliens that slaughter American citzens. The whole world is on to your scam now. You must be crying boo hoo!
You mean the ones from Canada?
Still distancing yourself from facts, I see.
So, who's the new Richard Masters?
No, I'm just a fan of your fanciful logic, i.e.,
Nor would I have a problem with Mexican flag waving if it were limited to a gratuitous, heavily promoted annual holiday.
Veterans' Day was just this week and this is how you will refer to them? This "crotchety old man" as you call him was once a young man who put his own life on the line so that we can have our freedoms. He would have died for the US flag to fly and he has a right to comment on seeing a flag from a foreign country being displayed, which it should not be. If these LULAC people chose to live in the US, they should leave behind their flag, if they really love Mexico, then they should stay in Mexico and work to build it into a better country.
I respect Mexico as a separate sovereign nation, and I would also find it very wrong if Americans went there and painted US flags on their buildings. That would be very rude and should get them sent home. It goes both ways.
In the last 10 years ILLEGALS have virtually taken over the fish processing biz. Those seasonal jobs used to go to ambitious college students (U.S.Citizens) many of whom came up here on their first adventure out on their own, and learning just how hard they could work to survive.
And many of those jobs were also important to locals who now cannot get hired.
Last night a small contractor friend of mine told me about a bunch of Illegal Mexicans who have just finished a drywall job on a government project, and up here that means 'Davis-Bacon' @$28 hr. The guy who managed to get the contract and use the Illegals, disappeared with ALL the wages leaving the Illegals standing around waiting for their checks.
It infuriates me that Illegals are taking these construction jobs from local citizens. So forget this BS that ...' oh well, they only take jobs Americans are unwilling or too lazy to work'.
Total bullshit!! The Illegals are stealing opportunity from LEGAL American citizens. They should all be identified and DEPORTED NOW.
It's false to think that the immigrants have come and wrested those jobs away from citizens by working for lower wages. It's a simple supply-and-demand situation: more jobs were available than workers, so the workers came from abroad (mostly Mexico) to fill the jobs. The immigrants did not come and wait for jobs to open up; rather, the existing jobs lured the immigrants.
Aside from cases of political or ethnic persecution, what immigrants go to places where they cannot work?
This is illustrated particularly well by the economic boom of the 1990s, when we came about as close to full employment as is possible. Immigrants, far from denying citizens jobs, performed jobs that citizens did not want or did not have to do.
Because she is an American. Did you miss her stated rationale for painting the Mexican flag in the first place? Did you miss her willingness to give Old Glory proper honor and prominence?
We need to close our southern border, repatriate all illegals, and put an immediate stop to immigration before we lose what's left of our American culture.
If only we could have done that before your forebears immigrated....
And that is germaine to this situation how? The fact of the matter is that, in this case, LULAC has done the right thing in acceding to the American Legion's wishes (as opposed to Sukle's). Whatever else you may think of LULAC, you have little cause to critique it here.
Mexican leaders and their citizens have shown contempt for the united states of america.
Yeah, that's why Mexicans yearn for the promise of America, its freedoms, and its opportunities. That's why Vicente Fox is the most pro-American president in Mexican history.
Don't be a fool. My patriotism and Americanism is not yours to question. I suggest you read post no.25 on this thread and edify yourself. I was born in Texas and educated in South Carolina. I have worn the uniform of an American soldier. Who are you?
Your either American or your not.
You're clearly a man familiar with shades of meaning.
Flying the mexican flag is a disgrace and denotes one's allegiance.
Oh really? You have special insight as to why I might fly a Mexican flag?
Thank God for the military vets proud and patriotic to stand up to this dual nationalism crap!
Here's one military vet, proud and patriotic, who thinks this is a load of nonsense.
Well, put, sir. The very point I was trying to make in no.79.
You have said very little. First you urged me to travel, presumably so that I would agree with you. Now you know that I have travelled, and I still don't agree with you, so you chalk it up to my lack of learning on my travels. It's all very juvenile. Clearly the only reason we disagree is because I have failed. Clearly.
Read the Guardian lately?
You can find that loathesome element in any country.
But you won't address the bottom line.
Pray tell what you think it is.
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