during the protests last month, hispanic high school protestors at a school took the American flag down and flew it upside down and below the Mexican flag. Not one American flag was flown during these protest but one girl was haressed becasue she had an american flag drapped across her shoulders. do you think that something needs to be done with these kids and who ever else disrespects our flg and country?
211694
No, there should be no penalty for these actions.  It is the fundamental freedom of all Americans to do what they will in protest short of wanton destruction of other's property and inhibition of another's freedom of movement.\n\nIf we penalize someone for flying a flag upside down or beneath another nation's flag, we are lessening our freedom and that is, ultimately, what the USA flag represents: FREEDOM.\n\nDo I approve?  No, I do not.  Will I fight to the death for their right to desecrate a USA flag?  Yes, I will.  The reason I feel this way is based on my belief that we, above all nations, must always, always, always protect freedom above else.  It is what we are, who we are, why we are.  And it is not optional.  Anyone who would lodge a penalty against someone for expressing themselves with a piece of cloth (even if that cloth is an American flag) is not a true and loyal American, but a pseudo-patriot who puts more value on woven material than freedom.\n\nIt isn't disrespect for the nation to do it although it is quite childish and makes no sense.  It is disrespect for freedom to stop it, though.\n\nBy the way, flying a flag upside down is not disrespect, it is a universal sign of distress.  If those students think they were doing something disrespectful they were not only being ridiculous they were being ignorant.
506655
When exactly have liberals been burning the flag in say the last two decades? They haven't.  Personally, I don't care if you light one with the other.  They are symbols nothing more and nothing less.
152817
The Minutemen are patriots of the highest order, as are you and JD, and some others posting here! Banana Bean, laugh all you want - when the deportation starts, everybody can go cry on the shoulder of good ol' Vicente, right? We Americans need to act, and need to do it now! I applaud the Minutemen for bringing to light what the media has been reluctant to show. Americans must realize that our situation is growing more dire by the day. These invaders do not want to be Americans - they want us out of our own country, and we need to stop the inflow and take our country back! As Pancha so astutely points out, they aren't going to stop (you forgot to put the word ILLEGAL in front of immigrant again, Pancha) so they have to be stopped. If that makes the Minutemen vigilante's, oh well... I support them no matter what you want to call them - brief pause waiting for Pancha to call them racists... GOD BLESS THE US!!!\nYes, Banana Bean - they do want us out! I've seen the signs telling us "Go back to Europe", "This is our continent, not yours", etc. I'm wrong? I just took it wrong the same way I took it wrong when I saw all those Mexican flags flying at the rally's? Or I took it wrong when I saw the pic of the Mexican flag above an upside down American flag? Give it a break! We're not blind, and we're not stupid! You picked a fight with the wrong people - the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans wants illegals out! And although we might not get all of them, we'll at least keep the numbers way, way down - not out of control like it is now! Keep laughing...
481016
i agree with you. unless maybe the person can't for a medical reason, etc. but other than that, yes. SHOW RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY! our brave soldiers are willing to go fight for america and risk their lives and some people in here are to lazy to get of their ass to pledge allegiance to the flag. i think its wrong. i will proudly stand for my country and do everything i can to support it.
174880
Agreed - but I feel equally harsh about the over-patriotic people who fly tattered and weathered flags on their homes and cars. It’s like none of these people actually get what freedom under that symbol is really supposed to stand for.
191437
Screw 'em.  Why should you be afraid to display your own flag, in your own country, for whatever reason you choose?\n\nI don't know if the Mexicans who are breaking windows with the flag are legal or illegal; as far as that goes, I don't even know if they are in fact Mexican. I don't know if they were trying to make a political statement or if they just wanted to destroy something.  Furthermore, I don't care.  All of that is beside the point.  What I do know is that they are thugs, trying to intimidate people through force and violence, and jail is where they belong.\n\nSome of these answers scare the heck out of me.  Why should you display a Mexican flag, if you have no particular allegiance to Mexico?  Further, why should you give a good flying flip at a donut WHO does not like America overseas?  THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY.  You are an AMERICAN.  And the idea that you should have to be afraid to display YOUR flag in YOUR country for ANY reason is sickening.  Take pride, display your flag, and if somebody tries to destroy your property -- and this applies whether they are white, black, Mexican, Japanese, Arab, or from Mars -- do everything you can to make sure the slime winds up in jail (that's provided that you don't catch them in the act and happen to have a baseball bat or a .44 magnum handy).
582284
NEVER!!!! And i think the idiots that did that to our flag,should have had the SAME THING done to them!!!!!!!!!!! I don't care what country they're from!! \n\n The flag is not just some piece of cloth!!!!  It's the flag of our country! A lot of people have fought and died for what that flag represents!!! The ILLEGALS that flew the mexican flag during the marches,and the IDIOTS who flew our flag upside down under the mexican flag ,well it's a wonder sombody didn't get SHOT for that stunt!!!!! \n\nAnd,IF i wanted to move to another country,i SURE AS HELL wouldn't be desecrating their flag!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would not DARE to march in their streets and DEMAND to be given "rights"!!!!!\n\nAnd,if i was STUPID enough to do something that crazy,then i would NOT blame the citizens of that country for hating me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
285756
This is a legitimate and encouraged celebration of freedom.  It is traditional and should be continued.\n\nWe, American citizens, object to PROTESTS by illegals and not celebrations.
255594
Considering they are illegal, and not citizens, they have no rights and are not entitled to any freedoms in this country. Thusly, it is considered civil disobedience for them to protest. However, it would be considered profiling if law enforcement were to round up Hispanics in a protest, based on assumption of their legal status.
218370
^ Your such an idiot. Read.  She said was directing it towards the Muslims that did the flag burnings! \n\nAnd she said MUSLIMS because duh!! Muslims are in more than one counrty.  \n\nAnd yeah, I was suprised when I saw some radical muslims bruning another flag other than the American flag.
236533
I understand how you feel.  I am very sympathetic about the immigrants wanting to become citizens.  I believe that I would also do what ever I could to make a better life for my family.  BUT... the present protests going on, has really ticked me off, and one of the biggest reasons was seeing them waving the Mexican flag.  If they would like to become AMERICAN citizens then they shoudl all be waving the AMERICAN flag.  To me anyone that is waving the Mexican flag is saying in effect " I don't really want to give up my sovereignty to my country, I want to be a Mexican citizen with the rights here also" You just can't have it both ways.  There is nothing wrong with being proud of where you came from, but to be an American, your loyalty should be to the US
167071
I AM Hispanic.I was born and raised in Austin,TX. as was all my family.I have absolutely nothing against Mexicans but,i honestly believe that the Star Spangled Banner should be left alone.Some things are better left untouched!!.What next? The Pledge of Allegiance......  Be Blessed! Monica
66967
I agree with you about the xenophobia phenomenon, like many occurrences in life these things tend to resurface in a cyclic fashion( nazis, KKK, minute men, crusaders,etc). What once happened will happen again. I'm not so sure about minute men being mexican americans since people of hispanic origin from Texas are texans not mexican americans, remember that they were there before Texas became a part of the USA. I'm not sure either whether Texas at any point in time abandoned its Republic status or it just was not taken into consideration for its annexation they still have a lonely star flag. So, in light of this consideration in case it is true that Texans of hispanic origin form part of the minute men they would be doing this as texans not as mexicans in any case it is xenophobic as well.Then again, it's just my point of view. Thanks.
161352
They not only changed it to spanish, they changed the words. They already burn or flag and hang our flag upside down. They waved the Mexican flag during a lot of their protests. Some schools have stopped hanging the American flag and forbidden students from wearing clothes with any part of the American flag on their clothing all to keep from offending the Mexicans. It's nothing short of an attack of our country, not only by the illegal aliens, but those who seek to appease them.
591445
Everyone calls everyone 'racist' which is a 'racist' remark itself. That word should be abolished from this category, it is moot point. Being of any particular color or ethnicity is NOT the issue when speaking of the illegal immigrants who come into the USA undocumented. The issue is the fact they are ILLEGAL which is against our laws. It doesn't matter where they came from they are still illegal, even if they came from Europe or Africa. The fact that SO MANY of them come from across our border with Mexico is the reason we are concerned with those illegally entering THERE. There are more than Mexicans entering at that border, we know that, and we know they joined with the other Latina's in the protest on May 1st flying the MEXICAN flag. Those from other countries of Spanish descent didn't fly their flags but supported the Mexican flag. The speeches spoke of Mexico and Mexican people, so naturally all those coming across the Mexican border are going to be referred to as Mexicans, maybe it's wrong but they brought it on themselves by flying that flag. They are all guilty of protesting and demanding rights they don't have. Illegal immigrants don't HAVE rights in the USA including those from Germany and Africa, etc. It is not racist to want laws enforced. By accusing people of being racist it only fuels their anger and actually pushes them to hate the accusers even more. It "creates" a racist mentality where none had been.
245525
Immigrants are great, but these are ILLEGAL ALIENS.  It looks to me like a great opportunity for INS to find all these lawbreakers in one place and initiate arrests.  With our being told which companies HAD to shut down completely or partially, that the Attorney General, Homeland Security, or whomever is responsible for fining companies who do hire illegal aliens, really just have a list now that they can follow. \n\nThe protest offended, but didn't really affect me, or the town in which I live.  The following things bothered me:\na.  these protests were for ILLEGAL ALIENS, NOT regular immigrants.  Their PR machine was great in blurring the lines here.\n\nb.  The Mexican flags were still very prominent.\n\nc.  I was soooo tired of seeing all the posters written in Spanish!!!!!!  And the signs that were translated to English were often very critical of this counry that they claim to love so much.\n\nd.  One of the organizers, last name Rodriguez I think, was on some TV shows the day before.  He made very negative comments about the U.S. in general.  It seemed he was leading up to the one comment that made me wonder about the REAL agenda.....he said, paraphrasing, that the southern part of the U.S. was STOLEN from Mexico, and that the people just wanted to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.  Okay, we did fight and confiscate land way back in our early history......but wasn't just about every country formed by gaining land from somebody??  \n\ne.  The whole thing would have been so much less significant, had our media simply refused to give these demonstrations wall to wall media coverage!!\n\nf.  Do these illegal aliens have the constitutional right to assemble like this?  This is just a question I wondered about.......they are not citizens.\n\ng.  IF these folks are really protesting for rights, better conditions, etc., well, I can't help but be curious as to why they don't just demonstrate in their own countries where conditions must be worse.  Couldn't they use this energy to focus on problems at home?\n\nh.  I can't help but wonder WHEN the LEGAL CITIZENS of the U.S. will step up to the plate, care enough to organize as efficiently as these folks, and take our voices and opinions to the streets, all the way to Washington D.C.\n\nWhew, got some of that off my chest!  I understand the plight of these illegal aliens, and this IS a country of immigrants, but it's also a county of laws.  What do you think would happen to us if thousands of U.S. citizens decided to sneak into Mexico, Colombia, Venzuela, Russia, China, etc., and march on their capitols & make demands for rights while waving American flags and speaking mainly English?  How about trying that in Cuba or Iran?  \n\nWelcome to all immigrants, just do it LEGALLY!  We do have a process in place for that.  Many of us feel that we and our country are being greatly disrespected by the ILLEGAL ALIENS. (I am ever so tired of the term "undocumented workers"..............does that mean that we citizens can drive around freely with no drivers' licenses, and simply be "undocumented drivers"?  Political correctness can get way out of hand.\n\nI just about forgot one other thing that burns me, and that's the so-called Spanish version of our National Anthem!  This is not a translation, the lyrics are totally different.  This is the United States.  We speak English.  A common language is necessary for assimilation.  And our National Anthem should be sung in English!  What's next, translating our Constitution, the Pledge of Allegience, etc??
448760
you said it well. you are soooo right. god bless you. it should only be American flags in America. if they want to be here. then they should abide by the American ways.